Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Housing and the Minister for the Status of Women. What has been the impact of the government’s first home owner boost on the housing market? What is likely to be the benefit of further stimulus measures in the housing sector?

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Housing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Blair for his question. The global financial crisis has seen a downturn in the housing and construction sector, threatening the jobs of many Australians. That is why this government took early and decisive action in October last year to support jobs in housing and construction. I think it is fair to say now that the first home owner boost is having an effect, especially as it has been combined with low interest rates. In fact, the member for Blair was telling me in his own electorate, at the mobile offices that he has every weekend, that interest from first home buyers in our first home owner boost has been very strong and that the newer suburbs in his electorate—suburbs like Brassall, Raceview and Flinders View—are becoming hot destinations for potential first home buyers.

First home buyers have taken up the benefit of the first home owner boost in great numbers. In fact, I have recently received the January data on the number of people who have taken up the first home owner boost. By the end of January nearly 30,000 people had taken up the first home owner boost. Indeed, 6½ thousand of those are in the member’s home state of Queensland. Other figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics confirm these very positive signs. The ABS housing finance data for the month of December showed a 6.4 per cent increase in the number of new home loans to owner occupiers compared with the previous month. What is even more encouraging is that there was a 15.1 per cent increase in loans to purchase new dwellings, with just under a 10 per cent increase in loans to construct new dwellings—all very positive numbers. It is great news for the building and construction sector, but of course it is also great news for those young Australians whom this government is helping into the housing market.

Increased activity in building and construction is not just good for the building and construction sector; it is good for the people who make all the supplies, like bricks and tiles, that go into building those new homes. It is also terrific for the retail sector. People do not move into a new home without buying a new refrigerator or new carpet or new tables and chairs. All of these jobs are very important.

The comments from industry have been very supportive. One example is Nigel Satterley, the chief executive of the Satterley Property Group, a major builder in Western Australia. I can hear some Western Australians talking about the Satterley group. Nigel Satterley contacted me this week to say:

Since the introduction of the first home owners grant, things have improved significantly. On Saturday I visited the southern suburbs two busiest builders display centres. They were a lot busier than they had been and it was an extremely hot day. Our land sales offices had good inquiries and we are on track to sell 200 residential lots net in Perth for the month of February. The first home buyers grant is continuing to work and assist in the Perth property market’s soft recovery.

Stockland are saying that about 65 per cent of their trade is now for first home buyers in residential sales, and volumes of sales are up by 25 to 30 per cent in areas like Craigieburn in Melbourne’s northern growth corridor. The Housing Industry Association are saying that, if it were not for large interest rate cuts and the federal government’s temporary boost to the first home owners grant, significantly slower growth rates would have been forecast for 2009-10 and 2010-11. Harley Dale from the HIA says:

The First Home Owners boost, mortgage rates at a forty year low, and the housing components of the Federal Government’s Nation Building and Jobs Plan have the capacity to deliver a moderate recovery in residential activity.

The government has a plan to support jobs in the housing and construction sector. The first home owners boost as well as the construction of 20,000 new community and public housing dwellings will keep tradies in work, keep contractors busy and keep apprentices employed. It will also help Australians who are struggling in the private rental market. The measures are good for jobs, they are good for the economy and they are a great help to many Australians who need a roof over their heads.