More than 2000 Canberrans have applied for the federal government's HomeBuilder program, exceeding treasury's "wildest expectations", the federal housing minister said.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Housing Minister Michael Sukkar said when the program started treasury had estimated there would be 500 grants given in the ACT but this had ballooned to 2000.
"As far as punching above its weight, the ACT being four times higher than what treasury expected when we set up the program is a really phenomenal result," he said.
Mr Sukkar said there had been about 80,000 applications nationwide.
"From our perspective the bigger the better," he said.
"Every single grant unlocks hundreds of thousands of dollars of additional private investment."
The program aimed to lift construction activity and was introduced as a COVID-19 stimulus measure.
HomeBuilder initially gave a $25,000 grant to homebuyers who built a new home or homeowners who substantially renovated. The grant was decreased to $15,000 from January 1 and the program was set to finish in March.
But despite the high take-up of the program Mr Sukkar said the government was not considering a further extension of the grant.
"My message to Australians who are thinking about purchasing a new home or undertaking a substantial renovation is to do it now," he said.
"Something we have said consistently is all of our fiscal support in relation to the pandemic is targeted and it's time-limited and that will absolutely be the case with HomeBuilder."
Mr Sukkar spruiked the program on Monday morning at a Canberra construction site.
The housing minister was joined by ACT Senator Zed Seselja at Doma and Englobo's multi-unit DKSN development in Dickson.
"We are getting great feedback here in Canberra," Mr Seselja said.
"Here in the ACT to see those HomeBuilder projects going ahead is huge for the local industry."
The developers said the project had benefited from the HomeBuilder program. Construction on almost 200 apartments in the development's second stage were accelerated due to grants given to buyers.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released on Monday, revealed the value of new owner-occupier home loan commitments rose by 8.7 per cent in December to $19.9 billion. Year-on-year it represented a lift of 38.9 per cent.
IN OTHER NEWS:
ABS head of finance and wealth Amanda Seneviratne said the HomeBuilder grant contributed to the growth in loans.
"The value of construction loan commitments grew 17.1 per cent in December, more than doubling since the June implementation of the HomeBuilder grant," she said.
"Federal and state government measures, such as HomeBuilder, and historically low interest rates are supporting ongoing growth in housing loan commitments."
The HomeBuilder program has previously attracted criticism from Labor, which said a broader program was required.
As well, economists and housing advocates have questioned why the federal government had not funded construction into social housing to fill a growing shortfall.
It came as Corelogic's monthly housing value index found the Australian housing value reached a record high over January.
The housing value surpassed the pre-COVID level by 1 per cent, and the index was 0.7 per cent higher than the September 2017 peak.
Canberra's value was up 1.2 per cent over the month, with the median value sitting at $686,524.