Michael Sukkar MP

Question Time: COVID-19: Housing

Mrs McINTOSH (Lindsay) (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Housing and Assistant Treasurer. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is leading the housing market’s recovery from the COVID-19 recession, including through its HomeBuilder grant and First Home Loan Deposit Scheme?

Mr SUKKAR (Deakin—Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing) (14:56): I thank the member for Lindsay for her question. I want to acknowledge the wonderful knowledge that she brings to this chamber given that, prior to being the member for Lindsay, she worked for Wentworth Community Housing. She is so dedicated to the first home buyers in her electorate as well as those who are employed in the residential construction industry. It was wonderful, therefore, to visit Mulgoa last week with the member for Lindsay. We were able to announce that the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme had an additional 10,000 places for first home buyers to get into the market with a guarantee from the federal government. We were able to be there with Nick from Rawson Homes, who explained that this was really fuelling jobs in the residential construction industry.

When we announced the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme extension, the managing director of the HIA actually said: ‘This policy ticks all of the boxes. It provides extra support for first home buyers and it supports the residential construction industry.’ The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme support on top of HomeBuilder is fuelling growth in our residential construction industry, and the HomeBuilder Program also has been a huge success. According to the ABS, since HomeBuilder was announced we’ve seen a 27 per cent increase in loans for new dwellings. This is not just higher than pre pandemic. This is the highest it ever has been since the ABS has held records, since 2002. It is a 27 per cent increase. We’ve seen a 49.8 per cent increase in new home sales. What does this mean? It means tradies jobs on building sites, and that’s what the HomeBuilder program has done—in addition, of course, to the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. So it’s no surprise, given that that is what HomeBuilder has done, that the following has been said about the HomeBuilder program in supporting the residential construction industry. The CEO of the Master Builders Association said that HomeBuilder is the most effective government stimulus they have seen in decades in the industry. The CEO of the Property Council said:

HomeBuilder has been the popstar of government stimulus policies released to date: highly effective, immediate and great value for money.

Importantly:

It has helped protect hundreds of thousands of jobs and stimulated activity right at the time the economy needed it most.

Very excitingly for us on this side of the House, what is driving this growth? It’s first home buyers. The CEO of CBA said yesterday, ‘The upswing in housing so far has been drive by first home buyers and owner-occupiers.’ The Morrison government stands with first home buyers and the residential construction— (Time expired)

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