‘Just enormous’: Victorians sign $1bn of home construction loans in December
Melbourne is facing a massive year of construction in 2021. Picture: Stefan Postles
Victorians have made a $1bn bet the state can build its way out of economic turmoil.
The state’s new-home buyers committed to a whopping $1.166bn in new housing construction loans in December 2020, becoming the first state to top the $1bn mark in a month, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
The nation’s data bureau also revealed the state figure for the final three months for 2020 is almost $3bn.
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Property Council of Australia’s Victorian executive director Danni Hunter estimated the $3bn in loan commitments from October to December would support about 110,000 jobs and create $8.5bn in flow-on benefits for the economy.
“HomeBuilder, combined with State Government stimulus announced in November’s state budget and pent up buyer demand, means that Victorian loan committals are leading the nation,” Ms Hunter said.
“This is great news for the Victorian economy. Approximately 27.9 per cent of wages and salaries paid to Victorian workers are generated by the property sector.”
The property and construction sectors are among the state’s biggest employers and economic drivers. Picture: Stephen Postles
Housing Industry Association chief economist Tim Reardon said the December figure was a national record.
“These numbers are just enormous,” Mr Reardon said.
“We are looking at a really strong level of building activity in 2021 and that will flow through to 2022.”
Mr Reardon said the “vast bulk” of the money would be spent on new houses with a chance 2021 could top 2017 as the nation’s strongest year for home building on record.
Much of the benefit will be felt in regional areas.
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“We are seeing a shift from metro areas … as people seek more space for a home office or a backyard, there’s a little pause in the urban growth activity of the past 100 years. People are looking to sea and tree-change areas,” Mr Reardon said.
Widespread housing construction is expected to continue into 2022. Picture: Stefan Postle
By December 31 more than 21,500 Victorians had applied for a $25,000 grant as part of the federal government’s HomeBuilder scheme.
The Victorian State Revenue Office has also revealed Melbourne’s HomeBuilder hot spot will be the Tarneit postcode with more than 2000 applications for the scheme by January 19.
Regional cities including Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo also account for significant amounts of the state’s applications.
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