Would-be buyers scope out options ahead of housing construction stimulus package

Buyers eyeing off the federal government’s multibillion-dollar construction package are already purchasing land in anticipation of receiving at least $20,000 assistance, industry pundits report, with inquiries in some regions tripling over the weekend.

The package, expected to be announced this week, is expected help prop up the building industry to avoid a massive economic slowdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, offering grants to existing purchasers as well as first-home buyers. 

The Master Builders Association recently proposed a new-home buyers’ grant of $40,000 as a way to stem the industry’s crisis, revealing traffic through show homes was down 90 per cent across the country since the start of the coronavirus crisis.

But with the news that a stimulus package announcement was imminent, the turnaround in traffic to show homes and land sales displays has been immediate, frontline sales staff say.

Jamie Martin, sales manager at Providence South Ripley in south-east Queensland, said he had “never seen anything like it”, as people lined up over the weekend to secure a block of land.

“We’ve seen visitor numbers double overnight and our traffic over the weekend tripled,” he said.

“Buyers are wanting to get a foot on a block in anticipation of the announcement. People aren’t sitting on their hands. It’s a land frenzy.”

For Alastair Hills and his wife Kimberley, they hope to qualify for a grant, having just signed on a house and land package at the Providence Estate just two weeks ago.

Mr Hills said having access to extra cash to start their build, if they qualified, would be extremely helpful.

“It would be an incredible blessing, really,” Mr Hills said. “It would give us a lot more room to do the little things we wish we could do like landscaping, which you don’t really [budget] for straightaway.”

Metricon Homes has seen a substantial boost in the number of inquiries, with chief executive Mario Biasin reporting record numbers.

“With the talk and speculation of a new-home buyer grant, we have seen record visitor numbers to the Metricon website and strong return visits to display homes in all the states that we operate in [including] Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland,” Mr Biasin said.

“With each state easing restrictions at different rates, we saw staggered market activity but now all of our markets are enjoying above pre-COVID-level traffic and with the promise of a grant, a strong level of inquiry across [them] all.”

ABN Group managing director Dale Alcock, who manages house and land package sales in Victoria and WA through several companies including Home Buyers Centre, said more clarity was needed around what was being offered.

He called on the government to announce the package sooner rather than later, and also said it should include a retrospective element to allow those who had bought earlier this year to benefit from the scheme.

“We’re worried that people could put off their decisions to buy until the announcement,” Mr Alcock said.

He agreed more buyers had come back the market in Melbourne and Perth as restrictions eased, and buyers were looking to change the layout of their homes to include a home office instead of an extra bedroom, and a gym rather than a home cinema.

“Coronavirus is really making people reassess what they want in their home,” Mr Alcock said.

While there have been no firm details released, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg hinted at some of the details of the package at a press conference on Monday.

Mr Frydenberg said the government urgently wanted to boost construction “whether it’s a new house or otherwise”. 

New housing construction makes up 5 per cent of the Australian GDP and employs one million people directly or indirectly, with many affected by business closures, job losses and a lack of activity due to the coronavirus crisis, Mr Frydenberg said.

“It’s not just the sparky and the plumber and the carpenter on the building site, it’s also the timber mill,” he said. “It’s also the appliance manufacturer for the new kitchen. It’s also those who help with the materials that go into the bathroom.”

The government is expecting dwelling investment (overall) to be down 20 per cent in the June quarter across the country.

Mr Frydenberg said the package would be temporary, like other initiatives introduced to boost the wider economy during the pandemic.