Homebuyer spike good news, but criticism still remains

Home buyers are reportedly keener than ever to snap up a new house as local home builders report a massive spike in inquiries.

FILE: Home buyers are reportedly keener than ever to snap up a new house as local home builders report a massive spike in inquiries.

HOME buyers are reportedly keener than ever to snap up a new house as local home builders report a massive spike in inquiries.

Edgewater Homes sales director Simon Mullins has reported a noticeable lift in inquiries since the Morrison Government’s HomeBuilder grants program was introduced on June 4.

About a week after COVID-19 shutdowns began, inquiries began to fall off and forward work for the next year was fast evaporating.

Mr Mullins said it put the industry a “good half year” behind schedule.

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Edgewater Homes went from three inquiries a day to three a fortnight.

“People were beginning to put two feet solid on the ground,” Mr Mullins said.

But within days of the grants being announced, their customer inquiries bounced back quicker than predicted, and were expected to continue increasing.

“People are buoyant again,” Mr Mullins said.

“They had no idea what potentially the doom and gloom would do to the market.

“But the housing market hasn’t plummeted, the blinds have gone up on the windows and people can see the light again.”

Mr Mullins said the low interest rates would only aide in the soaring demand.

“I’ve never been able to go and get money from a bank for 2.29 per cent interest, fixed for three years,” he said.

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According to Mr Mullins, about 40 per cent of their homebuyer client base were new to the Sunshine Coast, either from Brisbane, interstate or overseas.

While the international market may need some time to recover with borders in and out of many countries slowly reopening, the local and national market are taking full advantage.

The scope of those who will benefit from the grants program won’t just stay with home buyers and construction companies, but feed into the wider community, including trades, furniture stores, removalists and even charities.

Master Builders Sunshine Coast regional manager Will Wilson said this is what the public seem to be missing.

FILE: Home buyers are reportedly keener than ever to snap up a new house as local home builders report a massive spike in inquiries.

“I’ve definitely heard across the board that people are signing on to new inquiries, in fact I spoke to a builder that had signed five agreements on Thursday,” he said.

“But there’s a real misunderstanding by a number of people about what the grant is designed to do.

“It’s not just for the homeowner, even though they are a fortunate and very lucky by-product.

“The intent of this grant is for the tradies, the battlers, the ones that hold the tools, the ones that if we did experience a massive drop off in work like we were predicting, would be out of work.”

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Mr Wilson said most of the 10,000 licenced businesses on the Coast were sole traders and small businesses, and while the “middle class homeowner gets the money, it’s those people that make it happen, that need an income to fee their families and pay their rent that get to work”.

He added that there are 20,000 direct employees in construction and a myriad of other employees, all accounting for 11.9 per cent of employees in the region.

“And those are just the guys on tools, on site, then you’ve got manufacturers, supplies – a huge number of people who live here whose viability to continue to pay for rent and kids to eat that are relying on those grants,” he said.

Mr Wilson said residential building activity gave back more than double to the communities that sustain it, with every $1 spend equalling $3 into the wider economy.

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“For those subbies, those builders and supplies, that money keeps going around,” he said.

While he said the grants weren’t enough to get back to where the economy needed to be, it was a great start to kickstarting an economic rise.

“At first we were doing everything we could to keep people working on a project they had, but now our focus is on keeping them working by continuing to create jobs,” Mr Wilson said.

He suggested that the government now look at ways to incentivise private investment.

“We need to find ways to keep private investment in development going because commercial and multi development construction is the next cliff we’re looking at,” he said.

“Perhaps delaying or minimising infrastructure charges towards the end of the job once the capital has been realised, so that when investors are looking at the lots to get in to, they don’t look back”.

That included offices, commercial and industrial building “because very little is coming out of the government to help these jobs at the moment” Mr Wilson said.

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