Aswin De Silva said Feds should fast-track million home scheme
The Commonwealth Government’s million-home scheme has won the support of a key Territory organisation. Here’s how the plan can make life better for Top End residents.
Northern Territory
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The Federal Government’s plan to build one million homes in partnership with the private sector has won Northern Territory support.
Real Estate Institute NT chief executive Aswin De Silva welcomed the Commonwealth-backed plan to develop a National Housing Accord and urged stakeholders to waste no time implementing the proposal.
In October’s Budget, the government announced a plan to build one-million homes over five years from 2024.
“We have no time to waste and we must immediately start planning for this project so that construction can start without any delay”, Mr De Silva said.
“Higher visibility should be available in the Northern Territory for these build-to rent developments starting from areas of highest need.
“Despite this announcement, the federal budget will not have any short-term impact on the Territory’s housing and rental affordability.”
Mr De Silva said since May 2022, repayments on a $500,000 mortgage have dented household spending by almost $700 per month.
“This spend could be even more strained as inflation could continue to rise until the end of this year or early 2023, with interest rate increases keeping pace,” he said.
Mr De Silva said REINT consistently lobbied for increased housing supply in a real way, reducing the risk of ad hoc decisions.
Key barriers to increasing stock, such as more seamless land release and enhanced planning, required immediate attention, he said.
Territorians are currently living through a rental crisis.
Meanwhile, real estate monitoring organisation PropTrack shows property prices remain strong in regional Northern Territory.
The latest PropTrack Market Insight Report found home prices in regional NT were peaking, rising 3.63 per cent over the past year.
In Darwin, home prices have declined .31 per cent.
The PropTrack report said monthly home price growth in regional NT was .29 per cent and the median home value was $448,000, a 14.3 per cent increase since March 2020.
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