First home buyers’ scheme extension on the way
LABOR hopes a new arm of its first home buyers incentive scheme will help to arrest population decline and tide over the struggling construction industry
Northern Territory
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LABOR hopes a new arm of its first-home buyers incentive scheme will help to arrest population decline and tide over the struggling construction industry.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner is expected to announce details of an extension of the program at his annual Year Ahead speech today.
The Government’s existing first-home buyers’ programs have helped 3121 buyers into their first homes.
That figure includes 1323 new builds from the start of the scheme to the end of 2018.
Stamp duty discounts have been given on 1798 established homes from September 2016 to now.
In the same period, $11.7 million has been handed out in first-home buyer renovation grants. The NT Government estimates that has been worth $15 million to the construction industry.
According to Commsec’s recent State of the States report, the Northern Territory housing market has taken a pounding as the Inpex construction phase winds up.
Last quarter, housing finance trend commitments were 27.7 per cent below the decade average and 11.7 per cent down on the previous year.
New dwelling starts fell 23.8 per cent on the previous year, increasing pressure on the struggling construction industry. Mr Gunner is likely to face a less-than-friendly reception at the speech, which is hosted by the NT Chamber of Commerce. A recent survey of chamber members found 81 per cent ranked the Gunner Government’s economic performance as either extremely poor or poor.
Most believed Mr Gunner was doing a worse job than the previous CLP government and 30 per cent of respondents said they expected to cut their workforce this year.
The business community has put pressure on the Government to make cuts to its public service but Mr Gunner said yesterday that wasn’t a route he was willing to consider. Deep cuts to the public service would “cripple” the economy, he said.
“That would be an absolute handbrake on investment and a significant barrier to doing business in the NT,” he said.
A review of the NT’s dire economic state, released late last year, reported net debt would hit $35 billion in a decade unless the Government reined in spending. Opposition Leader Gary Higgins said Mr Gunner needed to come clean with a savings plan.
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