Labor announces new regional first-home buyer scheme, with $28k boost for Geelong house hunters

First-time Geelong home buyers could be handed more than $20k under a new Opposition promise.

A federal Labor Government will hand Geelong first-home buyers a $28,000 boost under a new housing support scheme election pledge announced by leader Anthony Albanese on Friday.

With a May Federal Election looming – but a date yet to be called - Mr Albanese on Friday unveiled his pitch to regional first-home buyers, with the Regional First Home Buyer Support Scheme.

The scheme will help 10,000 regional first home buyers annually, by removing the need to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance with a deposit of up to five per cent – with a Labor Government guaranteeing up to 15 per cent of the value of properties purchased.

The scheme – reserved for Australians who have lived in that region for more than a year – will save Geelong residents up to $27,946 on properties worth up to $700,000.

Mr Albanese spruiked the new scheme as tripling the number of places received by regional Australians last year under the current First Home Loan Deposit Scheme.

Labor Leader Anthony Albanese on the campaign with Chris Bowen. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

“We want to help people to get into homeownership,” Mr Albanese said to media on Friday. “It shouldn’t be the impossible dream, which is what it’s fast becoming at the moment.”

Infrastructure Australia last week released its 2022 Regional Strengths and Infrastructure Gaps report, finding housing was one of the biggest infrastructure problems faced by the regions.

House prices across the region have skyrocketed in recent years, with the median house price in the Geelong region rising by 17.6 per cent ($114,000) in the year to March, where it now sits at $760,000.

PropTrack median house price growth to March showed significant rises in many popular suburbs, including a 39.7 per cent jump in Torquay ($1.25m), 27.8 per cent rise in Clifton Springs ($677,333), 26.5 per cent in Hamlyn Heights ($728,000) and 24.1 per cent in Mount Duneed ($738,500).

The biggest price bracket for properties in the Geelong region is $700,000 to $1m where there are 385 houses and units currently on the market, reflecting growing values in the region.

There are 379 properties – including houses and units - listed in the price bracket from $500,000 to $700,000.

CoreLogic’s monthly Hedonic Home Value Index, which estimates the changing value of Australian property, shows the median dwelling value in Geelong reached $798,993 at the end of February, only $1000 shy of the median value recorded in Melbourne.

While the rate of growth is slowing, the annual growth is still 23 per cent.

That reflects the substantially higher rate of growth experienced in regional Australia in the past year, while in particular Melbourne has languished due to the impacts of Covid lockdowns and affordability pressures.

Originally published as Labor announces new regional first-home buyer scheme, with $28k boost for Geelong house hunters