Scott Morrison says the success of the HomeBuilder program has gone far beyond his expectations, but the government has no intention of extending the scheme and will expire in March as planned.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The prime minister said there had been almost 82,000 applications for HomeBuilder grants, which assist either in the building of a new home or renovations of an existing property.
"The is a pipeline of work of some $18 billion," Mr Morrison told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.
That is at least two years of building work.
Late last year the scheme was extended to March, although the size of grants were trimmed from $25,000 to $15,000.
But Mr Morrison said the government won't be extending the scheme beyond March, when other stimulus measures are also due to expire.
"Whether it's JobKeeper, whether it's the COVID supplement on JobSeeker, all of these were designed as temporary, targeted, proportionate measures to stand in the gap in the crisis," he said.
"We're not looking at renting an economy in the future. We're looking at having an economy that stands strongly on its own two feet."
Master Builders Australia CEO Denita Wawn said HomeBuilder did not just save jobs in the industry, but also employment in building supply companies.
"It is no exaggeration to say that the industry was going to fall off a cliff," she told reporters.
"In our wildest dreams we never expected the success that we've had."
Low interest rates and housing incentives like HomeBuilder have helped propel home prices.
The boss of the nation's biggest lender expects the housing market will perform strongly this year, but does not anticipate prices becoming overheated at this stage.
Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn says unlike the 2014 housing bubble, it is not being driven by prices in Sydney or Melbourne, and demand from investors is about half of what it would be in overheated conditions.
"The growth we are seeing at the moment doesn't give cause for concern," Mr Comyn told ABC radio.
He said the market is predominantly being driven by first homebuyers coming into the market, aided by strong incentives like low interest rates.
Treasury deputy secretary Luke Yeaman told a Senate hearing that while there may be people struggling under rent stress, the rental market more broadly remains subdued despite stronger house price growth.
"So we are seeing relatively high vacancy rates and relatively weak rental price growth across the board," he said.
Australian Associated Press
