Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Ministers statements: housing

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:37): My government believes that every young Victorian deserves a fair shot at buying their own home. It might be a home that is somewhere near their job, or it might be somewhere near where they are studying a university or TAFE course or perhaps where they grew up, close to their networks and close to their family and loved ones, to get the support of that network, somewhere where they can belong and build a future that is their own. But right now we know that too many young Victorians are locked out not because they are necessarily doing anything wrong but because building a home has become harder. Building a home has become slower and more expensive than it needs to be, and that is why on this side of the house we have been focused on looking at how we can get more homes built in this state and building more homes so more young Victorians can build their futures.

This is why we have announced today that we are extending the off-the-plan stamp duty concession, stamp duty cuts, to get more homes built. This will provide a saving, on average, of $25,000 for a young person buying an apartment. We anticipate 5000 Victorians will have that opportunity under this tax cut. This is reform alongside the other reform that is going on. It is practical, it is going through the planning system and it is working. We know because we have listened to Victorians. We have listened to younger Victorians and we have listened to older Victorians as well, who want to see younger generations have the same opportunity they had to buy their first homes, start their families and build their futures in their own homes. But we know one of the reasons why not enough homes have been built is because there have been plenty of blockers. While we build, these blockers huff and puff and try and blow it all down. We will continue to back Victorians by getting on and working with the industry to build more homes.