New incentives for first home buyers has seen young Ballarat City residents pounce on the chance to buy their own property.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Thirty, first home buyers have bought a property in the municipality in July and August.
There have also been three purchases in Hepburn Shire and two in Pyrenees Shire.
The state government introduced new laws that waived stamp duty for first home buyers on homes bought for less than $600,000 from July.
They were also eligible for up to $20,000 from the first home buyers grant for newly built homes.
Keeley Cornwell and Daniel Groch bought their first home together at Lucas.
Ms Cornwell said she saved nearly $23,000 on the purchase.
“We were able to build which was fantastic, because e were able to afford something we wouldn’t have otherwise,” she said.
“In all honesty I probably wouldn’t have bought at all (without the grants) because the deposit would have been too much at this stage.
“It would nearly have been impossible.”
The couple saved about $3000 on stamp duty and another $20,000 thanks to the first home buyers grant.
Ballarat City failed to reach the numbers as other regional centres like Greater Bendigo City, 35, Greater Shepparton City, 32, and Greater Geelong City, 45.
Moorabool Shire led the smaller council areas in the Central Highlands region with nine first home buyers making purchases.
It was followed by Golden Plains Shire, seven, Hepburn Shire, three, and Pyrenees Shire, two.
Recent buyers Shakira Beckers, 24, and Jake Cloke, 20, said the grants had allowed them to start building their new home sooner.
“It has allowed us to start building today and it allowed us to start so much quicker,” she said.
“Otherwise we would still have been saving, or we are fortunate to be building a designer included level house.
“We would have been forced to start at base range entry level house.”
Western Victorian opposition MP Joshua Morris said the government’s scheme had only assisted a small number of first home buyers.
“The small number of first home buyers who have been eligible for the program is indicative of the fact the government’s ad hoc scheme to relocate people is not working,” he said.
“We are going through the process now of developing our policies for the next election, but what we are committed to is a whole of government approach to decentralising Victoria to ensure the growth of regional cities like Ballarat.”
There were a total of 1000 first home buyer purchases across the state from July 1 to the end of August.