JASON CLARE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL SERVICES, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TERRITORIES
MEMBER FOR BLAXLAND
 
STEPHEN JONES MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT TREASURER
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES
MEMBER FOR WHITLAM


BIGGEST FALL IN NEW HOME LOANS IN HISTORY
  

For three months Labor has been telling the Government that the housing construction industry is about to go off a cliff.
 
The statistics released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics emphatically show that warning was correct.
 
New home loan commitments fell a record 11.6 per cent in May.
 
This is the biggest fall in the history of the ABS releasing these figures.
 
This massive drop in new home loans will lead to a drop in new housing construction and job losses in the housing construction industry.
 
Labor has called on the Government to roll out a comprehensive housing stimulus plan.
 
However, the Government’s HomeBuilder Scheme is too little and too late.
 
Too little – it is one tenth of the size of the housing construction stimulus plan that Labor put into place during the GFC.
 
Too late – five weeks after it was announced only people in Tasmania can currently apply to access the Scheme.
 
These record-breaking figures reveal just how bad the crisis is and why the Government needs to swallow its pride and fix its HomeBlunder Scheme.
 
This should include the five things Labor has repeatedly called on the Government to do:

1. Construction of more social housing;

2. Repair and maintenance of existing social housing;

3. Construction of more affordable rental accommodation for frontline workers;

4. Expansion of the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme for new builds; and

5. Grants to first home buyers who build their first home.

The Government has ignored Labor’s warnings, but this data can’t be ignored.