Mr MITCHELL - 1998-02-24
Last year, the government launched the new home purchase assistance scheme. Can the minister tell the House how the scheme is progressing to date?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to inform the House how these packages are going. The packages, which were introduced on 1 July 1997, have been an outstanding success. They comprise HomeStart, HomeShare, Early Start and HomeNorth Assist and are based on tenant-shared equity loans, deposit assistance grants and interest subsidy grants. From the introduction of the scheme to January this year, there has been a sharp increase in the number of applications. Over 500 households have applied for assistance through these packages since that time. I have a graphical representation of the figures for HomeStart loan advances and other figures from July 1997 to January 1998. I table these graphs. The comparison is $3m last year with a little over $13m this year. In the 6 months, deposit assistance has risen an incredible amount. The number of loans has doubled in comparison with the same period last year.
Ms Martin: How often are you going to review it so that it is up to date and relevant?
Mr BALDWIN: We reviewed it in July last year. We introduced new packages. Where were you?
Members interjecting.
Mr BALDWIN: Madam Speaker, the public may think this is good news, as we do. The new HomeStart home loans have totalled some $13.4m. There have been 117 loans for properties in that time, including 25 for construction of new houses. Loans provided to Housing Commission tenants for cash sales totalled $10.7m - a further $1.49m in that area. The department has also paid out $2.3m in stamp duty concessions over that period. There is no doubt that the HomeNorth assistance scheme leads the way in assisting Territorians to purchase their own homes. That is an important component of the economic and social fabric of the Northern Territory and certainly adds to the stability of the economy. I thank the member for Millner for highlighting the success of this program and I will keep members opposite updated in the future.
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ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to inform the House how these packages are going. The packages, which were introduced on 1 July 1997, have been an outstanding success. They comprise HomeStart, HomeShare, Early Start and HomeNorth Assist and are based on tenant-shared equity loans, deposit assistance grants and interest subsidy grants. From the introduction of the scheme to January this year, there has been a sharp increase in the number of applications. Over 500 households have applied for assistance through these packages since that time. I have a graphical representation of the figures for HomeStart loan advances and other figures from July 1997 to January 1998. I table these graphs. The comparison is $3m last year with a little over $13m this year. In the 6 months, deposit assistance has risen an incredible amount. The number of loans has doubled in comparison with the same period last year.
Ms Martin: How often are you going to review it so that it is up to date and relevant?
Mr BALDWIN: We reviewed it in July last year. We introduced new packages. Where were you?
Members interjecting.
Mr BALDWIN: Madam Speaker, the public may think this is good news, as we do. The new HomeStart home loans have totalled some $13.4m. There have been 117 loans for properties in that time, including 25 for construction of new houses. Loans provided to Housing Commission tenants for cash sales totalled $10.7m - a further $1.49m in that area. The department has also paid out $2.3m in stamp duty concessions over that period. There is no doubt that the HomeNorth assistance scheme leads the way in assisting Territorians to purchase their own homes. That is an important component of the economic and social fabric of the Northern Territory and certainly adds to the stability of the economy. I thank the member for Millner for highlighting the success of this program and I will keep members opposite updated in the future.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016