Karan Vasudeva partner Jyoti and son Shivain, 2.5 years old, are planning to leave Melbourne behind and build a new home in regional Victoria. Picture: Jay Town
Regional Victoria is bracing for a home building boom even as Melbourne’s construction industry is scaled back under stage four COVID-19 lockdown.
Builders and developers in regional centres from Geelong to Ballarat, Bendigo and beyond are reporting surging demand — including city-slickers looking to escape to the country.
Since June, the Master Builders Association of Victoria has noticed spikes in demand in Melbourne’s three nearest regional cities, as well as Shepparton and Wodonga.
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MBAV chief executive Rebecca Casson said it was possible the new normal of working from home had combined with the $25,000 HomeBuilder grant, and $20,000 in bonus grants for first-home buyers who build a home outside of the city, to rejuvenate the regions.
“The Victorian economy relies on building and construction and, with the industry in Melbourne scaled back, regional builders have stepped up to keep our economy ticking over,” Ms Casson said.
Regional Victorian builders are keeping the state’s economy ticking over.
Oliver Hume national head of research George Bougias said while land sales had strengthened over most of the state since early this year, in the Baw Baw Shire they were six times their February levels by the end of June.
Mr Bougias said estates in Warragul accounted for most of the sales, but that Pakenham-based buyers had shot past locals as driving sales and inquiry.
Villawood Properties boss Rory Costello said while demand in Melbourne had oscillated since March, areas like Bendigo and Ballarat had seen a “surge in sales”.
“The government has been trying to encourage people to live in peri-urban areas for a long time, and now COVID-19 has solved that problem,” Mr Costello said.
“People are seeing they don’t need to go to the office.”
He said the firm was running out of land in Bendigo and “frantically trying to get more stock to keep up with the demand”.
Burbank’s Kelly home design has been popular in Ballarat housing estates.
Burbank Group managing director Jarrod Sanfilippo said one in four of the home building firm’s buyers were now in regional Victoria, where sales had grown faster than in Melbourne since July.
Numbers are double what they saw in Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo at the same time last year.
“Some of these people may have previously had to commute to the city, but that may have all changed over the last few months,” he said.
“If you’re living in inner suburbs and wondering what the future holds, the lure of the regions is pretty strong at the moment.’’
Karan Vasudeva, his partner Jyoti and son Shivain, 2.5 years old, have bought a more than 600sq m block of land in Ballarat after deciding they needed more space than their 400sq m in a Melbourne estate.
The Vasudeva family are headed to regional Victoria for more space. Picture: Jay Town
While they bought the land in January, COVID-19 had since validated their decision and they were happy knowing building their dream home would help the state’s economic recovery.
Property Council of Australia Victorian executive director Cressida Wall said big ideas and innovation for regional Victoria needed to be a part of the state’s next development cycle with out-of-town commercial projects also positioned to boost the state’s virus recovery.
“Regional precincts, such as the Geelong Civic Precinct, will create opportunities for jobs, drive residential development, and support robust regional development,” Ms Wall said.
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