Page 2713 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 June 2010
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At this stage we expect the first of the blocks in Wright to be able to be built on in the second half of the next calendar year; in other words, from this time on, from this date on, in 2011 onwards. There will be blocks building capable and we believe that appropriate in a context of a forward plan for land release and everything that runs from maintaining land release that would be at the level consistent with our land supply which, in this year, will be in excess of 4,200, including the blocks at Wright.
Technically, my advice is that there is no issue. It certainly imposes the need for some additional discipline but there is no issue, in a technical, legal or practical sense, for the sale of this land at this particular point in its planning and development.
MR SPEAKER: Ms Le Couteur, a supplementary question?
MS LE COUTEUR: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Minister, are people currently purchasing land in these suburbs without knowing exactly where the blocks are, where they are sited and what the necessary excavation costs will be for building?
MR STANHOPE: As to some of the aspects of the site, I will take specific advice on that, Ms Le Couteur. But in the context of an auction and a ballot, the auction that has been held and the ballot which is part-completed and underway, I would be surprised if there was not, in the most general sense, a clear understanding, by those that bid and paid the amounts of money that they have, that they know within a very broad sense exactly and precisely where it is that they are purchasing. But for the sake of absolute certainty, Ms Le Couteur, I will take that question on notice.
MR SESELJA: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Seselja.
MR SESELJA: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Minister, how many of the blocks sold so far in Wright does the ACT government consider to be affordable for first homebuyers?
MR STANHOPE: I am not aware that any of the blocks that have been sold to date fall within the affordability definition. But, at the end of the day, of all blocks sold in Wright, 20 per cent will be affordable within the definition of house and land for under $320,000. It is probably a nice question to ask: of those sold to date, how many are affordable? That is not the way it works. Overall, 20 per cent of all homes sold in Wright, 20 per cent of all homes sold in Coombs, 20 per cent of all homes sold in Crace and Forde will be affordable.
It is interesting that just last week a new indicator of affordability was released, one that has not previously been utilised within the market, which reveals the proportion of houses in each jurisdiction sold with an affordability definition of, say, $300,000 for house and land. The ACT and New South Wales lead that indicator by a significant margin. Its consistency with the ACT government’s policies in relation to affordability is interesting, in that only in the ACT and New South Wales was there anywhere near that proportion of houses, in other words, 15 per cent—and it was
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