Impact On HIA Due To Booming Immigration

I have been living in Australia for the past 7 years and I now find that the boom in immigration has a greater impact on some industries and sectors than on others. One such sector is represented by the Housing Industry Association, or HIA, for short.

1,000,000 New Homes!

Economic forecasters’ projections indicate that demand for new houses is sure to outstrip supply, largely due to increases in the number of immigrants. They estimate that more than one million new homes will be needed in the next five years to meet the demand due to current booming immigration.

Along with mushrooming immigration, additional factors which drive the growth in housing needs are:

• rising population - needs more houses
• rate of construction is below demand
• current interest rates

I read the latest news from the Housing Industry Association is that although there is sudden increase in the immigration numbers, the housing numbers ishows no sign of catching up.

With current social trends, many people - especially immigrants - prefer to live alone or at least with fewer people sharing a house. Nowadays people don’t like to be crowded in the same house and I feel that this decline in the number of people per house could also be a reason driving the need for housing - to meet the demand of a flood of immigrants.

Other factors that contribute towards the shortage in supply of housing are:

• release of land for housing is very limited
• investment funds available for housing is declining

Though demand for housing continues to rise, the supply of new houses is falling behind. There are various factors contributing to this but the primary reason is high interest rates in the property market.

Due to the recent record interest rates, there has been a greater slow down in the building of new houses. I have a house because I built it 7 years ago. Now in this current financial climate, its getting more and more difficult to think of owing even a small house.

My friend recently brought land for about $200K, then found that the estimated cost of building the house had jumped to about 300K. Since he could not afford to pay the higher prices of both land and house, the result is that the land is now vacant, without housing, and he still has high rents for accommodation, as well as paying mortgage costs.

We live in a major city in Australia and find that house prices grow rapidly day by day. Same with house rents which are on the increase. I feel it is vital that major steps must be taken towards meeting the housing demands due to increasing immigration - aimed at cutting these high prices - and would prevent people from facing a homeless future.

This also would increase the need for skilled construction workers and engineers to construct homes for meeting the needs of immigrants.

Brought to you by the Australian Immigration Experts at Synch1

All About First Home Owners Grant In Australia

What do the Australian First Home Owner’s Grant, and Police tracking down dangerous criminals, have in common? Both recognize how precious it is to have your own home…

It is a commonly known fact that the police team in search of criminals always keep a lookout near their home… Sooner or later the cozy comfort of a home and the love of it’s occupant is bound to drag the criminal back into home.

Such is the great attraction and affection a home generates that even the most stone hearted are compelled to return to it for a moment or two of solace. What better way to encourage responsible citizenship than to provide a safe harbour in which he moors his castle of fantasy?

Moreover, right since the beginning human society in general, and family groupings in particular have always felt the necessity of a shelter which could protect them from natural as well as man made storms.

Always striving to provide his family the much needed fortification the caveman zealously guarded the caves and even befriended the dog to perform the duties for him. Times have changed but the urge for shelter remains, and even today one of the major dreams of any human is to have a home of their own and settle down nicely and enjoy the vagaries of life.

It is not only the individual but also society which has understood and accepted the necessity of providing proper housing facilities to each of its members which would finally lead to a happy and content culture. Governments have taken this up on behalf of society and encourage individuals to construct and enjoy their own home.

The Australian Government too realized the need of a helping hand for its populace as far as home building was concerned and came up with unique promotional and incentive scheme which encourage the people to have a house of their own. The First Home Owner’s Grant scheme was thus created to encourage residence possession and also to create a conducive atmosphere for the industry infrastructure and thus the economy.

No Means-Testing

Coming into effect from July 2000, the First Home Owner’s Grant is an open-ended scheme which helps any first time home owner, irrespective of the price of the house being constructed. Thus one may construct a house worth $50,000 or $1,000,000 the amount of grant remains the same. The First Home Owner’s Grant is not means-tested and neither is it restricted by the cost of the proposed property.

How to Apply for a First Home Owner’s Grant?

The grant can be obtained through a number of lending institutions and banks that are a part of the approved agents list. Infact, the grant also provides the added incentive of an additional payment if certain criteria are met by both the spouses. This is also sometimes referred as the first home bonus. The best part of the scheme is that one is not required to apply separately for the bonus but is automatically entitles to it once the application for First Home Owner’s Grant is submitted.

Brought to you by the Australian Immigration Experts at Synch1