Desperate to reflate the East Coast property bubble, developers have started offering first home buyers (FHB) vendor financing, with plans to link it with the Federal Government’s announced FHB loan subsidy scheme for 10,000 applicants a year:
The family behind the Melbourne-based Simonds, along with a handful of other wealthy building families, have already put $300 million into a scheme, modelled partly on WA’s successful Keystart program, to fund 3 per cent of the loan needed for a qualifying purchase, to help buyers who would otherwise struggle to raise the typical 20 per cent needed for a deposit.
The Simonds scheme has not yet started, but its backers have already been talking to Housing Minister Michael Sukkar about linking the two after the federal government scheme, which from January will guarantee qualifying home buyers 15 per cent of the funds needed to raise a deposit, said Simonds Group director Piers O’Brien.
