Bendigo is on track to smash its record for new home builds during a financial year, with 585 new dwellings registered to the end of 2020.
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According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 579 new houses and six townhouses or units were approved for construction between July 1 and December 31, 2019.
If data continued to follow this trend, the Greater Bendigo local government area is slated to approve the building of 1170 dwellings.
One thousand building approvals were registered in 2019/20, while 889 were signed off in 2018/19.
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Bendigo Real Estate principal Nekti Tzouroutis said the figures come as no surprise to him.
"Our office alone has sold more than 200 parcels of land since the government introduced its building incentives," Mr Tzouroutis said.
"There is such an appetite for land in Bendigo because it's still affordable compared to other regional centres and metropolitan Melbourne."
In June 2020, the federal government introduced a $25,000 HomeBuilder grant available for the construction new homes, where house and land were valued at less than $750,000, with the grant since reduced to $15,000.
The $20,000 First Home Owner Grant remains available to regional Victorians.
Lansell Homes sales manager Joanne Grae said the HomeBuilder grant helped incentivise construction in regional markets.
"We have sold everything we had and are fully booked out for eight months," Ms Grae said.
"There have been a lot of clients coming from Melbourne and strong interest from investors nationwide, who see Bendigo as an attractive place to buy."
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The 579 new home building approvals registered in 2020/21 are valued at $182.1 million, or an average of $314,600 per build.
In 2019/20, for 953 new homes, this value was $311,900.
DCK Real Estate director Matt Bowles said buyers' demand for land parcels has outstripped supply, with attention turning to established properties.
"First home buyers in particular, who can't secure land or available builders are turning back to established homes," Mr Bowles said.
"We are seeing an increase in price for those homes that are on the market, with extraordinary enquiry once listings are published."
PH Property director Brad Hinton said the First Home Owner Grant and HomeBuilder stimulus created market momentum.
"The result of that was that any land that was easy to build on, we couldn't get enough of it," Mr Hinton said.
"With only a small handful of land available in Bendigo, established properties priced up to $700,000 are receiving multiple offers within a week of listing.
"For properties below $450,000, there will be in excess of 20 to 30 emails received within 48 hours."
Bendigo's recent building approvals peak came in 2013/14, when 1107 approvals were granted, with that bumper year followed by 1042 approvals in 2014/15.
For property listings, check out Real Estate View, published every Friday and Saturday in the Bendigo Advertiser, or visit realestateview.com.au