Casey first home boom

By Kelly Yates
CASEY is booming with more than a third of the state’s first home buyers choosing the municipality as their place to call home.
For the first time in Victoria’s history more than 5000 people bought their first home last month – 1800 settling in Casey.
Darren Burke from Grants Estate Agents in Berwick said people were choosing to live in the City of Casey because of its good value. “We are further out of Melbourne and have the same houses here as they do closer to the city but for a couple of hundred thousand dollars less,” he said.
Mr Burke, who lives in Berwick, said he was first attracted to the area because of its parklands, local restaurants and schooling options.
He said one of the hot spots for first home buyers in Casey was Berwick South, which is the fastest growing area in the municipality. He said many of the first home buyers were people who had recently migrated to the country. “Not all of the first home buyers are young couples wanting a three-bedroom house under $350,000,” he said. “A lot of these new residents are looking at spending $400,000 for a good family-size house.”
Between 1 July and 30 September, the combined federal and state first-home buyers grant increases to an unprecedented $32,000, including $18,000 from the Victorian Government, for a new home in metropolitan Melbourne and $36,500, including $22,500 from the Victorian Government, for a new home in regional Victoria.
Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan said the actions of the Brumby and Rudd Governments, combined with low interest rates, would continue to fuel first home buyer activity.
“The continuation of the first-home buyers grant has ensured that despite the global financial crisis, people’s dreams of buying and building their first home are coming true in Casey,” he said.