Home at last in Bacchus Marsh

Nicole Fitzsimons had been wanting a piece of the Aussie dream for a decade.

But amid booming property prices, the dream of owning her own home was getting harder to turn into a reality.

The Caulfield woman had been renting for more than 10 years. But with one toddler, and another child on the way, she knew she needed the stability of owning her own home.

Ms Fitzsimons will settle on her four-bedroom Bacchus Marsh house in September after co-purchasing it with the state government under its pilot HomesVic program.

She needed to come up with a five per cent deposit for the $475,000 house. Under the program, Ms Fitzsimons is not allowed to sell her house for two years and it must be her principal place of residence. If she wants to turn it into an investment property, she will have to pay out the government’s share.

Last year, the state government announced it would co-purchase up to 400 properties, taking an equity share of up to 25 per cent of each.

“[This program] really suits us at the moment,” Ms Fitzsimons said. “I’m a stay-at-home mum and my husband is working … this was the only way we were going to get into the market really.

“Some people have said, ‘Are you comfortable with the government owning a part of your house?’. The way we look at it is, it’s either the government or the bank.”

Ms Fitzsimons said the program, which offers houses in several areas across the state, including Bacchus Marsh, encouraged her to look in suburbs she hadn’t previously considered.

Bacchus Marsh’s relative proximity to Melbourne’s CBD and Ballarat, where she hails from, was a big selling point, Ms Fitzsimons said.

The government is encouraging more aspiring home owners to apply for the HomesVic program.

A state government spokesman said the treasury and finance department would assess the merits of the pilot program once all spaces had been filled.

Metropolitan Melbourne

Houses

Townhouses

Apartments/Units

Box Hill n/a Filling Filling
Broadmeadows Filling Nearly full Filling
Dandenong Filling Filling Nearly full
Epping Nearly full Filling Nearly full
Fishermen’s Bend n/a n/a Nearly full
Footscray Filling Filling Nearly full
Fountain Gate – Narre Warren Nearly full Filling Filling
Frankston Filling Filling Nearly full
Latrobe Filling Filling Filling
Monash Filling Filling Nearly full
Pakenham Nearly full Filling Filling
Parkville n/a Filling Nearly full
Ringwood Nearly full Filling Nearly full
Sunshine Filling Filling Filling
Werribee Full Nearly full Nearly full

 

Peri-Urban Towns*

All Standard Residential Properties

Bacchus Marsh Filling
Kilmore-Wallan Filling
Kyneton-Gisborne Filling
Drouin-Warragul Filling

 

Regional Victoria*

All Standard Residential Properties

Ballarat Filling
Bendigo Filling
Castlemaine Filling
Geelong Filling
Latrobe City Filling
Mildura Filling
Seymour Filling
Shepparton Filling
Wangaratta Filling
Warrnambool Filling
Wodonga Filling

– with Domain