Victorian Labor pledges $1 billion to reserve 25,000 new homes for first-time buyers

Victorian Labor will earmark thousands of new houses and apartments on state-owned sites for first-time buyers under a $1 billion election promise, Premier Ben Carroll said at the Melbourne Assembly. The program allocates $500 million in land from Development Victoria and $499 million in Commonwealth grant funding to build 25,000 homes between 2027 and 2034, including projects on the Arden precinct, the old Footscray hospital and the Highett gasworks.

Roughly 15,000 dwellings will be constructed on land already owned by Development Victoria, with the balance on other government-held parcels spread across Melbourne’s suburbs and regional hubs such as Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and Latrobe. Prospective buyers will register on a central platform, submit expressions of interest and compete for the houses, which will be sold at market prices after completion. Labor frames the initiative as a supply-side measure to increase affordable housing, contrasting it with the Coalition’s plan to limit high-rise construction to a tighter “Capital City Zone.” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese highlighted the joint federal-state effort, and the Grattan Institute noted the seven-year timeline appears realistic.