JAMIE Milbourne and Amber Thornton are just one couple among what is expected to be a growing number of people who have been swayed by the state government's $30,000 first home builders' grant.
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According to the Treasury Department, the couple are one of 23 successful applicants to have received the grant so far and more are being processed.
Mr Milbourne and Ms Thornton have been renting at Newstead for the past three years and were looking for a home to buy when the government announced the grant last November.
``When this was announced, we really thought it was just lucky timing for us so we decided to apply,'' Mr Milbourne said.
He said there had been a lot of organising to do in deciding to build but he was more relaxed now that the process was under way and they were looking forward to living in a new home.
The couple will start building their three-bedroom home in the new Minerva Park Estate at Perth in March and, if all goes well, will move in during June.
Their builder Steve Graham, of G. & T. Developments, who is part of the Independent Builders Network, said they had received a number of inquiries from people wishing to take advantage of the grant but few had progressed as far as Mr Milbourne and Ms Thornton.
Mr Graham expected more serious inquiries to come at the end of the month when people returned to work.
Citing the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures to November 2013 and released yesterday, Premier Lara Giddings said confidence was returning to the housing market.
She said owner-occupier home loans for the state had increased by 2.4 per cent in trend terms to 898.
The $7000 First Home Owners Grant for existing homes expires at the end of June and the First Home Builders Boost will be available until the end of the year.
