The Australian outback town of Quilby has announced it is offering free residential land to anyone making it a home that could attract 5 new families to this remote community of 800 people.
It comes after Quill Pea Town Council announced a new idea to overcome the housing shortage, an obstacle to filling jobs in the western Queensland cattle and sheep district, according to ABC News.
People who buy a plot of land, build a home on it for less than A$750,000 (US$560,000), and live on it for 6 months are eligible for a grant of A$12,500 (US$9,400).
With the fully serviced areas, totaling 1,000 square meters (about a quarter of an acre) sold for the same grant amount, the council will give up the land entirely.
The grant was the idea of council chief executive Justin Hancock, and the 30-year-old spent six months in a hut in the village when he first arrived this year due to a housing shortage.
Quilby recently needed many professions and jobs, from nurses, teachers, mechanics, butchers, apprentices, merchants and other jobs, and the board said it had received many inquiries during the past hours, most of which came from places as far away as Britain, India, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
The council stressed that homebuyers must be Australian citizens or permanent residents to qualify for the grant, and Hancock said: "If we can bring 5 new families to town, it will be a huge success for us."
Property prices have soared across much of Australia throughout the pandemic due to record low interest rates and extended lockdowns in the largest cities, such as Sydney and Melbourne, which have prompted residents to look for more spacious homes in smaller towns.
Most of the interest in this coronavirus-free town has come from the state capital, Brisbane, a city of 2.4 million people located on the Pacific Ocean 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to the east, but there has also been interest from Melbourne, where the lockdown has been extended for a while. Longer than any other city in the world.
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