Developers are rushing to offload some of their 16,623 abandoned or deferred apartment and townhouse projects in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to state housing departments as part of the federal Government's $6bn move to fund the purchase of up to 20,000 new dwellings throughout Australia.

Yesterday, a stampede of developers reacted to news from NSW Housing Minister David Borger and Premier Nathan Rees that the Government would buy DA-approved sites and partly-finished or newly completed residential projects around the state equating to 9000 dwellings.

By 2.30pm AEDT, the Government's e-tendering website had received 900 hits with 100 companies putting their names forward to be considered for the plan.

The Australian