Of the 1,049 homes in Canberra contaminated with Mr Fluffy loose-fill asbestos, more than 800 homeowners have now accepted a government buyback offer and nearly 500 homes have already been surrendered to the government, reports Ron Bell, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of ACT. The houses will now be demolished as part of a $1 billion ACT Government buyback scheme.

"It's been a very difficult exercise but I think the government have done a very good job of handling it," said Bell. 40 years ago the company called Mr Fluffy insulated the ceilings of homes across the ACT and NSW with so-called asbestosfluf, a class 1 carcinogen with no safe level of exposure.

The 500 homeowners have now relocated. "From the perspective of what the market's doing here, 320 have purchased and used their stamp-duty waiver, where they don't pay stamp duty up to the value of the home they've sold to the government," said Bell. The ACT government is still negotiating with 40 homeowners. June 30 is the deadline.