A Victorian woman’s dreams of buying her first home have been crushed after the developer demanded an extra $120,000 to build her townhouse.

Jillian Edelsten spent five years saving before putting down a deposit on a home in the Provenance Estate in Bendigo.

She jumped at the chance to purchase when the Federal Government announced its HomeBuilder grant, worth $25,000, during the pandemic.

Ms Edelsten signed up for a $270,000 house and land package in mid-2020, with the home initially due to be completed by May 2021.

But after several delays, the builder has pulled out of the development.

“They just sent us a letter basically just stating that the builder wasn’t going ahead with the project, and that we had three options,” Ms Edelsten told Dee Dee.

“The three options were to get a new builder, and that would cost $120,000 more than the house was currently worth … due to materials and labour shortages.

“The other two options was to sell the land back to the developer, or to have them sell it for us on the open market.

“The land was worth $90,000 and they’re offering $109,000 back on my particular block. I’ve done some research and apparently that’s undervalued.

“I just feel like all the three options are completely in the developer’s favour.”

Press PLAY below to hear Jillian’s devastating story