New figures show tradies and home buyers in every state and territory have benefitted from the HomeBuilder grant. As of December 31, 2020, over 75,000 applications were made for a HomeBuilder grant. 80 per cent were for new homes.
"As a key driver of our comeback, Treasury estimates that HomeBuilder will now support up to $18 billion of residential construction projects," said Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing, Michael Sukkar.
"HomeBuilder was designed immediately to inject confidence and encourage buyers back into the market to offset the devastating effects of the pandemic on the residential construction industry," said Mr Sukkar.
"HomeBuilder has been the star in the Government's economic recovery plan since it was announced in June last year along with measures such as JobKeeper," Denita Wawn, CEO of Master Builders Australia said.
"The surge in new home construction being driven by HomeBuilder has averted the valley of death that was confronting residential builders and tradies due to the pandemic," she said.
"Without HomeBuilder thousands of small builder and tradie businesses would have gone under and hundreds of thousands of jobs would have been lost," Denita Wawn said.
The HomeBuilder scheme has been extended to March 31 but with some key changes, for example, the grant is now $15,000.
Other changes to HomeBuilder include:
- Building contracts for new builds and substantial renovations must be signed before March 31
- An extended deadline for all applications to be submitted, including those applying for the $25,000 grant and the new $15,000 grant. Applications can now be submitted up until April 14. This will apply to all eligible contracts signed on or after June 4, 2020.
- An extension to the construction commencement timeframe from three months to six months for all HomeBuilder applicants. This will apply to all eligible contracts signed on or after June 4, 2020.
- An increase to the property price cap for new build contracts in NSW and Victoria to $950,000 and $850,000, respectively, where the contract is signed between January 1 and March 31, 2021.
- The existing new build property price cap of $750,000 will continue in all other States and Territories.
Changes for builders are as follows:
- Where an eligible contract is signed on or after November 29, 2020, the builder must have a valid licence or registration before November 29, 2020.
- Where an eligible contract is signed before November 29, 2020, the builder must have a valid licence or registration before June 4, 2020.
The $25,000 grant will still be available for eligible contracts signed on or before December 31, 2020.