HomeBuilder: All states and territories signed on, Tasmania accepting applications

^{Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash}

The Federal Government has come to an agreement with each state and territory to begin the HomeBuilder scheme.

The $25,000 grant was announced on June 4 to those building a new home or undertaking significant renovations, subject to eligibility criteria. 

Several state politicians had expressed concerns with the schemes administration and implementation, but the Treasury announced all states and territories were now signatories to the HomeBuilder National Partnership. 

Looking to build your own home? The table below features construction loans with some of the lowest interest rates on the market for would-be home builders.

Tasmania has been the first to announce it was now accepting applications for the Federal grant, as well as the $20,000 Tasmanian HomeBuilder Grant, available to those building new homes. 

Queensland said an online application for the Federal grant would be available shortly for contracts signed between 4 June and 31 December 2020. 

The Australian Capital Territory said information on the application process for the grant would be available online from the week beginning 13 July. 

Information on eligibility and application processes for all other states and territories will reportedly be available shortly through their respective websites.

To be eligible for the HomeBuilder scheme, you must:

• Be an Australian citizen aged 18 years or older and be an individual, not a company or trust.
• Be on an income of less than $200,000 for couples, and $125,000 for singles.
• Be spending between $150,000 and $750,000 on a renovation for a home that has been previously valued at less than $1.5 million.
• Be building a new home worth less than $750,000 (this includes land value). 

Read up on how to finance your HomeBuilder construction here. 

HomeBuilder driving record new housing demand

Data from realestate.com.au (REA) has revealed enquiries for new developments have surged since the announcement of HomeBuilder. 

The new REA Insights New Homes Snapshot for July shows enquiries to developers nationally jumped by almost 63% in June, with land estate enquiries experiencing a 93% lift over the month.

REA Group Executive Manager – Economic Research Cameron Kusher said the spike in June followed a 53.9% increase in May, suggesting the announcement of HomeBuilder led to a further surge in the already increasing interest in new properties.

“I expect to continue seeing high levels of enquiry to developers as buyers look to capitalise on government incentives and historic low borrowing costs that are currently available,” Mr Kusher said.

“First home buyer activity increased 28.5% in June when looking specifically at email enquiry on realestate.com.au, and it’s likely some of this activity was a result of the HomeBuilder stimulus announcement.

“It’s no surprise that land estate new development is benefiting from HomeBuilder given the package is geared towards new builds, there are restrictions on construction timeframes that inhibit apartment development, and the Australian dream is to own a house.”

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Disclaimers

The entire market was not considered in selecting the above products. Rather, a cut-down portion of the market has been considered which includes retail products from at least the big four banks, the top 10 customer-owned institutions and Australia’s larger non-banks:

• The big four banks are: ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac
• The top 10 customer-owned Institutions are the ten largest mutual banks, credit unions and building societies in Australia, ranked by assets under management in November 2020. They are (in descending order): Credit Union Australia, Newcastle Permanent, Heritage Bank, Peoples’ Choice Credit Union, Teachers Mutual Bank, Greater Bank, IMB Bank, Beyond Bank, Bank Australia and P&N Bank.
• The larger non-bank lenders are those who (in 2020) has more than $9 billion in Australian funded loans and advances. These groups are: Resimac, Pepper, Liberty and Firstmac.

Some providers' products may not be available in all states. To be considered, the product and rate must be clearly published on the product provider's web site.

In the interests of full disclosure, Savings.com.au, Performance Drive and Loans.com.au are part of the Firstmac Group. To read about how Savings.com.au manages potential conflicts of interest, along with how we get paid, please click through onto the web site links.

*Comparison rate is based on a loan of $150,000 over a term of 25 years. Please note the comparison rate only applies to the examples given. Different loan amounts and terms will result in different comparison rates. Costs such as redraw fees and costs savings, such as fee waivers, are not included in the comparison rate but may influence the cost of the loan.

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