Which regions have the most homes eligible for HomeBuilder?

Melbourne, Australia. Photo by Fábio Hanashiro on Unsplash

New research from CoreLogic has found the regions with the most owner-occupied properties that might be eligible for HomeBuilder.

The Morrison Government's highly anticipated 'HomeBuilder' scheme was announced last week, to mixed reception, with a key criticism being that the criteria needed to qualify are too narrow. 

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 using it for an owner-occupied property, not an investment one. 
• Be building a new home worth less than $750,000 (this includes land value). 

To qualify for the $25,000 grant, two of the key criteria that need to be met are that the property must be owner-occupied and must be valued at under $1.5 million for renovations and $750,000 for buying newly-built homes. 

Building a home? The table below features construction home loans with some of the lowest variable interest rates on the market for owner occupiers.

With this in mind, new data from CoreLogic's Property Pulse shows the top 10 and bottom 10 regions by the number of owner-occupied properties worth less than $1.5 million. 

The data also takes into account a rough estimate of the portion of all family households that are below the $200,000 income limit for the HomeBuilder scheme, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) census data. 

It doesn't factor in the renovation size which still needs to be met, but below are the top 10 regions by eligible HomeBuilder properties. 

Top 10 regions by count of owner-occupied properties worth less than $1.5 million
State	Region	No. of properties	Median value of all properties	Portion of households with median income below $200,000
VIC	Melbourne - South East	157,364	$648,881	93.70%
WA	Perth - North West	145,889	$468,461	88.50%
VIC	Melbourne - West	141,444	$577,817	93.20%
QLD	Gold Coast	132,976	$550,152	93.30%
VIC	Melbourne - Outer East	130,307	$785,669	91.90%
WA	Perth - South East	121,696	$425,434	91.00%
SA	Adeaide - North	108,848	$357,520	96.90%
VIC	Melbourne - North East	108,354	$679,160	92.20%
ACT	ACT	106,909	$637,279	83.90%
WA	Perth - South West	105,948	$437,637	88.60%

Source: CoreLogic, ABS

"The data suggests that the highest number of owner-occupied properties is located in the Melbourne - South East region, which spans from Mount Waverley out to Bunyip," CoreLogic Head of Research Eliza Owen said.

"In fact, there are four Melbourne regions that have over 100,000 owner-occupied properties estimated to be valued under $1.5 million. These regions represent the fringe of the metropolitan area, and include some relatively low income areas compared to the inner-city regions of Melbourne.

"The Perth - North West region has the second highest volume of properties. The Perth - North West region spans from part of Glendalough, up to the Yeal Nature Reserve in the north."

The bottom 10 list tells a different story. 

According to CoreLogic, some regions, such as Sydney's Northern Beaches, have a large number of properties that surpass the $1.5 million property value cap, while others like outback and regional Australia have a low population of dwellings and are unlikely to take up the scheme anyway. 

"In fact, CoreLogic estimates there are about 4.4 million owner-occupied properties across Australia with a high confidence valuation below $1.5 million, but the federal government estimates the scheme may only support about 7,000 renovations Ms Owen said. 

"While part of this is the income cap put on the scheme, it is also due to the high value of renovations that is set in the eligibility criteria. The renovations qualifying for the HomeBuilder Scheme must be worth between $150,000 and $750,000.

"For areas where dwelling prices and incomes are relatively low, this may lead to owners over-capitalising on renovations, where they cannot recoup the cost of upgrades to the property."

Below are the bottom 10 regions by eligible HomeBuilder properties. 

Top 10 regions by count of owner-occupied properties worth less than $1.5 million
State	Region	No. of properties	Median value of all properties	Portion of households with median income below $200,000
QLD	Queensland - Outback	2,178	$160,972	93.1%
NT	Northern Territory - Outback	3,441	$373,764	92.2%
SA	South Australia - Outback	4,864	$177,986	95.8%
WA	Western Australia - Outback North	5,292	$309,441	81.8%
NSW	Sydney - Eastern Suburbs	5,395	$1,410,948	76.5%
TAS	South East	7,890	$379,666	97.8%
NSW	Far West and Orana	9,067	$189,543	95.9%
NSW	Sydney Northern Beaches	11,291	$1,598,316	77.6%
QLD	Darling Downs - Maranoa	11,681	$235,869	96.3%
WA	Western Australia - Outback (South)	13,545	232,592	91.9%

Source: CoreLogic, ABS

The HomeBuilder grant also cannot be used for additions to the property that are not connected to the home, such as swimming pools, tennis courts, outdoor spas and sheds.

The grant will be offered for contracts entered into between 4 June 2020 and 31 December 2020, and construction must be contracted to begin within three months of the contract date to be eligible.

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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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