Summary
With the recently introduced economic response to coronavirus, the HomeBuilder scheme provides eligible owner occupiers (including First Home Buyers) with a grant of $25,000 to build a new or off the plan home or substantially renovate an existing home. HomeBuilder was introduced to assist the residential construction market by encouraging the commencement of renovations and new home builds. HomeBuilder is a time-limited grant program.
Eligibility
To access HomeBuilder, owner-occupiers must meet the following eligibility criteria:
- you are a natural person (not a company or trust);
- you are aged 18 years or older;
- you are an Australian citizen;
- you meet one of the following two income caps:
- $125,000 per annum for an individual applicant based on your 2018-19 taxable income or later; or
- $200,000 per annum for a couple based on both 2018-19 taxable income or later.
- you enter into a building contract between 4 June 2020 and 31 December 2020 to either:
- build a new home as a principal place of residence, where the property value does not exceed $750,000; or
- substantially renovate your existing home as a principal place of residence, where the renovation contract is between $150,000 and $750,000, and where the value of your existing property (house and land) does not exceed $1.5 million (pre-renovation);
- construction must commence on or after 4 June and within three months of the contract date.
Process and timing
HomeBuilder will be implemented via a National Partnership Agreement with State and Territory governments. This approach will utilise existing State and Territory mechanisms to distribute the HomeBuilder payments.
When the States and Territories begin accepting HomeBuilder applications, they will backdate acceptance of these applications to 4 June 2020.
No matter where you are in Australia, if you would like to know more information on the HomeBuilder scheme please contact our friendly team for advice on (02) 4040 0910.