The Federal Government today announced the new HomeBuilder grant, which will provide eligible owner-occupiers with a grant of $25,000 to build a new home. The grant will apply to owner-occupiers, including first home builders and also is available for owner-occupiers in a position to substantially renovate their existing home. The new home building grant is designed to help the residential construction market as the nation recovers from a COVID-19-induced recession.
The grants will be available in Mackay as soon as the Queensland Government signs the National Partnership Agreement with the Commonwealth Government and will close at the end of 2020. Construction must start within three months of the contract date. Importantly, the Federal Government has indicated the HomeBuilder grant will “complement existing State and Territory First Home Owner Grant programs, stamp duty concessions and other grant schemes, as well as the Commonwealth’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme and First Home Super Saver Scheme.”
Eligibility for the HomeBuilder grant
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 tax return or later; or $200,000 per annum for a couple based on both 2018-19 tax returns 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 does not exceed $1.5 million;
• Construction must commence within three months of the contract date.
