Tasmania begins accepting HomeBuilder applications

The federal government has reached an agreement with all states and territories to administer its $688-million HomeBuilder scheme.

It has announced that all states and territories are now signatories to the HomeBuilder National Partnership.

The HomeBuilder package will be implemented via the national partnership agreement with state and territory governments. According to the Treasury, this approach will use existing state and territory mechanisms to distribute HomeBuilder payments.

When the states and territories begin to accept HomeBuilder applications, they will backdate acceptance of these applications to 4 June 2020.

Following the signing of the national partnership agreement, the State Revenue of Tasmania has announced that it is now accepting applications for the Tasmanian, as well as the federal, HomeBuilder grants.

The Tasmanian HomeBuilder grant is a $20,000 grant available to owner-occupiers for eligible new home builds where the contract is signed between 4 June and 31 December 2020, inclusive.

Meanwhile, the Queensland government has announced that an online application form will soon be available for Queensland home owners signing contracts between 4 June and 31 December 2020 to build a new home or substantially renovate an existing home.

The Queensland government was the last state government to provide its support to the federal government for the HomeBuilder scheme.

The ACT government will release information on the application processes for the scheme through the ACT Revenue Office from the week beginning 13 July.

The NSW, Northern Territory, Victorian, South Australian and Western Australian governments have said that further information on eligibility and application processes for those wishing to access the scheme will be made available shortly through their respective revenue offices or the department of finance.

Speaking to Mortgage Business on the HomeBuilder package, Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar said: “HomeBuilder is proving to be the catalyst for first home buyers and families to purchase a new home, or undertake a major rebuild, that they may have put off earlier in the year.”

“Since the announcement of HomeBuilder, there has been huge interest from around the country, with more than 38,000 Australians registering their interest in the program.”

He added that while each state and territory are currently implementing their own grant application processes and payments, eligible home buyers who enter into a building contract for a new home or rebuild between 4 June and 31 December 2020 will receive a grant.

The HomeBuilder package provides eligible owner-occupiers, including first home buyers, with a grant of $25,000 to build a new home or substantially renovate an existing home where the contract is signed between 4 June and 31 December 2020.

A national price cap of $750,000 applies for new home builds, while a renovation price range of between $150,000 and $750,000 has been set for renovating an existing home with a current value of no more than $1.5 million.

The announcement of the package has seen buyer appetite for new homes rise, with data published by the REA Group revealing that enquiry to property developers has grown by 62.8 per cent in June, while land estate enquiries has surged by 93 per cent.

Commenting on the findings, Cameron Kusher, REA Group’s executive manager, economic research, said: “Although HomeBuilder has received some criticism, mostly around the requirements for the renovation aspect of the stimulus, it is clear that it is helping to drive demand for new housing.”

[Related: Plunge in building approvals ‘only the start’]