More than 8,000 Australians have expressed interest in the government’s new HomeBuilder scheme offering $25,000 grants for home renovations.
The $688million federal program announced on Thursday provides subsidies for homeowners with a property worth up to $1.5million if they spend $150,000 to $750,000 doing up their property.
The scheme is expected to inject $15billion into the economy and help pull the construction industry out of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the four days since going live the government’s preliminary HomeBuilder website has already recorded more than 130,000 visits.
Property experts say homeowners in Brisbane, Melbourne’s outer suburbs, and Sydney’s suburbs at least 25km from the city centre are the most likely to qualify for the grants.
Western Australians also have been given access to $20,000 cash grants from their state government to anyone building a new home, including properties in a development under construction.
Construction workers work on a housing development in Kellyville west of Sydney in March. More than 8,000 Australians have already expressed interest in the government’s new HomeBuilder scheme offering subsidies for home renovations
While applications for the grants will not open until the states and territories sign up to the program, Australians can register their interest in the scheme using the official website.
Prospective renovators in Victoria and Queensland are leading the way in notification requests with 2,279 and 2,077 registrations respectively.
‘The government expects HomeBuilder will be overwhelmingly supported by first-home buyers, many on lower incomes, looking at purchasing a house-and-land package and growing families seeking to upgrade to a larger new home,’ housing minister Michael Sukkar told The Australian.
‘It will of course include, in some cases, people who will undertake a substantial rebuild of their existing home to meet their future needs.’
One of Australia’s leading construction bosses meanwhile said while the scheme’s eligibility criteria may act as a barrier to some, the industry could not complain about a welcome government stimulus.
‘The situation had been very dire… [we have] won a car and we’re not going to argue,’ Simonds Group chief executive Kelvin Ryan said.
A foreman works on a house renovation on Thursday after the HomeBuilder grant was announced. The $688million scheme is expected to inject $15billion into the economy
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Prime Minister Scott Morrison speak to the media at a construction site in Brisbane in November
Housing experts have predicted a surge in renovations under the HomeBuilder scheme in wealthy suburban areas such as Forestville on Sydney’s northern beaches – where the median house price is just under the government’s $1.5million cap.
This area, overlooking Middle Harbour and the Roseville Bridge, is also home to former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott.
Sydney’s median price stands at $1million, which means the newly-built house would have to be at least 25km west of the city to qualify, in a western suburb such as Toongabbie where the median house price is $730,000.
Daniel Walsh, the director of the Your Property Your Wealth buyers’ agent, said suburbs in the city’s outer south-west were more likely to see an ignition in building activity.
Under the government’s new HomeBuilder scheme, home owners with a property worth up to $1.5million are entitled to a $25,000 grant – provided they spend $150,000 to $750,000 doing up their house or apartment. Pictured is a house at Forestville on Sydney’s Northern Beaches where the median price is $1.4million
‘With the maximum price point for the HomeBuilder program set at $750,000, I believe it will be the more affordable areas that will benefit the most,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘My picks in Sydney would be the west and south-west.
‘In some cities, like Sydney and Melbourne, that won’t buy you much real estate anywhere close to the city, but in others, like Brisbane, it will.
‘However, in outer ring and regional areas, where property prices are more affordable, the numbers change and with it so do the opportunities.’
In Melbourne, where the median house price was $809,274 in May, HomeBuilder recipients could qualify building a new home closer to the city compared with Sydney.
‘Melbourne’s western and south-eastern suburbs are set to strengthen from this new activity and demand,’ Mr Walsh said.
That means someone could build a new home in Laverton North, 15km west of the city where the median house price is $733,428 or Scoresby 20km east of downtown Melbourne where the mid-point is $746,926.
Those building a new home in Brisbane have more choice, in a city where the median house price was $559,975 in May.
The other part of the $680million HomeBuilder scheme is giving out $25,000 grants to those who build a new home, worth up to $750,000 as a house and land package. That means someone could build a new home at Scoresby (house pictured) 20km east of downtown Melbourne where the mid-point is $746,926
Major regional centres are also expected to benefit, including Newcastle north of Sydney where the median price of a house at Hamilton near the city is $677,583.
The HomeBuilder scheme is the government’s fourth stimulus program to tackle the coronavirus-induced economic downturn.
The package was unveiled on Thursday, a day after official national accounts data showed a 0.3 per cent contraction in the March quarter, the first since early 2011.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg confirmed Australia was most likely already in recession, for the first time since 1991, with the June quarter figures expected to show another shrinkage in gross domestic product.