Western Australian government unveils new $20,000 cash grant to anyone building a new home – and it doesn’t matter if it’s an investment property
- $20,000 grants to build, buy and renovate homes in Western Australia
- Even foreign investors can get the $20,000 in public money to build a new home
- $444 million to prop up housing construction sector jobs
- Three quarters of the cash grants will go to remote Aboriginal communities
- Investment properties will qualify and it’s not means tested so anyone can apply
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
A wave of home-building and renovation work is the goal of a $444 million stimulus package unveiled by the West Australian government as it struggles to pull the state economy out of a coronavirus-induced downturn.
The bulk of the package is $319 million to build, buy, renovate and maintain social housing across the state, including at remote Aboriginal communities.
But the talking point is $117 million worth of $20,000 cash grants to anyone building a new home, including properties in a development under construction, that they plan to either live in or own as an investment.
Community Housing Limited workers building housing in remote Western Australia. CHL manages housing in more than 17 towns including seven remote Aboriginal communities and is likely to benefit from the new housing grant
Premier Mark McGowan said the grants were available to foreign and interstate investors.
Mr McGowan defended the decision to not means test applicants or apply property value caps, saying the package was about stimulating the construction sector, which had seen few contracts signed in the past two to three months.
“While it may mean that some people on some higher incomes may be the beneficiaries, the main point of it is to get people back to work, to get apprentices on the job, to keep trainees there and to get more people employed,” Mr McGowan told reporters on Sunday.
“You can always consider means testing and perhaps in a non-pandemic environment that’s what you’d do but … we need to get building happening.”
He urged all local councils to speed up approvals.
Applicants must sign up by the end of the year and can also vie for the federal government’s $25,000 HomeBuilder payment announced last week.
The remote community of Djugerari, WA, 110km southeast of Fitzroy Crossing in the northern Great Sandy Desert. The bulk of the new grant will go to build remote Aboriginal housing
Construction workers building a house in Sydney in 2018. The West Australian government wants to protect jobs in housing construction so it is giving free money to home builders
Remote Biridu south of Fitzroy Crossing in WA, near Winjana Gorge. Those building homes in remote communities such as this will get $319 million out of the $444 million grant
First home buyers can also apply for the state government’s existing $10,000 grant and stamp duty concessions, bringing the total potentially available to them to almost $70,000.
Housing Industry Association WA director Cath Hart said West Australia had the nation’s shortest project pipeline of just 13 weeks, and construction sector workers and tradespeople would be “breathing a sigh of relief”.
The state government says now is the time to build a residence while interest rates are at record lows.
The WA economy is forecast to slump into recession next financial year, with the pandemic delivering a $12 billion hit.
No new cases of the virus emerged overnight on Saturday, leaving the state’s active cases at 31.