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Australia hopes to boost the construction industry with a new program Covid-19 HomeBuilder Grant

The Australian Government has introduced a HomeBuilder grant to provide financial assistance for Australians in response to COVID-19. It will not only assist eligible owner-occupiers but intends to assist in lending a hand to the construction industry following the pandemic.

The new program offers a grant of $25,000 to eligible owner-occupiers to build a new home or substantially renovate an existing home.  If applicants enter a contract to build a new home, it must be valued less than $750,000 whereas applicants renovating an existing home must have construction costs between $150,000 and $750,000 and the final value of the property must not exceed $1.5 million

Home owner-occupiers must meet the following eligibility criteria to access the HomeBuilder grant.

  1. Applicants must be individuals and not acting as a company or a trust. They must be an Australian citizen and at least 18 years old.
  2. Applicants must not be residential investors.
  3. An individual applicant must meet the income cap of $125,000 per annum based on their 2018-2019 taxable income and couples must meet the joint income cap of $200,000 per annum based on their 2018-2019 taxable income.

The grant will be available to eligible owner-occupiers where the contract for sale is signed between 4 June 2020 and 31 December 2020 but construction must commence within three months of the contract date.

The HomeBuilder grant is a time-limited program so if you are interested in building a new home or renovating an existing home you should take advantage of the new scheme while you can. To find out more, contact our team today.