Federal Government introduces the Homebuilder Scheme
Stuart Marsh, reports for Nine News about the new Homebuilder Scheme in “HomeBuilder Scheme Explained: How to access $25,000 for home renovations”. It’s a good read and has a nice infographic. The scheme is unfortunately quite narrow and there’s so many rules that it quickly becomes confusing.
I’m going to try to summarise the main gotchas but for all the details, read the article or the factsheets on the Australian Government website linked to at the end of the article. You can get $25,000 from the government for new builds and renovations for your principal place of residence (no investment properties).
New Build Gotchas
The value of the new home including land must be worth $750k at most
Renovation Gotchas
Must be “to improve the accessibility, safety and liveability of the dwelling” which rules out swimming pools, spas, saunas, sheds, unconnected garages and tennis courts.
Renovation contract cost must be between $150k and $750k and the value of the existing property (house and land) cannot exceed $1.5 million.
Means Testing Gotchas
For an individual applicant, the income cap is $125k p.a. based on your 2018-2019 tax return or later
For a couple, the income cap is $200k combined income
The scheme is suitable for those looking to purchase a house and land package, an off-the-plan apartment or a new build. It can help renovators too. I generally feel positive about the package. I know many hoped it would apply more broadly and have less gotchas but it’s understandable that the government needs to limit spending after all the spending they've had to do with JobKeeper, JobSeeker, etc. I just hope it goes far enough to help out the building industry who are hurting right now.
Useful Pages on the Australian Government Site:
Factsheets - these both go into detail regarding eligibility: