‘Won’t be for everyone’: Minister admits HomeBuilder not designed for renovators
With eligibility for HomeBuilder capped at valuations up to $750,000, there are concerns many new home builders will miss out.
Masterton Homes Executive Manager Bob Heymel told Mark Levy home builders in Sydney’s greenfield land have been cut out of the new scheme, and called on the government to ‘fine-tune’ its parameters.
“In broad terms, I think it’s an excellent initiative, but it doesn’t quite cover everyone. The devil’s in the details.
“For some of the people in the … southwest and northwest Sydney vacant land areas, if they’ve got a block of land for $500,000, they are going to be restricted to a $250,000 build, which not many builders can do.
“It will be quite restrictive.”
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In an attempt to answer questions around the new HomeBuilder program, Housing Minister Michael Sukkar admitted to Mark Levy there won’t be many renovators accessing the grants.
“70 per cent of the program will be people who purchase a new home.
“It won’t be for everyone, no doubt.”
When pressed on concerns around the short 90-day turnaround from contract signing to starting a project in order to be eligible for the grant, Mr Sukkar failed to provide clarity on the issue.
Instead, the Housing Minister suggested it would work best for people who have already started the council approval process but hadn’t yet signed a builder.
“NSW is certainly one of the tougher jurisdictions as far as getting council approvals,” admitted Mr Sukkar.
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Image: Getty