At NHBB we like to be up to date with the latest developments in our industry.

Earlier this month WA Premier and Treasurer Mark McGowan handed down the 2021-22 State Budget.  This blog is an update on how the budget announced in September impacts the housing industry and residential construction in Western Australia.

• Mark McGowan announced these 2 significant decisions that affect the housing industry here in WA:There is an extension to both the construction start date for the Building Bonus and the transfer duty rebate scheme for off-the-plan apartment purchases.
• There will be a $750m investment in social housing.

Here are the main budget decisions affecting residential construction.

Building Bonus

The construction commencement requirement for the Building Bonus for detached and eligible off-the-plan homes is now to be extended from 12-months to 18-months after signing the contract.  This brings the commencement timeframe for WA’s Building Bonus scheme into line with the commencement timeframe for the Commonwealth’s HomeBuilder scheme.

What does this mean for you?

Your new home foundations now must be laid and applications received for detached homes by 30 April 2023. The previous date was 30 December 2021.

 What else have they done to help you get the building bonus?

The Government has also allocated an additional $9m over two years to increase the number of staff processing Building Bonus and HomeBuilder grant applications.

So far, 26,058 applications for the Building Bonus have been received, and 10,772 had been paid. So the more people processing your application, the better.

Off-the-plan apartments

The budget includes a 2-year extension of the stamp duty rebate for off-the-plan apartment purchases. The stamp duty will now be at a reduced rate of 50% (it is currently at 75%), capped at $50,000 for owner-occupiers and investors who sign pre-construction contracts between 24 October 2021 and 24 October 2023.

Social housing and homelessness

There will be an $884m investment into social housing across Western Australia. This significant investment will not help provide more housing for vulnerable West Australians, and also ensure a steady pipeline of work for our Housing and residential construction sector.

Training

There will be a $48m investment into Vocational Education and Training (VET) places in schools providing an extra 8000 young West Australians to enter the residential construction workforce. Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications have been developed with the specific goal of preparing students with skills for work, and in this case, the construction industry.

So, this is great news in regards to our skills shortage in the construction industry.  This will help you get your next luxury home built with less of a Trade skills shortage!

Keystart

There will be $2.5m over 2021-22 and 2022-23 to replace Keystart’s loan origination platform and develop software to accelerate loan discharges. This is good because it will help more first home buyers get their loan more quickly which will help the housing market to grow for years to come.

The WA state budget that was announced earlier this month has some fantastic news for those wanting to build their dream homes. There has been an extension on the construction start date and off-the-plan stamp duty rebate scheme which will leave you with more time to get your foundations down, and more money in your pocket if you want to invest in off the plan apartments!

If you would like to know more, book a free discovery meeting on how these changes can help you get your new dream home.

What Tristan has to say:

"This extension helps the industry to try and get as many of these homes to site to meet all deadlines.

Consumers need to be aware that builders cannot continue to have price rises in materials without passing on the cost to the consumer.

Steel and timber prices continue to rise.

My advice to anyone who has signed up more than 45 days ago, is to confirm with the builder what sort of price increase you may expect.

If you are expected to go to site 2022 and signed up with a builder in 2020 or 2021, be aware that the industry has had big cost increases in that time. We are here to help and can provide full builder cost comparison and budget analysis with our build cost calculator."

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