Home Builder: Your guide to the program

from Our Home Spring 2020

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BUILDING BONANZA

When the Federal Government announced its HomeBuilder grant for owner-occupiers, it created a housing boom in Greater Shepparton and all around Australia. Vacant blocks in Shepparton and surrounding areas were snapped up quickly.

Our Home caught up with Tatura’s Beth Seccull, 20, who seized the opportunity when the funding was announced and is about to become a homeowner.

If you are worried you have missed out on the grant, Sessions Builders sales manager Rocco Iaria believes there’ll be more titled land ready to be built on before Christmas.

STORIES: SPENCER FOWLER STEEN PHOTOGRAPHY: MEGAN FISHER AND SPENCER FOWLER STEEN

HOMEBUILDER KEEPS CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY ALIVE

On June 4, the Federal Government announced a time-limited scheme that gives eligible owner-occupiers a $25,000 grant to build a new home or to substantially renovate an existing home.

The measure is aimed at supporting jobs in residential construction amid the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is not limited to fi rst-home buyers, nor is there a limit to how many people can get HomeBuilder; however, applications need to be made between now and the end of the year.

For more information, visit: treasury. gov.au/coronavirus/homebuilder

To be eligible for the HomeBuilder grant you must: • Be an Australian citizen. • Be a person, not a company or trust. • Be aged 18 years or older. • Earn less than $125,000 a year for singles or $200,000 a year for couples based on 2018-19 or later tax returns. • Enter into a building contract between

June 4 and December 31, 2020 to either: • Build a new home, where property value (house and land) does not exceed $750,000; or • Substantially renovate your existing home, where the contract is between $150,000 and $750,000, and where the existing property value does not exceed $1.5 million.

Construction must begin within six months of the contract date.

Builder Greg Bicknell from Sessions Builders checking the plans with first-time home owner Beth Seccull.

GRANT MAKES BUILDING MORE APPEALING

At just 20 years old and having worked since leaving secondary school, Tatura’s Beth Seccull was in the market to buy her first home.

But when she read about the Federal Government’s HomeBuilder grant in the paper, suddenly building her own home became the more attractive option.

Beth, who has worked in childcare at Tatura Children’s Centre for the past four years, was looking to buy a house in Tatura close to where she works.

“I put a few offers in for houses in Tatura that weren’t accepted, then I read in the paper that they brought out the HomeBuilder grant to boost the economy, and that’s what made my decision to build,” she said.

With the new HomeBuilder grant, which provides $25,000 to help build a new home, plus the $20,000 First Home Owners Grant, Beth had an extra $45,000 in her pocket, not to mention waived stamp duty for properties valued up to $600,000.

But the next step wasn’t as simple as she thought.

“I wanted to build in Tat, but there were no blocks available,” she said.

Since the HomeBuilder grant was announced, vacant blocks of land in Greater Shepparton have been snapped up in a flash, creating a highly competitive market where many have missed out, according to Sessions Builders.

For Beth, who is taking on the whole project by herself, it meant seizing an opportunity to buy land in Kialla instead.

“I put my name on a piece of already titled land in the developed area of Sanctuary Dve.”

She is building a “three-bedroom, one lounge room basic first home”.

With the plans already with the drafts people, Beth hoped the build would start in a month, finishing up in April or May next year.

“I probably wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t had the grant because I wouldn’t have had the money,” she said.

“Plus for resale value, new houses sell better.”

Beth said Tim Sessions from Sessions Builders had been amazing in helping her find the block, with support from her bank manager and family as well.

Land shortage pushes grant out of reach

Since the HomeBuilder grant was announced in June, there has been an “explosion” of land getting snatched up across Greater Shepparton by prospective home builders looking to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

While almost all agree it’s good for the economy, the buying frenzy has resulted in a serious shortage of blocks to build on, hitting younger people looking to build their first home the hardest.

And with the December 31 HomeBuilder deadline looming ever closer, many people looking to buy land and homes will miss out on having $25,000 extra in their pockets.

Development Edge director Peter Mintern said people in Greater Shepparton had their fingers on the pulse the moment HomeBuilder was announced.

“We saw an explosion of people grabbing up land,” Mr Mintern said.

“The take-up rate has been extremely high in Shepparton, partly because $25,000 is significant in comparison to the affordable blocks of land here.

“The grant has been an incentive to get into the market, so I think it’s really tipped the scale.”

While Mr Mintern stressed it was a great incentive, bringing much-needed money into the economy, he said the market hadn’t sustained the supply.

“For example, we’ve got titled blocks available next to St Luke’s (Catholic Primary School), but we’re running out of lots there fast,” he said.

Sessions Builders director and site supervisor Clayton Sessions said a majority of its available land was snapped up quickly after the announcement.

“You’re up 25 grand, so people were grabbing up blocks to beat others,” Mr Sessions said.

“It was only about two or three weeks in that people started realising they’d missed out.”

But there’s still good news for those looking to use HomeBuilder.

Sessions Builders sales manager Rocco Iaria believes there will be “a lot” of titled land ready to be built on before Christmas, with additional blocks becoming available in January and February next year.

“There’s still time before the deadline, but we’re hoping the federal budget will extend this grant so people don’t miss out,” he said.

“People have become increasingly more frustrated they can’t get a house and land package because of the lack of titled land.

“I had three young couples recently desperately trying to find land, but there’s nothing titled within their price range.”

Mr Iaria said people who were already established in the housing market, including those in their 60s, had been quick to buy the land and make use of the grant.

“They’re lucky because they’re established — those looking to get into the market now will struggle,” he said.

Mr Iaria said if you were borderline just able to get into the housing market, but there was no land, you should instead consider waiting and saving money instead.

“There’ll be plenty of options soon,” he said.

HOUSING DREAM COMES TRUE FOR 21-YEAR-OLD

It was pure luck Shepparton’s Nathan Kyriakou called Sessions Builders when he did, because he managed to get his hands on the last piece of suitable land they had.

If it wasn’t for this serendipitous timing, Nathan wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the HomeBuilder grant fulfi lling his dream of building a house — something he’s been saving for the past four years.

At the young age of 21, Nathan works as a production manager in his family’s pallet business, K&S Pallets.

“I’ve been saving since I was 17 to build my fi rst house, but since the $25,000 HomeBuilder came into the picture, it was pretty much a no-brainer,” he said.

“I probably wouldn’t have started the build now without that.”

When Nathan heard about the grant, he quickly called Rocco Iaria from Sessions Builders.

“Luckily I rang Rocco when I did, because this was the last block of land available, otherwise I would’ve had to wait until next time,” he said.

“They couldn’t have made it more easy for me, they’ve been phenomenal.”

In addition to the $25,000 HomeBuilder grant, Nathan will be making use of the $20,000 First Home Owner Grant.

And because he has already saved up a 20 per cent deposit, there will be no stamp duty or mortgage lender’s insurance fee.

Nathan is building his four — bedroom brick house in North Shepparton as an investment rental property.

“Hopefully the rental will provide the $20,000 deposit for my dream home in Shepparton eventually,” he said.

Nathan is hoping to get the concrete slab poured before Christmas, when the builders go on break, but said the banks were “fl at out” with people buying properties, so it was taking a while to get the necessary approvals.

Rocco said there would still be titled land available before the December 31 HomeBuilder deadline, but many people would miss out due to shortages of titled land within their price range or desired area.