HomeBuilder Program has been extended

On the 23 November 2020 the Commissioner of State Taxation announced the extension of the HomeBuilder Program commencement timeframe by 3 months from the 31 of December 2020 to 31 March 2021.

This is great news for everyone wanting to build or rennovate in the new year.

The changes to the HomeBuilder Program include:

• A $15,000 grant for building contracts (new builds and substantial renovations) signed between 1 January 2021 and 31 March 2021, inclusive.
• Applicants that sign before the 31 December 2020 are still eligible to receive $25,000.
• The deadline for all applications to be submitted for both amounts above ($25,000 & $15,000) has been extended. Applications can now be submitted up until 14 April 2021 (inclusive). This will apply to all eligible contracts signed on or after 4 June 2020.
• The construction commencement timeframe has also been extended from 3 months to 6 months for all HomeBuilder applicants. This applies to all eligible contracts signed on or after 1 January 2021 and can also be backdated and applied to all contracts entered on or after 4 June 2020.

In other news, with the Reserve Bank passing on a 0.15{b8e7c7f951a33340f874b6d86f318d9ec4412e46b7f65591a459ed670b119c83} Rate Drop on Melbourne Cup day, most lenders have responded with a drop in their Fixed Rate offerings.

This has resulted in rates as low as 1.98{b8e7c7f951a33340f874b6d86f318d9ec4412e46b7f65591a459ed670b119c83} fixed for 4 years!

A few lenders have declared this as the lowest rates they have ever offered.

Variable rates remain largely unchanged with quite a few lenders hovering around the 2.5{b8e7c7f951a33340f874b6d86f318d9ec4412e46b7f65591a459ed670b119c83} range and at least one offering 2.29{b8e7c7f951a33340f874b6d86f318d9ec4412e46b7f65591a459ed670b119c83}.

With the extended provisions of the HomeBuilder Program and interest rates at their all time low, now is the time to discuss your future options to fully utilise any available grant monies.

If you have existing debt, now is the time to think about fixing all or part of your debt!