In mid March 2021, the Housing Industry Association (HIA) published a media release regarding trends for new home sales in Australia.
The key findings of the report include data showing that new home sales in the three month period from Dec 2020 to the end of Feb 2021 had increased by 60.5%. This is compared to the same three month period from Dec 2019 to Feb 2020.
This surge in new home sales was largely attributed to the government HomeBuilder grant which was announced in Jun 2020. The Australian Government specified that construction for this grant must start within 6 months of approval for the grant. This has now been extended to 18 months.
The HomeBuilder grant
The HomeBuilder grant amount was $25,000 if contracts were signed between Jun and Dec 2020, or $15,000 if contracts were signed between Jan and Mar 2021. The final date to submit application is stated as 14 Apr 2021.
You can read more about the HomeBuilder grant for Queensland here.
For those that have been approved for the grant, the signing of paperwork for construction may have been delayed due to the requirements for construction commencing shortly after. This means that the full impact of the grant is still to be seen in coming months.
Property projections
Overall, the implications of this trend appears to be that buyer confidence in the property market has recovered and is much higher than during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
There is a trend towards new builds. What proportion of this is due to the Homebuilder grant, and what proportion is influenced by rising confidence in the stability of the property market in uncertain.
Certainly in Queensland, the influx of new buyers from the southern states, in particular Melbourne and Sydney areas has contributed to the increase in construction. South East Queensland is experiencing a property shortage for both private residences and rental properties.
It would appear that now is an ideal time for investors looking to maximise their returns, with tenancy occupancy rates higher than ever.
In addition, purchasing a property that could double as both a private residence and a rental property, such as a dual occupancy home with dual living is something to consider.
You can read more about dual occupancy home designs and builds here. Also to find out more about how Dual Key Homes makes it simple to purchase turnkey dual occupancy property in South East Queensland read this.
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