It comes after the latest Treasury figures show that demand for the HomeBuilder program has exceeded estimations.
“This is a demand-driven program, and we always were hoping that it could be as big as possible because new homes that are being built just means new jobs, from pouring the slab all the way up,” Sukkar said. “So, we were always very hopeful that it would be as big as possible.”
The minister said the program’s effects were being felt not just in the construction sector, but also had a flow-on effect to the manufacturing industry who make household fittings—ike glass, bricks, tile—and the timber industry which supplies the frames and the trusses.
It has also boosted the level of first home buyers to its highest peak in over a decade.
“It’s a win-win, it’s supporting jobs, its helping people get into their new homes, and the fact that the scheme has ended up being so big just means that those benefits have been spread much more far and wide than we originally thought,” Sukkar said.
Originally scheduled to finish in December last year, the Morrison government extended the program to March 31 due to increasing interest but the cash grant was reduced to $15,000.
The government also raised the cap on new builds in New South Wales and Victoria to $950,000 and $850,000, respectively. Simultaneously, the construction commencement deadline was extended from three months to six months for all eligible contracts signed on or after June 4, 2020.