Interesting times ahead for building in Adelaide

Premier Jay Weatherill said recently that “nearly all buyers of newly built homes in South Australia will be eligible for a State Government grant of up to $8,500”. This amount will be applied on top of the First Home owners grant which means first home owners will be eligible for up to $23,500.

The New Housing Construction Grant will be introduced to boost the ailing building construction industry and provide a supply of new homes to improve housing supply and increase house affordability.

Mr Weatherill said the global instability had affected the local economy and required "urgent responses". Residential construction had been particularly badly hit with new home sales down more than 18% since last year.

With large overheads and wage costs the financial strain currently being experienced by builders are further highlighted when considering that in South Australia the decade average new home sales are down more than 43%.

This reaction from the state government is essential as although the building industry is in difficult times of more concern is that in the 3 months leading up to January 2012 seasonally adjusted building approvals were down 35% compared to the same period the previous year. If building approvals are anything to go by the government could see tough conditions for the years ahead for builders

The new grant will replace the current arrangement where first home buyers can apply for a First Home Bonus Grant - for a new house they are ordering or which has been newly built.

The new grant forms part of a package of reforms, under which:

* The New Housing Construction Grant is created for all buyers on properties worth up to $400,000. It will then phase out from $8,500 to zero on houses worth $450,000 or more. The new grant will be available until June 2013.

* The First Home Buyers Grant will be increased from $7,000 to $15,000 for first home buyers purchasing a newly built home.

About Darren Standish

Darren Standish established Property Prosperity in 2004 initially as a property development company, however after repeated requests for assistance the business evolved into a development consulting business.

Property Prosperity was initially focused on assisting clients with subdivisions and negotiating with councils to ensure that clients maximized their return on investment. Over the years additional services were gradually added to ensure the development process was as seamless as possible for its clients. We expanded into offering individually tailored finance solutions and then added Property Development Analysis, Property Sales and a Builder Broker Services.

Darren is the overachiever of the team and has more qualifications than your average university graduate. As well as completing a Bachelor in Economics, Bachelor in Commerce and post graduate in Accounting he subsequently went on to complete a Diploma in Financial Service, Diploma in Real Estate and Certificate IV in Building. He is a qualified Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA), a licensed Real Estate Agent, licensed Mortgage Broker and holds a Builders License.