Property developers and home builders are reporting a surge in sales for house and land projects following the announcement of the $25,000 HomeBuilder grant on June 4th.

One developer reported that they received fifty new deposits in six just days, up from their weekly average of fifteen sales.

Another developer reported fifty-nine deposits, up from single-digit sales per week in March.

Without the HomeBuilder grant, these are sales that likely would have been delayed until 2021, and the subsequent construction jobs would also have been delayed until 2021.

However, these types of sale volumes are dependent on property developers not just raising their asking prices by $25,000 to take advantage of the grant. The purpose of the HomeBuilder is to get sales on the board quickly and to get economic activity up again, not to push house prices up even further.

Right now, as an industry, we want to be getting people into homes and keeping construction up. Activity and cash flow will keep businesses moving and people in jobs. If property developers keep moving the goalposts by raising prices, we will stay stuck in the same cycle.