Four rate rises in 2026 have not stopped Australians borrowing to build houses. What they are changing is which projects still stack up, and apartments, spec builds and renovations are feeling it first. The Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 4.60 per cent on 29...
PrefabAUS has released a standard form contract that ties payments to factory milestones rather than site stages. It fixes a real gap in how factory built homes are paid for. It does not change who carries the risk while the house sits in a factory. On a conventional...
The Reserve Bank has lifted the cash rate to 4.60 per cent. The pressure on builders is not only in new enquiries. It sits inside contracts signed when borrowing was a full percentage point cheaper. The Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 4.60 per cent on Tuesday. It...
Total housing finance was flat over the year to June. Underneath that flat headline, the money going into new construction rose sharply and the money going into established stock fell, for owner occupiers and investors alike. Over the year to June 2026, Australians...
We asked our community what they wanted to know about the Bathla administration. The questions that came back were about exposure, not blame, and the answers turned on one distinction. “If you have a bill outstanding before the administrator rolls in, that money...
APRA’s 2026 results put one default superannuation product below the line. It belongs to the fund built for Queensland’s building and construction workforce, and it missed by a margin most readers will not have seen reported. One superannuation product out of the 50...
The withdrawal limits started while the developer was still trading. That sequence changes what the tightening means for any builder with non bank funded work in the forward book. If you are a builder in Perth or Adelaide with no connection to a Sydney developer, the...
Investors took out more loans to build new homes in the June quarter than in any quarter the ABS has on record. Over the same three months, investor lending overall went backwards. The gap between those two facts is where the story sits. Australian investors took out...
Two states can take the money off you. Three treat it as an offence and leave the contract standing. And South Australia does something different again, which may be the sharpest of the lot. In all six Australian states, residential building legislation says the same...
Two of the three housing tax measures passed in June were drafted to shield new construction. The third, which started on Monday, was not. From Monday, a super fund cannot borrow to buy a house. It can still borrow to buy a shop, a warehouse or a factory. That...
On The Good Builder Podcast, Xero economist Louise Southall defined red tape as internal friction rather than external regulation. It is a smaller idea than the policy debate, and a considerably more usable one. Ask almost anyone in Australian construction what red...
Last updated: June 2026 Victoria has just introduced laws giving employees a right to work from home. The headlines warned of a new land tax for remote workers. That part is largely a beat-up. But underneath the noise sits a real rule that can catch self-employed...
The government's argument for cutting the capital gains tax discount has a logic to it. Investors who can claim a 50 per cent discount on capital gains have a structural tax advantage over owner-occupiers. Combined with negative gearing, they can deduct property...
There is a date circled in the calendars of every accountant and payroll professional who works with small building businesses. 1 July 2026. That is when payday super takes effect. And for a construction industry already carrying record insolvencies, elevated fuel...
As building and trade businesses mature, the conversation around finance often changes. What may have worked for a builder or trade completing their first few projects does not always translate seamlessly as volumes increase, project complexity grows, or business...
Queensland’s long-running fight over how the GST pie is carved up has entered a new phase, with the Queensland Productivity Commission (QPC) now ordered to conduct its own independent review into the economic impacts of Australia’s GST distribution system. The move...
After two years of pain, insolvencies, and cost chaos, Australia’s major construction firms are finally posting profits again. But beneath the headlines of “builders back in black,” the reality is more complex and more telling about where the industry is really...
By TGB Editorial National Australia Bank (NAB) has unveiled one of the largest private-sector commitments yet to tackle the housing crisis, announcing plans to lend at least $60 billion over the next five years to improve housing affordability and supply. In an open...
When builders talk “finance,” it’s usually about progress claims, late payments, or the next client’s pre-approval. But as finance broker Barry Wilkinson from SW Brokerage explains, the real wins; fewer headaches, faster builds, stronger margins start long before a...
The Minns Labor Government has opened Expressions of Interest for its landmark Pre-sale Finance Guarantee (PFG) program a $1 billion revolving fund designed to unstick housing projects languishing between approval and construction. Announced on 22 September 2025, the...
By The Good Builder Editorial Team Australia’s housing affordability crunch is fuelling fresh investment strategies, and the land lease sector has emerged as one of the fastest-growing models. This week, investment bank Macquarie joined the ranks of major players like...
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has announced that the property and construction industry will be its small business focus area for the current quarter. The move reflects both the sector’s economic significance and its record when it comes to tax compliance. The...
A radical proposal to tax “desirable” spare bedrooms has set off a firestorm among Australians and rightly so. The idea, floated at last week’s Economic Reform Roundtable, suggests households with more rooms than they “need” should be hit with higher taxes to free up...
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has cut the cash rate again, this time by 25 basis points to 3.6 per cent. It’s the third cut in 2025, following earlier moves in February and May, and it marks the lowest rate since mid 2022. For homeowners, this means some welcome...
South Australia’s first home buyers have received a record injection of government support, with more than $120 million in stamp duty relief and First Home Owner Grants delivered over the past financial year, a policy the Malinauskas Labor Government says is directly...
A New Way to Buy There’s a quiet revolution happening on new home sites across NSW. And no, it’s not a new building material or solar innovation—it’s in the financing. A growing number of builders are adopting “build now, pay later” finance models, with schemes like...
THE TSUNAMI OF INHERITANCE IS HERE Australia is on the edge of the largest wealth transfer in its history. Over the next 20 years, Baby Boomers will pass down an estimated $3.5 trillion in property, assets, and cash, a figure that dwarfs anything we’ve seen before....
By The Good Builder | July 2025 The rate cut we almost had If you were getting ready to celebrate a July rate cut, or just budgeted for an extra-long brunch, the RBA had other ideas. In a surprise to borrowers and bank economists alike less than 24-hours ago, the...
Summary: Western Australia has just launched one of the most accessible construction loans in the country – a new government-backed product that allows home buyers to build with just a 2% deposit and $400 monthly payments during the build. The loan is tailored...
The Queensland Government has launched the $2 billion Residential Activation Fund (RAF) to fast-track the delivery of essential infrastructure and unlock residential development across the state. This initiative is a key component of the “Securing Our Housing...
The Bank of Mum and Dad has long been a fixture in Australia’s property market. But new findings from Mozo’s Bank of Mum and Dad Report 2025 suggest the role of parents in helping their children buy homes has evolved from lender to legacy-maker. In 2025, this informal...
The Federal Help to Buy scheme, where first home buyers partner with the government to purchase a home, has been significantly revamped. After criticism from The Good Builder and others, the scheme's income and property price caps have been increased to make it more...
Yesterday, (Friday 14th of March 2025 if you're reading this later on), the Australian Government responded to the Murray Review, marking an important step towards addressing payment issues within the building and construction industry. With an election on the...
Two key points to note in compiling winning tenders from Rick Hughes, Blulevel Estimating Winning a construction tender is about more than just offering the lowest price. Many factors contribute to a successful tender bid. Here are a few key considerations: How...
In the majority of home building contracts across the country, there is a liquidated damages clause. The clause allows that if the builder doesn’t complete the home within the allotted time in the contract, the client will be able to claim a daily rate every day...
Being in the building trade comes with its unique set of challenges and responsibilities, and keeping the books in order is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome. These five accounting tips will help to keep your business robust, responsible, and most important of...
In what could be the biggest turning point in the year for construction, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has dropped interest rates for the first time since 2020. The RBA has announced a 0.25 percentage points reduction. The cash rate...
Subbies have come out swinging against the Queensland State Government’s decision to pause the future rollout of the Project Trust Account program. Phase 3 of the program, which was expected to commence on 1 March 2025, was going to require public or private...
Here’s a test for you – get on to your mobile and try and find a home and land package in Brisbane for less than $750,000. It shouldn’t take long – because there aren’t many, if any. When you go a bit further out to Logan, Ipswich, Moreton Bay or pockets of the...
The time for pre-fab homes may have finally arrived. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has become the first major bank to make a significant move to capture a share of the quickly growing offsite construction industry. Later this quarter, the bank will allow...
One of Queensland’s most successful mortgage brokers has called for the Federal Government to increase the cap for its new Help to Buy scheme as the current $700,000 limit will make it nearly impossible to find a property in South East Queensland.
The long, lazy business lunch, where much of our nation’s new business ideas have been spawned, may be making a return in the near future.
Amanda Bulow is a construction industry professional, and founder and CEO of Awesome Women In Construction Estimating a job is a critical part of any project and getting it wrong can lead to financial and reputational damage. While many professionals have their...
LATEST NEWS
Four rate rises in 2026 have not stopped Australians borrowing to build houses. What they are changing is which projects still stack up, and apartments, spec builds and renovations are feeling it first. The Reserve Bank lifted the cash rate to 4.60 per cent on 29...
A federal consultation closing 16 October asks whether Commonwealth funded construction work should come with minimum standards on conduct, payment, workforce and safety. No model has been chosen, but most states already use public work this way. The Federal...
A missed call. An invoice nobody expected. A weekend spent wondering what is happening on site. Melbourne builder Alex Palazzolo says that is where client trust is really lost, and he has built his business around closing those gaps. Most builders can tell you about...
After a long downturn, Stats NZ figures show building work on the ground finally picking up. Housing is carrying the recovery, Canterbury is leading the regions, and Wellington is still going the other way. New Zealand's building industry has had a rough couple of...