Upper income base won't pass the income test or the house value test, I'm hoping. I doubt many people in Sydney would qualify.
One of the problems we have is that people have really skewed perspectives of their own wealth as relative to others. The $125k/200k thresholds are firmly in the "upper income" bracket. As are the category "people who can afford to spend $150k on renovations".
Median household income for 2017-18 was $1701pw or ~$88500pa. So 50% of the population would have to spend two or more times their total annual household income on house renovations to be eligible. Those people are also significantly less likely to be homeowners in the first place. COVID-related economic stress has most greatly impacted people on lower incomes, who are in insecure work, and who are renting or in insecure housing. These are people who also don't have equity or other wealth to rely on.
If the government is going to invest millions in residential construction, they should be doing it in a way that has a net positive effect on the people who most need it. And subsidising someone's renovation or extension is not it. Invest in a massive expansion of social and affordable housing stock. Invest in solar installations/energy efficiency works on
rental properties to reduce utility bill stress for renters.
Do any number of things that aren't just increasing the wealth of a narrow band of upper-middle class aspirants by subsidising their discretionary asset improvements.
