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By Angela Brown

Construction incentive

Local business sector welcomes budget incentive for new home construction

Jun 18, 2020 | 5:45 PM

The province’s new budget offers incentives for families purchasing new homes as a boost to the economy.

According to the province, a PST rebate available for new home construction provides up to 42 per cent of the PST paid on the purchase of a newly-constructed home, where the purchaser takes possession of the home after March 31, 2020 and before April 1, 2023.

Battleford West subdivision developer Dean Kupchanko believes the rebate offer is good idea.

“Overall it seems like a responsible budget… With respect to the PST rebate, it is beneficial,” he said.

Looking back, Kupchanko said he had concerns about the province’s previous decision in 2017 to apply PST to construction labour costs in the 2017-18 budget.

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“It really had a terrible effect on the housing industry, and it hurt us in the Battlefords quite significantly,” he said.

Kupchanko said he was glad to see the new home construction rebate provided in the current budget as some form of relief.

“I would have liked to see this go even further, but it is absolutely a step in the right direction,” he said. “I’m optimistic that it will give people perhaps just that extra that they need to start thinking more positively, and maybe start thinking again, about building a new house.”

The Battlefords Chamber of Commerce sees some positive developments in the province’s new 2020-21 budget despite the difficult economic times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chief Operating Officer Linda Machniak also said the PST rebate for new home construction was good to see.

She said the budget showed provincial revenues were expected to be down for the year related to the COVID-19 impact on the economy. The province would see less PST revenue collected due to retail stores and many businesses being required to close temporarily under the province’s health orders during the pandemic.

“I don’t think there was any surprise on the revenue side that things would be slower,” Machniak said.

Machniak said overall the chamber network believes “the government has struck a balance between what is needed to be done related to COVID-19 and what should be done in terms of investing in long-term resiliency measures.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow