In terms of getting out of contract, it really depends on the builder / company that you sign up with and the clauses included. Doesn't have much to do with the slab.
What I was suggesting is that there are builders / developers that have sold off the plan, like house and land packages, and now are realizing they cannot finish and deliver the product due to the fact that material and labour now is a lot more costly than when they locked the buyer in and negotiated the price with the buyer. So the buyer wants their house and the seller isnt able to deliver.
There are also existing contracts that have been signed between builders and owners where the builder is demanding more money to start / complete the build for the same reasons, and the owner is refusing to pay.
I agree with you regarding stimulus, the industry didnt need it and like @@Malaga said, first home buyers didnt benefit from it.
What ended up happening is basically the pricing of the building going up, by as much as, if not higher than the stimulus that was offered to people in order to afford the property while stimulating the industry.
I would have much rathered to see the money flow onto very small businesses, whether they opened just prior to covid or were in business for many years, that struggled as a result of direct and dumb lock downs AND/OR spent on early vaccine importation rather than putting all eggs in one basket.
The issue we are having with the building industry is not just the stimulus though. Stimulus just made it worse.
The issue is from one end we have got material shortage. Everything that was imported from China and the likes into Australia in terms of material is now largely exported to the US and to some degree Europe. Because US and Europe are going through the exact same property boom, China and other material producers prefer them over Australia because they have a stronger currency and could pay more and China doesnt mind teaching Australia a good lesson not to run errands for the US.
The other issue is due to bushfires the amount of timber available is far less than they used to get, coupled with lock downs which means there is a backlog of work in terms of factory workers building material.
The lockdowns have also created a big backlog of work for tradies who were already busy prior to lockdowns and now have all the work that was put on hold + the work they are getting now.
