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Western Australia awards $49 million to 15 housing manufacturers
| Announced | 24 May 2026[1] |
|---|---|
| Program | Housing Innovation Fund Grant[2] |
| Awarded | A$49 million across 15 projects[1] |
| Largest grants | A$5 million — four recipients[2] |
| Smallest grant | A$616,919[2] |
| Recipient contribution | 50% co-contribution in addition to the grant[1] |
| Applications | Closed[3] |
| *Amounts as published by the Western Australian Government. | |
On 24 May 2026 the Western Australian Government announced that A$49 million would go to 15 local housing manufacturers under the Housing Innovation Fund, to expand prefabrication and other modern methods of construction[1]. The grant program had been enlarged from A$28 million to A$49 million, which the department attributed to the level of demand from industry[2]. It sits inside a A$50 million fund covering innovative construction technologies and practices more broadly[4].
This is money paid to factories, not to buyers. What follows is what was funded, and what it does and does not mean for someone planning a build in WA.
Who received it §
The department publishes the full list. The 15 published grants total approximately A$49.1 million[2].
| Recipient | Project as described | Grant |
|---|---|---|
| Pique Mod Pty Ltd | Advanced modular housing facility | $5,000,000 |
| Kimberley Manufacturing Pty Ltd | Northern prefabricated modular production facility | $5,000,000 |
| Home Group WA Pty Ltd | High volume timber frame manufacturing | $5,000,000 |
| Limestone Building Blocks Company Pty Ltd | Automated engineered cement and limestone block manufacturing | $5,000,000 |
| Independent Timber Supplies Pty Ltd | Prefabricated timber product facility expansion | $4,695,407 |
| SipForm Pty Ltd | Zero energy housing production | $4,606,019 |
| Corcreevy Pty Ltd | Precision construction advanced manufacturing equipment | $4,098,439 |
| Pinelock Systems Pty Ltd | FT2 Albany — regional WA manufacturing | $3,043,918 |
| Dirk Bussche Family Trust | Scaling prefabrication capacity through automation | $3,042,107 |
| Cardoso Pty Ltd | FrameForward WA | $2,734,247 |
| Rynat Industries Australia Pty Ltd | Fully integrated MMC facility | $2,079,965 |
| Westim Pty Ltd | Automated prefabricated timber framing | $1,829,781 |
| Calsen Pty Ltd | WABi prefabricated modular housing | $1,534,324 |
| AluGlaze | Advanced MMC technologies and processes | $813,094 |
| Steel Frames WA Pty Ltd | Printing Homes | $616,919 |
The pattern is worth noticing. Only a minority of the funded projects describe complete modular dwellings. Most describe components — timber frames, engineered blocks, panels, steel framing, glazing — or the automation equipment used to make them. That shapes how the money eventually reaches a consumer: mostly through the supply chains of builders you would deal with, not through a new set of modular home companies.
What the money is for, and what it is not §
Recipients must jointly invest, providing a 50% co-contribution on top of the grant. Projects were assessed on capacity to boost housing supply, support local industry, deliver regional benefits and improve construction efficiency[1].
Three things follow for a buyer:
- There is nothing to apply for. This is a competitive industry grant, and applications have closed[3]. It is not a consumer rebate.
- It does not reduce any quoted price. Nothing in the program requires a recipient to pass savings to customers, and no price commitment is published.
- The effect is on capacity, and it is slow. Factory equipment and facility expansions take time to commission. The homes this produces are downstream of the announcement, not concurrent with it.
The government's stated rationale rests on overseas experience: it says large-scale prefabrication overseas has delivered apartments at around 20% lower cost and up to 50% faster than traditional methods[1]. That is a claim about apartment construction elsewhere, cited in support of a policy. It is not a measurement of what detached prefab housing currently costs in Western Australia, and it should not be read as one. For what WA builders actually publish, see modular home costs.
Regional capacity §
Two grants are explicitly regional: Pinelock Systems for a facility at Albany, and Kimberley Manufacturing for a production facility in the state's north[2]. Regional benefit was one of the four assessment criteria[1].
This matters more in WA than in most states. Transport distance is often the deciding cost in a remote build, and it is set by the distance between the factory and the block — see delivery, transport and craneage and building on rural land. A production facility in the Kimberley changes that arithmetic for northern WA in a way that a Perth factory cannot. Whether it does so, and by how much, is not yet observable.
How this sits with WA's other measures §
The announcement notes a separate A$48 million allocated in the State Budget for Built Living and Atlas Precast to establish and expand advanced manufacturing facilities at Neerabup and Kwinana[1]. That is a different allocation and should not be added to the A$49 million figure.
Of WA's current measures, the one that reaches a buyer directly is still Keystart's modular home loan — covered in Keystart's 2% deposit modular loan. Approval rules for the build itself are unchanged and are set out in modular home rules in Western Australia. Companies recorded as operating in the state are listed in the WA builder directory, which is compiled from published sources and not independently verified.
What is not covered here §
- Whether recipients are residential home builders. The published list gives company names and project titles only. Identifying which entities trade under which consumer-facing brands would require verification not undertaken here.
- Delivery timelines. No completion dates, output targets or homes-per-year figures are published for any of the 15 projects.
- Effect on prices or wait times. No source compiled here measures either, and none should be expected for some time.
- Whether grants have been paid. The announcement records awards. Milestone conditions, drawdown timing and whether any recipient has since withdrawn are not published.
- Future rounds. This is described as the inaugural round[2]. Whether the program continues is not stated in the sources compiled here.
Sent to info@modularlivingaustralia.com.au and handled by a person. See Privacy.
References §
- Government of Western Australia — Media statement, 24 May 2026 — Cook Government delivering $49 million for local housing manufacturers. Includes the full recipient table, the co-contribution requirement and the assessment criteria. wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Cook%20Labor%20Government/Cook-Government-delivering-$49-million-for-local-housing-manufacturers-20260524
- WA Department of Energy and Economic Diversification — Housing Innovation Fund Grant recipients — company names, project descriptions and funding amounts. Page last updated 24 May 2026. wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-energy-and-economic-diversification/housing-innovation-fund-grant-recipients
- WA Department of Energy and Economic Diversification — Housing Innovation Fund Grant program page — states applications are now closed and describes the competitive grant process. wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-energy-and-economic-diversification/housing-innovation-fund-grant
- WA Department of Energy and Economic Diversification — Housing Innovation Fund — the A$50 million fund of which the grant program forms part, with grants of up to A$5 million requiring a matched contribution. wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-energy-and-economic-diversification/housing-innovation-fund
Figures are as published by the sources above at their respective dates and are paraphrased summaries, not verbatim reproductions. Verify current pricing and rules directly with builders, lenders and planning authorities.