Buying
Good news for First Home Buyers
06-Jun-2017
Getting ahead in the property market or even getting your foot in the door has proven increasingly difficult over past years with property prices only continuing to rise with purchasing a property being out of reach for so many people. It's not all doom and gloom as the NSW government has just announced they will help first home buyers get into the property market with more than $1 billion of stamp duty concessions and measures to level the playing field with investors under reforms unveiled by Premier Gladys Berejiklian to tackle housing affordability.
Under the package, first home buyers of existing and new properties costing up to $650,000 will be exempt from paying stamp duty from July 1 2017. The changes to stamp duty concessions are estimated to deliver savings of up to $24,740 for a first home buyer in NSW. As well, the 9 per cent stamp duty charged on lenders' mortgage insurance – often required by banks lending to first home buyers with small deposits – will be abolished.
To help first home buyers compete with investors, stamp duty concessions for properties bought off the plan will be removed, the $5000 new home grant scheme abolished and the ability for investors to defer payment of stamp duty for 12 months axed. However, Ms Berejiklian also announced tighter eligibility criteria for the existing $10,000 first home owner grant. While the grant will remain available to first home owners building a house worth up to $750,000, the eligibility cap for those buying a new home drops from $750,000 to $600,000.
She said it was hoped the package, expected to cost about $1.2 billion, would bring "thousands more" new first home buyers into the market over the next four years. "We know there isn't a single solution; we know this is a complex challenge," she said. "We know how hard it is to save up for your first home, especially in greater Sydney and some regional areas."
To help fund the package, the stamp duty surcharge for foreign investors will be doubled to 8 per cent and the land tax surcharge lifted from 0.75 per cent to 2 per cent.
Additionally, $3 billion will be spent on infrastructure to boost housing supply.
This includes $600 million in new money from the government's infrastructure fund, Restart NSW, reallocation of $1 billion from existing programs and more than $800 million in existing measures.
SOURCE - Sydney Morning Herald
Under the package, first home buyers of existing and new properties costing up to $650,000 will be exempt from paying stamp duty from July 1 2017. The changes to stamp duty concessions are estimated to deliver savings of up to $24,740 for a first home buyer in NSW. As well, the 9 per cent stamp duty charged on lenders' mortgage insurance – often required by banks lending to first home buyers with small deposits – will be abolished.
To help first home buyers compete with investors, stamp duty concessions for properties bought off the plan will be removed, the $5000 new home grant scheme abolished and the ability for investors to defer payment of stamp duty for 12 months axed. However, Ms Berejiklian also announced tighter eligibility criteria for the existing $10,000 first home owner grant. While the grant will remain available to first home owners building a house worth up to $750,000, the eligibility cap for those buying a new home drops from $750,000 to $600,000.
She said it was hoped the package, expected to cost about $1.2 billion, would bring "thousands more" new first home buyers into the market over the next four years. "We know there isn't a single solution; we know this is a complex challenge," she said. "We know how hard it is to save up for your first home, especially in greater Sydney and some regional areas."
To help fund the package, the stamp duty surcharge for foreign investors will be doubled to 8 per cent and the land tax surcharge lifted from 0.75 per cent to 2 per cent.
Additionally, $3 billion will be spent on infrastructure to boost housing supply.
This includes $600 million in new money from the government's infrastructure fund, Restart NSW, reallocation of $1 billion from existing programs and more than $800 million in existing measures.
SOURCE - Sydney Morning Herald