Relief for first home buyers, Avo on toast and all
The last few years have shown to be increasingly harder for first home buyers to enter the property market. Housing prices are continuing to rise with Sydney’s median house price now well over $1.1m. In an attempt to aid first home buyers to enter the market, on Thursday 1st June 17, the NSW government released a property funding package that will be in place from 1st July 2017.
The premier recognised the difficulty for first home buyers to save for their deposit and purchase a home, especially surrounding Sydney suburbs and some regional areas. To relieve some pressure, Gladys Berejiklian stated that, “the government would abolish stamp duty for all first home buyers on new and existing homes priced up to $650,000, and provide stamp duty discounts for homes priced up to $800,000”. Also, the government will scrap stamp duty charged on lenders mortgage insurance, which is “a saving of about $2,900 on an $800,000 home”.
In addition to this, the foreign investor surcharge will be double from 4% to 8% as well as increasing the land surcharge from 0.75% to 2%. This comes as the government acknowledges the complexity of saving for a deposit, rising house prices as well as competition from foreign investors. Additionally, “Ms Berejiklian said increased charges for foreign investors were not intended as a disincentive for overseas investment”.
“In an attempt to shift more focus to home ownership, the government will remove stamp duty concessions for investors buying property off a plan. Other measures to help first home buyers and supply include the fast-tracking of building approvals and greater use of independent local council panels in the planning process.”
The new property funding package is great news for first home buyers. Although, the Premier highlighted that a buyers’ first home might not be their dream home, however, its a step into the property market and opportunity for first home buyers to say they own their home.
To read the full article, click here.