NSW Treasurer attacks Labor staggered stamp duty scheme

The NSW Treasurer Andrew Constance says the Labor Opposition's home buyers stamp duty relief policy was merely reheating a failed Labor government stamp duty policy.

“The Stamp Duty Deferral Scheme is just that – a deferral – which will have to be paid back as a $561 first home buyer tax every month,” Constance said.

“Under Labor’s plan, new home buyers who purchase a $750,000 home and defer paying $29,240 in stamp duty will then be slugged every month, when they can least afford it.”

Labor’s Stamp Duty Deferral Scheme was originally introduced in the mid-1990s, then scrapped by former NSW Labor Treasurer Michael Egan because it was becoming a financial burden on those entering the housing market.

Egan told Parliament in his 1998 Budget Speech: ”The current option of deferring stamp duty… is not working. Only 25 per cent of first-time buyers are taking it, it is more costly to them than the discount option, and many who do take it find that they are creating a later financial trap, with almost 48 per cent of them in arrears.”

“Those who fail to learn from history are bound to re-live it,” Constance said.

“Under Labor’s plan, first home buyers will pay two mortgages instead of one."

The Baird government has first time buyers has receiving a $15,000 grant on new homes worth up to $750,000, with stamp duty exemptions and discounts available for new builds valued between $550,000 and $650,000,” Mr Constance said.

NSW Labor leader Luke Foley told 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones that Sydney needs more land release.

"Part of the answer is supply," said Foley.

"Sydney will have 5.9 million people by 2031, so we need greenfield and infill housing supply."