NSW first home scheme won't help $600,000-plus new home buyers

Jonathan ChancellorSeptember 5, 2011

The thresholds for NSW’s new first-home stamp duty scheme were too low, according to the Urban Taskforce, a property development industry group.

The concession reaches its maximum rate at $500,000 and ramps down so that there is no benefit when a first-home buyer purchases a new home valued at more than $600,000.

“The existing first home owners’ grant applies to dwellings up to $750,000 in value,” Taskforce chief executive Aaron Gadiel says.

“We’re surprised that this benchmark hasn’t been used for the amended schemes.

“For example, first-home buyers with young children will struggle to find a three-bedroom apartment in Sydney priced under $600,000.”

The budget papers say that the better targeting of the First Home Plus and First Home Plus One schemes will raise an extra $1.049 billion over four years for the government.

The $7,000 first-home buyer grant continues to be available to all first-home buyers.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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