The Rudd government introduced a federal economic stimilus package during the GFC to reduce the impact of the crsis on the domestic home buyers market in Australia.   In New South Wales the first home owners grant was reduced on the 1st of January 2010 to $7,000.00 becuase of the Commonwealth Stimulus being removed.   It has recently been anounced that the grant will continue beyond when it was orginally schduled to phase out on 1 July 2010 so that is good news for first home buyers and anyone selling a property which is related to this market such as investors or people who have bought their first home but are now starting a young family and are looking to move into a bigger place.

In some ways, it doesn’t really matter that much either way if the grant is given or not because the first home buyers grant tends to inflate all of the properties in this section of the market by the amount of the grant.  So you will competing on price  with everyone else for the properties at the same level.  If the grant is removed, the properties will have this price pressure removed which will probably mean that they will drop by the amount of the grant if it is removed.    If you are thinking of buying a property, another consideration which is substantial is the exemption of stamp duty.  This applies to properties under $500,000.00 and there are dicounts on stamp duty up to $600,000.00 properties but none beyond this.  For this reason it is necessary to adjust your assumptions about what you can afford based on the grant.

If you need assistance with any of this information, please do nto hesistate to contact using the contact form of the chat bar or by posting your question below.  We would love to hear from you.