Does the First Home Owners Grant still exist?

The First Home Owners Grant was introduced to offset the cost of the GST in home prices – obviously this only applied to new homes being built so its somewhat appropriate that its only available for new homes today (appropriate perhaps, but not helpful).

The First Home benefits vary from state to state, in NSW first home owners could receive a stamp duty exemption for new homes or vacant land, potentially saving up to $20,240, and a $10,000 grant.

Quite attractive & a fantastic boost to start you off, if you can get it.

The reality is that the for most of my first home buyers the price of land and building has skipped out of range in the majority of the Sydney Metro area, with an average price for land well over $400,000 and construction of a basic but great 4 bedroom home sitting around $300,000. For most of my buyers spending $700,000 on their first home is out of the question, and even if it was affordable the deposit required and the value it presents doesn’t justify the grant.

This is reflected in the numbers of grants paid – in 2014 / 2015 financial year 10,722 first home buyers grants were paid in NSW & a similar number the two previous years – but this is a sharp drop off from 2011/2012 financial year which saw triple the number of grants paid for both new & established homes & many more first home buyers enter the market.

The good news is that we are lucky in the Nepean region that there is still land available which just – only just – scrapes in under the threshold for the stamp duty exemption and the completed homes should come in around $600,000 which is fairly comparable to most established homes in the area, although you still could find a bargain under this price point.

And that’s what a lot of would be grant recipients are doing, comparing the cost and value of a new home to that of some more established properties and in a lot of cases seeking assistance from mum and dad to get their start.

Article in the Western Weekender

https://issuu.com/weekenderpenrith/docs/propertyapril28/1