UDIA NSW welcomes Labor’s First Home Buyer Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 tabled in Parliament on 1 June 2023. The Bill delivers on a pre-election commitment that first home buyers purchasing a home up to $800,000 will pay no stamp duty at all, representing a saving of up to $31,090 and concessions for those purchasing a home up to $1 million.
This will allow 84% of all first home buyers to pay no stamp duty at all or at a reduced rate.
“With household budgets being squeezed and uncertainty in the housing market escalating, these measures by the Labor Government are vitally important in supporting first home buyers and critical to lifting overall housing supply to reverse the current downward trend,” said Steve Mann, CEO, UDIA NSW
Housing affordability is at its worst point in history, even when compared to the early 1990’s when the cash rate was 17%. Housing approvals and commencements are currently at decades low and apartments are more than 70% down on the peak in 2016. When combined with inflationary pressures and interest rates rising at a pace never seen in Australian history, the result is a weakening of pre-sales and difficulty overcoming finance hurdles, meaning new housing projects are being stopped or never getting off the ground.
“It is more than urgent that we see a raft of policies to support feasible housing projects across the housing continuum, a turn around in housing approvals, moratorium on taxes charges and contributions which do not have productivity gains, as industry looks to recover from wave after wave of challenges borne out of the COVID pandemic,” said Mr Mann.
“Housing supply needs to be the highest priority of the Premier and Ministers across the new NSW Government and the priority must be shared by every Government Department impacting city making, to ensure the delivery of new housing is enabled where possible across all of government’s pursuits,” said Steve Mann.
UDIA NSW will continue to work with the Labor Government on all measures which seek to address the housing supply and affordability crisis. UDIA NSW will be launching our Housing Crisis Action Plan on 15 June at the UDIA NSW Winter Luncheon. The Plan provides practical recommendations that the Labor Government could enact now to stem the worst impacts of the housing supply crisis and seek to deliver on the National Housing Accord.
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