DUTY CUTS DRIVE BIG BUY-UP

GEELONG first homebuyers have leapt on stamp duty exemptions and discounts, saving $74 million over the past three years.

The city was the largest benificiary outside Melbourne, followed by Ballarat and Bendigo, which saved $24 million and $23 million.

Barry Plant Highton director Kieron Hunter said firsthome buyers had continued to storm the Geelong market during the pandemic.

Across the state, first homebuyers saved a combined $1.76 billion by capitalising on the schemes.

More than 100,000 first timers have benefited from the State Government initiative, with the majority of them putting down roots in Melbourne’s outer suburbs.

Buyers using the scheme most frequently flocked to affordable regions Casey, Wyndham and Hume, where stamp duty savings of $174.9 million, $159.2 million and $123.8 million have been recorded respectively. State Government data shows 81,061 first-home buyers across Victoria paid no stamp duty at all, while another 19,138 scored discounts on the tax.

Buyers’ Advocate Cate Bakos said a “major influx of first-home buyers” had stayed active in the market ever since the discounts began.

“About 30 per cent of new lending is to first-home buyers now, because they had the confidence to step forward,” she said. “Their ability to borrow more is a direct result of not having to pay stamp duty.

“But there has been an increase in median house prices below the $600,000 cap because they are competing a lot harder against each other now.”

She said it wasn’t just young Victorians who had benefited from the tax relief, with people aged above 50 also using the scheme to break into the market.

Treasurer Tim Pallas said the program had helped Victorians take their first step on the property ladder.