First-home buyers pushed to fringes
FIRST-HOME buyers are being forced to give up their stamp duty exemptions amid surging property values on the Gold Coast.
The Queensland government’s first-home concession applies to homes valued under $550,000 and can save a first-home buyer $15,925 in stamp duty costs.
But the Gold Coast has no suburbs where the median house price is below the threshold for stamp duty exemptions, according to REA Group data released last week.
“Obviously, it means if first-home buyers are purchasing on the Gold Coast they are not going to be liable for the stamp duty concessions,” REA Group economic research director Cameron Kusher said. “That’s a challenge for them.
“It also takes in the fact that prices have been rising rapidly for two years on the Gold Coast as a lot of people are moving there and are paying a premium to live there.”
Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) Gold Coast chairman Andrew Henderson called for stamp duty to be abolished.
“Stamp duty is a very old form of taxation and it’s now time to replace it with another method,” he said.
“The state government needs to either replace it or abolish it for owner-occupier dwellings.”
“It’s such a significant sum of money for a family or someone to have to pay.”
Mr Henderson said there
You have to move out of the area to take advantage of it
Andrew Henderson
was no point in having a stamp duty exemption if firsthome buyers couldn’t take advantage of it.
“You have to move out of the area to take advantage of it,” Mr Henderson said.
“The state government really needs to rethink how they use property for their cash cow and stop milking property for revenue.”
Despite no Gold Coast suburbs meeting the first-homebuyer stamp duty threshold requirements, the northern Gold Coast is still a magnet for first-home buyer activity according to REA Group.
Pimpama was crowned the most popular suburb in Queensland for first-home buyer inquiry while Coomera came in fourth.
When looking at the data, first-home buyers were also looking at Upper Coomera, Nerang and Ormeau.
“In terms of houses, a lot of those areas have fairly new housing estates and all of them are away from the Coast,” Mr Kusher said.
“First-home buyers are being realistic about where they can afford to buy.”
The data also showed firsthome buyers were looking at units in Southport, Surfers Paradise, Labrador and Mermaid Waters.
“The reality is that there are probably cheaper units there – the one and two-bedroom units,” Mr Kusher said.
The Gold Coast’s median property value just hit a record $870,000 for houses – so it would appear home ownership is set to become even more out of reach for firsthome buyers.