The Age reports… “First home owner grants in Victoria at lowest in more than a decade…”
The Age reported that the number of first home owner grants awarded to Victorians fell to their lowest level in more than a decade last year, state government figures show.
An analysis of state revenue office data shows just over 10,000 people were awarded the $10,000 boost to build a new home in 2014/15, down from a peak of 45,000 who received the grant in 2009/10.
A large chunk of the drop is attributable to changes that came into effect in July 2013, which meant first home owners could not apply for the $10,000 boost if they were looking to buy an existing property. The incentive can only be used to purchase a new home valued below $750,000.
The state government intended the change to stimulate new construction activity, but Mortgage Choice national spokeswoman Jessica Darnbrough said it had not pushed first home buyers to build in new areas.
“More than 80 per cent of home buyers purchase an existing dwelling, and we have also noticed a marked reduction in first home buyers in Melbourne because of property prices going up,” she said.
“It has been a double whammy for them. Not only have the grants for existing properties been taken away, but property prices keep going up, and that makes it hard for first home buyers to get on the property ladder.”
But Housing Industry Association economist Geordan Murray said fluctuations in first home owner activity had been influenced more by interest rate shifts and the Global Financial Crisis, and that it was hard to gauge whether the grant changes had spurred more construction activity.
The state revenue data does show an uptick in new homes built using the incentive last year, reversing five consecutive years of declining figures.
This article from the Age, and the argument that the first home buyers boost of $10,000 is too low to represent a full deposit, is why our No Deposit program is so popular in Melbourne. We are holding 1 last event this year in Melbourne to let people know about the first home buyers program and it is booking out fast.
There are limited seats available and it will be first in, first served.
If you do not want to miss out on tickets, ensure you register now to secure your seats and get your tickets in time for the last event for the year on 19 November 2016. Click here to secure your seats now: https://www.gomc.com.au/events
For the full story from The Age, click here: http://www.domain.com.au/news/first-home-owner-grants-hit-record-low-in-victoria-20160421-goass2/