How Savings on Stamp Duty Helped Young Victorians’ Homeownership Dreams Become a Reality

Back in the day, owning the house of your dreams was not as difficult as it is today. With so many factors to consider, buying a house has become impossible for so many – especially to the younger generation. Not to mention the effects of the current global pandemic that has caused a lot of our plans halted. Everything just seems so hard for a lot of us. Good thing the Victorian Government has managed to do something about this very issue. In July 2017, the Victorian Government established the landmark Homes for Victorians package. This particular package aims to give young Victorians a chance to become first-time homeowners with discounts on stamp duty, which is definitely a huge thing. For those who are not familiar with stamp duty, it is a tax that is imposed on single property purchase. There is a physical stamp attached to the document that acts as proof that tax had already been paid before it was legally effective. The package includes a stamp duty discount for those homes under $750,000. For homes under $600,000, the tax is completely waived. Taxes are often what makes a purchase cost so much more than it’s intended to be and this is why it’s such a big deal. So having to save that amount of money is a huge help to so many young buyers. According to a recent media release, the package established by the Victorian Government has allowed young Victorians to save up a combined $1.76 billion – that is 100,000 young homeowners who were able to save money from this. So far, there are about 81,08261 Victorians who were no longer required to pay stamp duty and 19,138 Victorian homeowners have received stamp duty concessions on their first house purchase. In total, Melbourne homeowners have saved $1.4 billion in stamp duty costs. In regional Victoria, a total of $309.8 million. Treasurer Tim Pallas says, “We’ve helped 100,000 Victorian homeowners secure the keys to the home of their dreams. This program has made a huge difference in helping people enter the market and make a house a home.” Aside from the stamp duty discounts, we recently discussed the Federal Government Grant wherein first-time homebuyers and those who have been holding off on home rebuilding or upgrading are given the chance to finally make it happen with a scheme that was particularly designed to support them. Initially, the HomeBuilder Grant was set for $10,000 but later on doubled to $25,000. The response was incredibly positive, but of course, how effective this is will be seen in the next several months. Currently, news reports are saying that there is an ongoing construction boom in parts of Australia, particularly in Wide Bay due to the homeowner grant. According to reports, an increase to 25 homes from an average of 9-10 per month previously has been recorded. Now, for the big question. Considering everything that has been going on, is now the best time to get into property investment? Let’s all find out in our next blog.