NSW Premier Chris Minns shuts down first-home buyer scheme plea


Newly installed NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman will fight to keep a keystone policy of former premier Dominic Perrottet that seeks to replace costly stamp duty charges with a smaller annual property tax.

Since January 16, first-home buyers have been able to choose between paying stamp duty or an annual property tax; however, NSW Labor will scrap the scheme that it’s dubbed a “lifetime tax” on the family home.

Instead, it will increase the stamp duty exemption threshold for first-home buyers from $650,000 to $800,000, with concessional rates for purchases under $1m.

However, Mr Speakman said Labor should allow first-home buyers to “make a choice”.

He said figures from Treasury estimates reported two-thirds of people had opted for the annual tax over paying stamp duty.

“They can make the choice no one is forcing them into a land tax. They make the choice. They do the calculations,” he said.

“This will save more money for more people.”

Premier Chris Minns shut down the potential for bilateral support for extending the first-home buyer’s choice and asked Mr Speakman to “reconsider” his stance.

“I don’t believe being on the losing side of an election campaign gives you a mandate to hold on to that policy,” he said.

“The bottom line here is we believe our policy is better.”

However, Mr Speakman could seek to gain support from the crossbench. As of Thursday, neither Mr Minns or Mr Speakman has spoken to independent or Greens MPs in regards to the property tax; however, the Opposition Leader said he would meet with “several crossbenchers” on Monday.

“I’ll be lobbying as hard as possible because this is overwhelmingly in the interests of first-time buyers,” he said.

The previous government said its First Home Buyer Choice scheme would shave up to two years off the time it would take to save for a deposit.

Managing director of Sydney-based mortgage brokerage firm Pure Finance, Brendan Dixon, said replacing stamp duty with a land tax would benefit apartment buyers the most, as they commanded less land value.

“A block of apartments is one block of land but the value of the land is divided across the apartments in the building, and it depends on what your allotment is,” Mr Dixon said.

“So the annual land tax for apartments is a lot cheaper than it is for houses, but it will vary building to building and depending on the area you’re in.”

Using the example of a $1.5m apartment in Sydney’s inner-city suburb of Surry Hills, the stamp duty would be $66,700, while the annual land tax would cost $1445.

“In this example, the owners would need to remain in the property for a massive 46 years for it to be worth paying the lump sum stamp duty. A bit of a no-brainer,” Mr Dixon said.

Read related topics:Dominic Perrottet



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