Welcome News For First Home Buyers

First home buyers would get a $25,000 grant to help them enter the market as the NSW government moves to overhaul property tax at the same time as home ownership for people under 40 plummets.

A grant would replace existing stamp duty concessions for first home buyers under the property tax reforms, which would initially allow buyers to choose paying stamp duty or an annual levy.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced his plan to scrap stamp duty and move to a land tax in last year’s state budget, although it will not feature in next week’s budget as consultation continues.

Instead, the government has released a progress paper, which says the proposed reforms could see home ownership rise 6 per cent, allowing 300,000 more NSW residents to buy a home.

It coincides with the government’s intergenerational report, which shows 60 per cent of people born between 1942 and 1951, so-called early baby boomers, owned homes by the ages of 25 to 34.

However, for people born between 1982 and 1991, this has dropped to just 45 per cent.

Mr Perrottet said the intergenerational report contained a “very stark statistic”.

“The message which comes through very clear again and again is the huge challenge of achieving home ownership for our younger generations,” Mr Perrottet said.

House prices in Sydney rose 3.5 per cent last month, one of the biggest monthly gains since the late 1980s, CoreLogic figures show , putting renewed pressure on the state and federal government to address housing affordability. Sydney’s median house price now exceeds $1.1 million.

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