Posts Tagged ‘first home buyers’

The government is seeking to implement a cap on the value of properties that first home buyers can purchase.

Housing Minister Tanya Plibersek announced the changes on Saturday.

According to the announcement, the $7,000 grant for first home buyers would cut out for properties valued at more than $1 million in Queensland; $750,000 in NSW, Western Australia and the Northern Territory and $600,000 for FHB’s in Victoria.

But opposition housing spokesperson Scott Morrison said the proposed cap was unlikely to have a high material impact on FHBs.

“The introduction of caps of say $750,000 in Sydney…and $1 million in Queensland will have little impact on the number of grants issued,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »

THE value of an average Sydney house has broken through the $600,000 barrier for the first time. Six years after first reaching the half-a-million-dollar mark, Sydney’s median house price hit $610,500 in September.

Property data company Residex said the median price rose $11,000 in the month driven by first-home buyers, low interest rates, an improving economy and a shortage of new homes.

The increase means tougher times ahead for new-home buyers but is good news for established property owners who are seeing values climb.

“The rise is a triple whammy for first-home buyers as prices as well as interest rates are going up and the first-home buyers’ grant is being scaled back,” Residex head of research John Lindeman said.

“The good news, though, is for people who bought houses five years ago or more as they would be seeing significant increases in property values, giving them greater equity and the ability to upgrade into more expensive homes.” Read the rest of this entry »

THE rate of first-home buyers being refused loans by their brokers and banks has almost doubled in the past year, according to the real estate industry, with a recent rise in mortgage insurance being the latest kick in the guts for those with property ownership aspirations. Read the rest of this entry »