The Sydney suburbs where first home buyers are saving on stamp duty

Thousands more NSW residents are making use of stamp duty relief to purchase their first home, fuelled by buyers in Sydney’s fast-growing western suburbs, after the Minns government expanded a scheme to help more people get a foot on the property ladder.

The Labor state government extended the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme from July 1 last year, raising the threshold for stamp duty exemptions for first home buyers from $650,000 to $800,000, and the threshold for stamp duty concessions from $800,000 to $1 million.

Labor scrapped the former Coalition government’s short-lived optional annual land tax on homes valued up to $1.5 million.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

Figures show 33,365 first home buyers who accessed the program in the year since it was introduced paid no stamp duty, or paid discounted stamp duty when they purchased their first property.

More than 12,500 of those buyers bought a home in Sydney’s western suburbs, in areas stretching from Camden in the south to The Hills district in the north, and saving an average of $20,562.

The state government granted 24,323 first home buyers stamp duty exemptions via the scheme in the 2023-24 financial year, up from 15,908 in the 12 months prior.

Premier Chris Minns’ government has been forging ahead with reforms aimed at making it easier for renters and prospective buyers to secure a home, as NSW residents are increasingly squeezed by surging cost-of-living pressures, interest rate rises and a chronic shortage of affordable housing.

“We’re delivering real cost-of-living relief that’s helping tens of thousands of people buy their first home and build a life in western Sydney and across the state,” Minns said.

Suburbs in western Sydney dominated the top 10 metropolitan postcodes for first home buyers. People who purchased their first home in Campbelltown saved an average of $21,034, while first-time buyers in Liverpool saved an average of $18,314.

In Parramatta, the average saving was $21,217, and in nearby Westmead first home buyers saved an average of $20,461. People buying their first property in Blacktown, St Marys and Mount Druitt saved on average between $19,390 and $21,687.

The local government areas with the largest above-average increases in first home buyers accessing the scheme were Hawkesbury, where demand jumped 127 per cent, and Camden, which recorded a 110 per cent year-on-year jump, from 174 to 366 people using the assistance. Demand also surged more than 70 per cent among first-time buyers in Fairfield, Campbelltown and Penrith council areas.

Minns said the average saving for a first home buyer in NSW had increased by almost $4000 under the expanded scheme. He said the higher thresholds meant 18,000 first home buyers across the state were financially better off than they would have been under the former Coalition government.

“In its first year, our program has helped first home buyers get into the market, without having to leave Sydney or NSW.

“We have helped more singles, couples and families to create a future in our state,” Minns said.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the average saving of about $20,000 meant first home buyers in western Sydney were in a “far better position to compete against investors to buy their home”.

“Right across NSW, over two-thirds of first home buyers using the expanded program now pay no stamp duty at all,” Mookhey said.

Labor’s move to repeal the state’s short-lived optional land tax on homes valued up to $1.5 million for first home buyers was one of its key election promises.

The former Coalition government’s First Home Buyer Scheme – a signature policy of ex-premier Dominic Perrottet – meant thousands of buyers avoided paying stamp duty for a short time.

But Minns had argued Labor’s stamp duty exemption scheme was a simpler and fairer policy that would see more people pay no upfront tax on their first home purchase.

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