Stamp duty exemptions for first home buyers must go beyond new homes in NSW

PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian has admitted there is “no doubt” the state must consider stamp duty exemptions for first home buyers that go beyond just new homes.

Housing affordability remains a key issue in NSW.

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PREMIER Gladys Berejiklian has admitted there is “no doubt” the state must consider stamp duty exemptions for first home buyers that go beyond just new homes.

Victoria is moving to ensure first home buyers do not have to pay stamp duty on any home under $600,000.

In NSW, a similar exemption applies to new homes valued up to $550,000.

But Ms Berejiklian, who declared from the beginning of her leadership that housing affordability would be a key issue, says NSW has to consider including existing properties in the scheme.

Alice Ho and Rohan Bahuguna have been house hunting for a month. Picture: Eugene Hyland

“There’s no doubt we need to consider that,” she said.

“We’re considering all our options.”

Ms Berejiklian has been urged by both property groups and economists to tackle stamp duty reform to put downward pressure on house prices.

Treasury Secretary Rob Whitfield last week told The Daily Telegraph that stamp duty was not an efficient tax.

“Tax reform should always be looking at what are the least efficient taxes and how do you move your tax base to more efficient tax bases,” Mr Whitfield.

“It’s often brought up that one of the less efficient taxes in the state jurisdiction is stamp duty. It has some drivers that aren’t consistent with economic efficiency — not the least of which it inhibits the transferability and transportability of our workforce. And so it is a taxation that should also be challenged to see if there’s a pathway which could be acceptable to the community.”

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Ms Berejiklian today again reinforced her belief that there was still more work to do in a general sense to bring down house prices.

“We do recognise, first and foremost, there’s more to do - otherwise I wouldn’t have made it a priority,” she said.

“We’re doing really well on the supply side and there’s more to do there. We’re doing really well on the infrastructure side because if you have appropriate infrastructure it allows people to choose to live in different parts of the city and the state.

“But of course we need to do more and we will.”