Crunch time for first-home buyers

FIRST-home buyers are expected to make a last minute dash to get up to $21,000 in Government grants before the $7000 boost is halved at the end of September.

Riva Vue project manager Shaun Nicholson and marketing agent Lance Cotterill.

FIRST-home buyers are expected to make a last minute dash to get up to $21,000 in Government grants before the $7000 boost is halved at the end of September.

Lance Cotterill from North Estate Agents in Tweed Heads, who has been selling real estate on the Tweed for more than two decades, said first-home buyers would play the waiting game and would not sign contracts, but will do their research and inspect many properties in the weeks before the Federal Government halves its First-Home Owner Boost on September 30.

“Together with the State grant of $14,000 for new homes or $7000 for existing property, the boost gave first-home buyers $21,000 to build a new home or $14,000 for an existing home,” Mr Cotterill said.

“So first-home buyers will loose $3500 if they don't buy by then,” he said.

“The boost will be totally cut off by the Government at the end of the year.

“So when you consider how low interest rates are and that NSW is waiving stamp duty payments for first-home buyers, this is the time to buy, and we have seen a number of first-home buyers who have spent years saving their deposits finally get their start, which is great because it creates a new generation of home owners.”

First-home buyers are snapping up “affordable” duplexes in the Tweed Heads and Banora Point area; homes around the $400,000 mark and house-and-land packages from $350,000 to $430,000, with a steady flow of sales of existing properties and land and package deals across the Tweed, according to Mr Cotterill.

While investors had been noted to be almost absent from the local property market due to concerns about the financial climate, in July enquiry from landlords was a similar level to first-home buyers, Mr Cotterill said.

“With returns of five per cent on rental property and a real opportunity to positive gear (rent the home for more than mortgage repayments), investors will soon start to see the sense of returning to the property market.”

Originally published as Crunch time for first-home buyers