Stamp duty discount for NT first home buyers to be extended until June 2021 as part of the Territory Budget
THE NT’s stamp duty discount will be extended into 2021, giving prospective homebuyers and newly minted Territorians the ability to wipe more than $18,000 off their property purchase.
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THE NT’s stamp duty discount will be extended into 2021, giving prospective homebuyers and newly minted Territorians the ability to wipe more than $18,000 off their property purchase.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner, releasing his first budget as the Territory’s Treasurer today, will reveal the Territory Home Owner Discount will be extended past its November 30 cut off to June 30 next year.
The NT government will also extend the $10,000 stamp duty discount available to Territorians aged above 60 who hold a Senior, Pensioner or Carer Concession card and are buying a new or established home.
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Extending the two programs is expected to cost the taxpayer $10.8m.
Part of a three-pronged homeowner assistance package first released in early 2019, the Territory Home Owner Discount provides a stamp duty concession of up to $18,601 for people purchasing or building their first new or established home in the Territory.
NT government data shows more than 2200 Territorians have used the stamp duty discount and the extension is expected to assist 800 more.
Recent arrivals to the Territory who have not owned a home here in the last 24 months are also eligible.
It comes at a time when the NT is welcoming waves of people from interstate looking to escape the coronavirus pandemic, sparking a rise in home prices and a severe tightening of the rental market.
A recent report by Domain showed Darwin’s median house price rose 6.6 per cent last quarter – from $505,896 in June to $539,463 in September – the second highest increase of any capital after Hobart.
Territorians purchasing or building a new home for the first time will continue to have access to $10,000 first homeowner grants.
The government’s BuildBonus program, which provides $20,000 to those looking to buy or build a new home, will be capped at 600 applications as originally planned and there are still spots left.
Today’s Territory budget comes a month after the commonwealth released its own pandemic-delayed budget.
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She slammed the government’s $80,000 cash splash on a university study to evaluate the success of its “heat mitigation projects”, the centrepiece being the Cavenagh Street shade structure, as an example of wasteful spending.
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