Housing affordability package benefiting NSW first-home buyers to be announced
First-home buyers are set to win but foreign investors may lose in a new housing affordability package to be announced by the NSW Government today.
The package will include hundreds of millions of dollars to increase supply and a variety of measures to help first-home buyers.
In bad news for foreign investors, the Government wants to increase the stamp duty surcharge they pay from 4 per cent to 8 per cent.
The tax was introduced last year at 4 per cent and the Opposition said if they were in power it would be increased to 7 per cent.
The ABC understands there will also be a range of changes to first-home buyer grants.
First-home buyers who are buying existing properties worth up to $650,000 will be exempt from paying stamp duty, which is currently only available for purchases on new properties.
There may also be some changes to the first-home buyer grant which is currently sitting at $10,000 on new properties worth up to $750,000.
When Premier Gladys Berejiklian first came to power in January she said housing affordability was “the biggest issue people have across the state”.
“I want to make sure that every average, hard-working person in this state can aspire to own their own home,” she said.
The package will be taken to Cabinet with an announcement from Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Ms Berejiklian expected late morning.
It comes ahead of the state budget which will be delivered in three weeks’ time.
– ABC