Latest news with #firsthomebuyer
ABC News
3 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
House prices tipped to rise up to 10% as buyers flock back in
Skip to main content National house prices could rise by up to 10 per cent by late 2025 or early 2026, according to property analysts, who say a combination of interest rate cuts and first home buyer incentives will drive further demand for homes.
News.com.au
24-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Craigieburn family home sells $71,000 above price guide as first homebuyers battler at auction
A Craigieburn home bought for just $145,000 in 2009 has sold under the hammer for $661,000, a windfall result for the first-home buyer who built it 16 years ago. Seller Kerrie Neale secured 40 Kelway St with help from a $30,000 first homeowner grant during the wake of the global financial crisis, later turning it into an investment after moving out with her family. 'It's been a wonderful place and it continues to be,' Ms Neale said. 'Now it's really special that another first-home buyer has purchased it. 'It feels like the property's story is continuing in the same spirit it began, which is a beautiful thing.' The home went to auction with a $560,000-$590,000 price guide and opened with a $540,000 bid before climbing through strong competition from ten registered bidders — three on site and seven online — before being claimed by a young family. Ms Neale said the proceeds from the sale would go directly towards paying off her current mortgage. 'I think we're really pleased with the result,' she said. 'Honestly, I don't know if we would have gone for the property without that support. 'It made a real difference — and without it, we might not be in this position now.' With the Reserve Bank delivering its second interest rate cut of 2025 earlier in the week, Ms Neale said it was too soon to tell how it might impact future decisions. 'It's really hard to say,' she said. 'I think we'll have to wait and see if those future cuts actually happen, and then go from there.' The sellers said it was touching to see a new family begin their journey in the home. 'From what we could tell, it's a young family — and that the home will keep playing the same role it played for us is really lovely.' McGrath Craigieburn's Gurbaj Sandhu said the result reflected renewed buyer urgency. 'The Craigieburn market has always been strong,' Mr Sandhu said. 'And with those two interest rate cuts, buyer confidence has definitely jumped. 'People are keen to lock something in before they feel priced out of the rebound.' The three-bedroom home features mirrored built-in robes, a master ensuite, spacious open-plan living, a stainless steel-equipped kitchen, and a covered outdoor entertaining area framed by established gardens. It's located near Aitken Creek Primary School, Mount Ridley College, Brickwood Park, and Craigieburn Central shopping centre.
News.com.au
23-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Soul destroying': Rates coming down is a good thing for mortgage holders but could lock other Aussies out of the market
The official cash rate was slashed this week by 25 basis points, down to 3.85 per cent, but while mortgage holders feel relief, the good news could also screw over Aussies trying to buy right now. Lower interest rates should restore confidence in the market, and increase prices, in turn making young buyers panic. I would know, I am one. All four big banks came to the party on Tuesday and confirmed that customers would be getting a rate cut on their variable home loans. Financial expert Julian Finch said that a drop in rates automatically means Aussies will have higher borrowing capacity. 'Which will ultimately mean the competition increases and the prices rise,' he told As someone trying to buy a two-bedroom apartment in Sydney right now for under $1 million the possibility that house prices could increase is an actual nightmare. Mr Finch warned that first-time home buyers need to start making a 'huge effort' to get into the property market, if not ASAP, then at least before January 1st. This is when Anthony Albanese's election promise of 5 per cent deposits for first-time home buyers will kick in. The Albanese government will cover a portion of a first-time homebuyer's loan, so Aussies only have to borrow 5 per cent and do not have to pay lending mortgage insurance. From January, a first homebuyer will be able to purchase a $1 million property with just a $50,000 deposit. The medium unit price in Sydney is $1,030,000. The combination of rates dropping and 5 per cent deposits means the market is set to flood with buyers who were previously locked out – which, according to Mr Finch, confirms my fears that prices will surge. 'My prediction is that prices will rise in direct correlation with the easing interest cycle. If a 0.25 per cent rate cut means a 2-3 per cent increase in borrowing capacity,' he told 'I believe prices will rise along the same trajectory – so far we have had 0.5 per cent in cuts for 2025 – if we have two more this year – we will see prices up between 10-12 per cent for the year.' MORE: Named: Aus' $60k homes, cheapest suburbs The idea that prices will soar and there will be more competition on the market is a terrifying prospect. Suppose in the next 12 months, prices rise by 10 per cent, which hypothetically would mean million-dollar property would now be worth $1.1 million. In that case, our borrowing power would not have increased enough for us to be able to afford it. This kind of price threat makes me want to buy something immediately, but we've been trying to buy for months with zero luck. My partner and I aren't first home buyers – well, I am, and he isn't. He sold his one-bedroom apartment to allow us to upsize and buy something more suitable for our future, and upsizing in Sydney these days means a single extra room. When we started looking, we even mentioned wanting a ground-floor apartment with a small patch of grass or a courtyard. We naively planned on getting a place with space for our dog or somewhere to put a barbecue, but now we're just happy if an apartment block doesn't need $6 million worth of waterproof repairs. At some point, we had dreams of two bathrooms, but six months into our property journey, we'd just be happy with a place that doesn't smell damp. The Sydney market is cooked, and trying to find an apartment for under a million bucks is pretty soul-destroying. Even though to us that feels like so much money and will result in us being in a fair amount of debt, you're at the lower end of the market. When we first started our home-buying journey, we'd go and look at three or four properties on a Saturday and usually pause and have a nice lunch or something – or not bother to see a property if it interfered with any social plans. Now, we treat house hunting like a military operation. We leave the house at 9am on Saturdays for the first home inspections and usually don't finish up until at least 2.30pm. There's no way we're stopping for lunch because we try to see as many properties as possible, even really ugly places! Our days are filled with trying to find parks, dealing with dodgy intercoms and evasive agents and being told an apartment has a vista, when it looks out onto a main street. There's also the heartbreaking reality that price guides or estimates are deceiving, you basically want to always add an extra $100,000. I was verbally told by an agent that a place with a price guide of around $800,000 just sold for $940,000, and it didn't come with a car space. Similarly, I inspected a property whose agent told me the market feedback was in the $800,000 range. The property then sold for over $900,000. It is tempting to feel like giving up, and property expert Jack Henderson certainly hasn't lifted my spirits because he told me that there's no doubt in his mind that Sydney properties will keep increasing in value. 'Absolutely it is going to make prices go up,' he said. Mr Henderson said that if you're fearful of being locked out of the Sydney property market, you should consider relocating. 'If you're not rich you shouldn't live in Sydney. It is where the wealthy people live, the wealthy people live in Sydney that is just a fact,' he said. Mr Henderson said property prices are just going to 'get worse and worse' and become more affordable, and he'd advise young couples without a high joint income to move out. 'If you're not a high income earner of earning between $200,000 to $300,000. I don't think Sydney is a great place to live because you can't afford the lifestyle,' he said. The market already feels competitive with investors and downsizers, and if things heat up even more, I'm afraid we'll be locked out forever … maybe we really can't afford Sydney.
Daily Mail
18-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Barefoot Investor warns against 'stupid' real estate change that is going to push house prices up even further in Australia: 'Rise by 10 per cent'
The Barefoot Investor has warned the government's first home buyer scheme will worsen housing affordability and put vulnerable Australians at risk. Scott Pape said the scheme, which promises to allow first home buyers to purchase on just a five per cent deposit, would 'just push prices higher'. 'I caught up with my old mate Louie Christopher from SQM Research, who's predicting that in this calendar year property prices are going to rise by up to 10 per cent!' he wrote in a column for NewsCorp. 'The first home buyer deposit policies are stupid. They will just push prices higher, says my mate Louie.' Mr Pape claimed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Treasurer Jim Chalmers wouldn't suggest such loans to their own families. 'None of them would sit down at Sunday lunch and tell their sister (if she was a single mum on a low income) to go out and buy a house with a 2.5 per cent deposit,' he wrote. 'Instead, they'd say: What if interest rates go up? What if you lose your job?' Mr Pape warned the consequences of such policies were already evident, sharing a letter from a reader named Sarah. 'Two years ago I purchased my first property using the Government's single parent grant, which meant I only had to save a 2.5 per cent deposit,' she wrote. 'Unfortunately, with the rise in interest rates and cost of living, I can no longer sustain the cost of my mortgage. My daughter and I are really struggling.' Mr Pape said he would offer Sarah financial guidance in an upcoming column, but added a grim prediction. 'It'll be a good warm-up. After all, come January 1, when Labor's five per cent deposit policy kicks in, there will be a lot more Sarahs coming through the door,' he wrote. 'Tread your own path.' At the federal election Labor confirmed it would allow all first home buyers to access five per cent deposits with no income caps or place limits. The party also pledged to build up to 100,000 homes reserved for first-time buyers. Former Opposition leader Peter Dutton told voters he would allow them to use some of their superannuation to fund their first home purchase. Last month, the Barefoot Investor compared Aussie homes to 'sardine tins sold at caviar prices' in a brutal swipe at both political parties' attempts to solve the housing crisis. Mr Pape said he spent four hours of his long weekend driving across Melbourne with his 11-year-old son who quickly noticed a key phrase on election billboards splashed around the city: 'Cost of living.' The finance guru noted his son was 'spot on' but claimed neither Labor nor the Coalition were doing much to address the issue. 'The biggest cost? The roof over our heads - rent or mortgage. That's where the squeeze is,' he wrote in a column for the Herald Sun. 'Australian homes are now some of the least affordable on Earth. And to afford them we've racked up world-class debt. 'Back in the mid-2000s, the average house cost four times the average income. Now it's more than eight.' Mr Pape claimed the current housing market had 'priced ordinary Australians out of their own neighbourhoods'. Yet, Mr Pape claimed both have only offered options that will put more money into the hands of pre-existing property owners. In good news for Australian borrowers, however, those with an average mortgage could save $100 a month on their repayments following an expected interest rate cut next week. Most economists are expecting the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut the cash rate by another 25 basis points, from 4.1 per cent now to 3.85 per cent, at its May 20 meeting. Financial markets regard a quarter of a percentage point rate cut on Tuesday as a 95 per cent chance.
ABC News
12-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
ACT Revenue Office demands hundreds of Canberrans repay tens of thousands of dollars in home stamp duty concessions
Marian's son travelled a long road to live independently. After many years of hard work, dedication and family support, things were looking up. "So he was very well, and he had got his ute and a job, and he got the place lined up, and then it was almost too exciting for words," Marian said. He bought a unit, with the help of the ACT government's stamp duty concession scheme, which is a program designed to help first home buyers break into the market. It was naturally a big achievement for Marian's son, and his first six months of living in his new place went well, but then came an abrupt change. "He had a complete collapse really, of his mental health," Marian said. With little to no warning, Marian's son had to move into 24-hour supported care. It was a very challenging time, and with a mortgage on the home that needed regular repayments, the family moved a tenant into the unit. By doing this — and because Marian's son hadn't been in the home for at least 12 months — the family unwittingly breached the concession scheme rules. The ACT Revenue Office wrote to Marian's son asking for an explanation for why he was not in the home, with a series of requests for personal and financial details. It also included clear warnings if he did not comply. "Failure to supply the above information by the due date may result in the imposition of up to 90 per cent penalty tax in respect of a tax default," the ACT Revenue Office notice said. "Please note, giving false or misleading information is a serious offence." Marian said that was a confronting experience for her son. "He was still struggling, and because of the nature of the way that they write their letters, he just ignored it … because it's sort of too hard. And that was really too hard," Marian said. She said that the letter, and a series of follow up notices, were demanding in how they were worded. "They used [a] very heavy-handed manner that they have and … very legalistic [in] their talk." When Marian discovered the notices, she said she considered appealing due to her son's situation and the difficulty they were all facing, but she feared further penalties. And interest was accruing the whole time on the concession amount, so Marian did everything she could to find the money to pay. "We just had to ... beg, borrow and buy the rest of it," Marian said. "It was very stressful because it's very hard to have to ask people for money out of the blue." Marian and her son aren't the only ones to have recently gone through this experience. Hundreds of ACT residents have had their stamp duty concessions reviewed in the last few years. Thomas Ang thought his young family had finally broken through the brick wall of home ownership. For a long time he didn't consider trying to purchase a home, as he was focused on steadily building up his savings and his superannuation to afford a deposit. But like many renters, his hand was forced. "We were asked to leave our rental, and it's incredibly difficult to find a rental as well, especially now with a son," Thomas said. He looked up an ACT government online calculator which assesses someone's overall income to see if they were under the threshold to qualify for a stamp duty concession. The calculator said he did, but he wanted to be sure, so he got legal advice. "I didn't even question that. Didn't even have the thought they were doing anything wrong, or … that we weren't eligible." When he bought his home, Thomas used some of his saved-up superannuation. He didn't realise that this was considered by the ACT Revenue Office to put his yearly earnings beyond the threshold for the stamp duty concession. He is adamant that he was never informed that this could be the case. Late last year, the ACT Revenue Office told him it was reviewing his concession and needed sensitive personal details — the same notice given to Marian's son. "They gave us about two weeks to reply to that," Thomas said. "So it's 4th of December, we went on holidays on the 6th of December overseas, so it was very difficult to try and get any of that documentation ready." Thomas made that deadline, but then soon afterwards he got a notice to pay back $25,000 within three weeks or face further interest and debt payments. "It was horrifying … and made me angry," he said. Everyone I've spoken to is confused," he said. The ACT Revenue Office allows for objections to its decisions, but the appeal process can take more than six months. Thomas is appealing the decision against his family, but if unsuccessful, he will be liable for extra interest that accrues during the time it takes for the appeal to be assessed and ruled upon. The situation has left him "completely stressed out". "Do I have to now sell the home?" he said. "I wouldn't be able to afford a home again if that happened." ACT Shadow Treasurer and Liberal MLA Ed Cocks has been gathering cases of people who the revenue office is recouping money from since late last year. He said the situation first came to his attention when people got in touch with his office about their difficulties in dealing with the revenue office. "The starkest situation was clearly someone who had been trying to escape domestic violence," he said. "People have spoken with lawyers to try and get their assessment. People who've done the online assessment tool that the government puts out there — and they thought that they were eligible. Mr Cocks wants an immediate pause on the retrospective reviews. He's calling for a formal inquiry into the ACT Revenue Office's reassessment and debt collection practices under the home buyer concession scheme. He said it was not just stamp duty concessions that the revenue office was initiating reviews into. "We're talking about rates, land tax and those sorts of things as well, and they [citizens] just don't have the documents anymore to prove what the situation was," Mr Cocks said. "For some people, they're scared that they're going to lose their home. For some people, it's even more severe. I've had people who I was concerned for their mental wellbeing." The ACT Revenue Commissioner wasn't available to speak with the ABC for this story. However, in a written response to a series of questions, a spokesperson for the commissioner acknowledged that there has been a significant increase in reassessments since the middle of 2022. The spokesperson said that "during COVID years, compliance activity was scaled down and staff transferred to deliver community support benefits". Source: ACT Revenue Office The spokesperson added that "the home buyer concession is not approved, people declare they will meet the eligibility criteria and the concession is offset against their duty liability at the time they purchase a property". ACT Finance Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith acknowledged that many people who has received notices were confused and afraid. "I have been really distressed to hear some of the stories about the impact on people," she said. "I have a great deal of sympathy for those individuals, particularly people who genuinely thought that their circumstances made them eligible for the concession. "And then they receive a letter that they don't either understand or it seems like it's quite a threat, that is really concerning. Ms Stephen-Smith defended the need for the revenue office to review cases of people who had claimed a stamp duty concession. "It's not that the revenue office approves it and then goes back and reconsiders their approval. Many tax lines are self-assessed, and that's the process for the home buyer concession scheme." She also said that under ACT law, the revenue office worked independently of government and couldn't be instructed to modify or waive debts. "This does have to be a balanced approach — the vast majority of people who receive these reassessments are not eligible for the concession," Ms Stephen-Smith said. "We don't want a system that encourages everybody to request a review of that decision so that they can simply defer what they legitimately owe to the tax office." When asked what he would say if he could speak to someone from the revenue office or government, Thomas Ang was clear. "Why are you doing this? Like, how do you explain your reasoning behind all this?" And Marian had a request. "They should just behave like human beings and … treat people in a genuine manner, without acting like we're criminals."
