Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced that the NSW state government will temporarily axe stamp duty for first home buyers on newly built homes valued at under $800,000 from 1 August.
There will also be concessions available for new homes under $1 million in value (up from the previous limit of $800,000).
Previously, stamp duty applied to homes worth more than $650,000.
According to media reports, the move is expected to support approximately 6,000 first home buyers while boosting construction and creating jobs amid the COVID-19 crisis.
As well as increasing the stamp duty threshold for newly built homes, the government will also raise the threshold for stamp duty on vacant land.
This will rise from $350,000 to $400,000 and will phase out at $500,000.
The temporary changes will only last for a period of 12 months and will only apply to newly built homes and vacant land, not to existing homes.
“Thousands of people will see their bank balances benefit from this change. It will help get more keys into more front doors of more new homes,” Ms Berejiklian is reported to have said this morning.
“It will also boost housing construction across NSW and support jobs in the building industry at a time when we need them more than ever before.”
NSW treasurer Dom Perrottet tweeted this morning: “Stamp duty waived or discounted for thousands across NSW. All told, new home buyers will be able to save up to $31,000 as we keep the construction sector fired up and employing people.”
He later stated: “The current scheme has already helped over 93,000 first home buyers since July 2017 and this will give the construction industry extra support as we face the challenges of COVID-19.
“We need to ensure our building sites keep ringing with hammers and saws as that means more people working, and first home owners will save money in the process.”
The NSW government will also continue to offer a $10,000 First Home Owner Grant, which is available to people buying a new first home worth no more than $600,000, or buying land and building a new first home worth no more than $750,000 in total.
This means the maximum amount of benefit a home owner could be entitled to is $32,335 if purchasing a new home and accessing the grant.
The move compliments the intentions of the federal HomeBuilder scheme that provides a $25,000 grant to owner-occupiers “substantially renovating” or building a new home between 4 June to 31 December 2020.
The federal government estimates that approximately 27,000 grants would be handed out as part of the package across $10 billion in building projects, supporting 140,000 direct jobs and another 1,000,000 related jobs in the residential construction sector.