The announcement is fresh so the details are still sketchy. But here’s the latest news for home buyers from the Queensland State Treasurer and today’s budget:
If you’re buying a home after July 31st you will now pay more stamp duty. For the median Brisbane house of $430,000 it will be $6,575 extra (for a new total of $12,875 going out of your pocket into the government coffers.) Concessions will remain for first home buyers spending less than $500,000, not that there’s many of them left any more. The duty on an investment purchase remains unchanged.
On our best estimates the number of real estate transactions in Brisbane were lower in 2010 than they had been for more than a decade. This year has so far been the slowest in many agents’ memories, well down on 2010, maybe by as much as a further 30%. So how does increasing the tax on each of these make any sense at all? It’s hard to keep an open mind when the mindlessness of it is breathtaking.
Why the change? Well the government seems to be struggling with balancing the books and had to fund some “headline” good news stories. Here’s the explanation from the budget papers: “The government has introduced a temporary $10,000 Queensland Building Boost grant towards the construction or purchase of a new home for six months commencing 1 August 2011. The Community Ambulance Cover levy is to be abolished from 1 July 2011. These changes are to be funded by the removal of the principal place of residence transfer duty concession.”
I must be missing something here. If the Treasurer thinks the new home market operates in isolation of the established housing market he’s badly misguided. Smacking home buyers around the teeth with an extra $6000 or $7000 of tax will further slow the whole real estate market – established and new. So they won’t be handing out too many of those $10,000 cheques for new homes……
Ahhh – I think I understand!
Please share your thoughts on these changes. And to calculate your new tax go to the stamp duty calculator.
## Thursday 16th June update: Some news today from the State Opposition in their budget reply speech: “Today we also announced our commitment to reintroducing stamp duty concessions on family homes, a saving that was ditched by Labor in the 2011-12 Budget. We understand that this 125 per cent increase will cost Queenslanders dearly, which is why we oppose it. Our policy will save Queenslanders around $7,000 on the average home.”
Apparently us Queenslanders are worrying ourselves silly that rates are about to leap upwards. So we thought this graph might help allay your fears!
The yellow line shows the current variable rates and it’s encouraging to see the 3 and 5 year rates are not much higher. In fact you can lock your loan in for 5 years from as low as 7.54%. And if you think that’s just the banks being competitive what about a 10 year rate? You’re guessing maybe 12%, 10% if you’re lucky? You can currently lock in your home loan rate for 10 years from 8.09% – or approx 1% more than where variable rates are today.
Hopefully Brisbane home buyers can sleep better tonight!
A surprisingly high 65% of renters take more than 3 months to find a home, according to a survey by property portal RealEstateView.com.au
General Manager Petra Sprekos said their site’s users were confirming the view that demand far exceeds supply in the rental market and that finding a rental home can prove extremely difficult.
“Most renters report that they have problems finding a home. A wait of three months to find a new home means that if you only have a lease that is 12 months in duration you would need to spend a quarter of your time looking for a new home.
RealEstateView is now Australia’s 3rd largest property portal but it’s still a largely Victorian site, so these stats don’t necessarily reflect Brisbane’s current rental market. But there is info in here for Brisbane landlords, especially on the price-sensitivity of tenants.
“The survey also found that renters knew they had to be flexible if they were to find a home with more than half willing to look in other suburbs or for homes without the features they wanted. One in ten will even look at share accommodation to find a place to rent and just under half will increase their budget.”
“It shows that renters will trade quality and location before they increase their budget.” Petra Sprekos concluded.
I was thrilled to see the new Powderfinger music video on the weekend!
Talk about showing off Brisbane in all its glory. They guys from Powderfinger were rocking out their new single “All of the Dreamers” in all my favourite places and giving a great overview of some well known properties and locations around inner Brisbane.
They started under the Riverside Expressway. They went through most of Brisbane including the Botanic Gardens, up Alice Street including Restaurant Two, the Grosvenor, River Place and Felix Apartments. I saw Mincom and Central Station, the Sofitel and Anzac Square Residences looking up Adelaide Street.
I’m sure I saw a glimpse of Customs House in front of Aurora, Summitt at Spring Hill got a look in, Post Office Square and last but definitely not least Treasury Casino.
The last few moments they pulled the shot out to an amazing night time city skyline, including the Story Bridge and several reaches of the Brisbane River (which I myself have had the pleasure of viewing on occasion). It shows off some of our most impressive commercial towers too including Central Plaza One & Two.
To relive this magical cityscape I’d say dinner on a Petrie Point balcony might offer something like it, or for a more birds’ eye view try Riparian Plaza. I have a new listing there actually – does anyone need a 182sqm two bedder for $900 per week? Go on, live it up in Brisbane, best city in the world!
