First-home buyers have emerged as major winners from Western Australia’s latest state budget, with the Cook government unveiling sweeping changes to stamp duty and fresh funding for affordable housing, realestate.com.au reported.
The measures come as state finances are already under pressure from softer growth, higher costs, and limited capacity for further fiscal stimulus, which is increasing scrutiny on how new spending is deployed.
Under the overhaul, eligible first-home buyers will pay no stamp duty on new or established homes valued up to $600,000, an increase from the previous $500,000 threshold. Concessional rates will now apply to properties worth up to $800,000, widening the pool of homes accessible with tax relief.
The property cap for the $10,000 First Home Owner Grant will rise from $750,000 to $800,000. Buyers of vacant land will also benefit, with the stamp duty exemption threshold lifted from $350,000 to $450,000 and concessions extended to blocks valued up to $550,000.
The changes form part of a $297 million housing tax package the state government says will support about 25,000 new first-home buyers over the next four years, as well as stimulate new construction under the National Housing Accord.
REA Group senior economist Eleanor Creagh (pictured) said “the measures will expand access to support at a time when Perth’s housing market has experienced an extraordinary uplift in prices in recent years.”
Alongside the stamp duty changes, the budget commits $375 million to a new program aimed at delivering 500 affordable dwellings exclusively for first-home buyers. The homes will be built in targeted growth corridors and delivered through the state-backed Keystart scheme.
Keystart, established in 1989, offers a suite of shared equity home loans designed to lower entry costs and remove the need for lenders’ mortgage insurance. The new funding will sit alongside a $250 million commercial financing facility intended to provide low-cost finance for developments that include affordable housing, and a separate $250 million pre-sale guarantee scheme to help more projects proceed.
The changes follow a rapid run-up in values across Western Australia. Perth was the fastest-growing capital city over the past year, with the median home price breaking the $1 million mark in March and now sitting just above $1.02 million.
“Perth home values have more than doubled over the past five years,” Creagh said. “The median home value in Perth now sits just above $1.02 million, highlighting how rapidly affordability has deteriorated for aspiring first-home buyers.”
Lifting the stamp duty exemption and concession thresholds, alongside increasing the First Home Owner Grant cap, and adding new supply through Keystart, is expected to ease some of that pressure for eligible buyers.
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