Stamp duty hurts Coast home buyers
12:00a.m. 4th December 2008
The state government has been labelled a bandit after it was revealed Noosa, Caloundra and Maroochydore homebuyers are paying the highest stamp duty rates in Queensland relative to household income.
Noosa topped the table with its stamp duty as a percentage of household income pegged at a staggering 17% this year in the Bankwest residential stamp duty report.
On average, Caloundra and Maroochydore home buyers paid 13% of their annual income on stamp duty.
The median stamp duty bill for Noosa, Caloundra and Maroochydore homebuyers in 2008 was $9520, $7337 and $7665 respectively.
The stamp duty bill for the three is more than double the state average.
The real estate industry has called on the government to ease the financial burden for people buying properties on the Sunshine Coast.
Stewart Tandy and Associates principal Vicki Stewart said stamp duty rates on the Coast were “criminal”.
“Something has to be done about it,” she said.
“The government has had a dream run over the last six or seven years with stamp duty and it’s now payback time – it has to start giving back a bit.”
Across Queensland, the median stamp duty bill is $5,005.
Over the past five years it has increased 151% from $1,995, with the median stamp duty bill now equal to 7% of household income. It was 4% in 2003.
Treasury was unable to supply a breakdown for the Coast.
While the federal government has been applauded for its first homebuyers’ grant, in which the stamp duty is waved on properties up to $500,000, agents said stamp duty rates across the board needed to be urgently addressed.
“We’re all paying the price for prime lending,” Ms Stewart said.
Agents said high stamp duty bills and other costs associated with buying a home had sidelined many prospective homebuyers, with a growing number of people deciding the renovate their existing home rather than buy a new one.
“No doubt it’s an inhibitor when people think about a property transaction,” Ray White Maroochydore principal Brett Graham said.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland chairman Peter McGrath said while Queensland had the lowest stamp duty rates in Australia, more could be done to help homebuyers.
“In today’s economic climate there is still room for stamp duty, particularly at the higher end, to have some reductions made,” he said.
Treasury had not replied to the Daily’s written questions by deadline.
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Recent Comments
Buy a cheaper hopuse or get a better job.
The above extract from the article is misleading in the extreme Stamp Duty is affixed per centum levied against the negotiated price of the contract and has nothing to do with household income.
The statement does demonstrate that coast purchases are buying home at a higher-level ratio of price to income than other regions.
Then when it was found that the GST was providing the States with a much larger windfall than expected, the States conveniently forget about dropping SD (and other taxes) and raked in the extra cash.
This isn't a polictical statement by the way. If it was a Liberal/National State government, I doubt they would have dropped SD either. It's just what governments do. They take our money to fund their inefficiencies.
Sure, there are pros to owning a small business but it isn't all wine and roses as many seem to think. Just as there are pros to being an employee, and it isn't all wine and roses at times either.
The Sunshine Coast median home price is slightly higher than Brisbane...but it is also slightly lower than the Gold Coast. I wouldn't have thought that this would be any cause for alarm in itself.
The problem stems from our median income levels which are close to the lowest in Queensland. Hence, when you divide a property value close to the top by an income close to the bottom you end up with a result which says that relatively we have the worst housing affordability in the World.
The only reason why this might be relevant is when you consider that, ON PAPER, we cannot afford to buy our own homes. But people from just about anywhere outside the Coast find our homes quite affordable because their incomes are higher than ours.
The low average or median incomes are impacted by our high proportion of casual or partially employed people and the high proportion of people who are asset rich and income poor. So you really even have to wonder what this actually means in terms of housing affordability.
I am with "pmac of Buderim" on this one. If the Democrats had allowed the GST to be applied the way it was supposed to be then stamp duty would not exist however you would have GST on property, which currently built in.
The missing billions effect everyone , homeowner or not.
It is about time Government both federal and state , and local council started becoming accountable for tax collected and spent. If you really looked at each separate entity , the blatant waste of our money is outrageous.
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