An important trend that we have observed over the last month is the significant discrepancy between home prices of properties that are valued between $500,000 and $600,000 and homes that sit just over $600,000. The biggest factor influencing this discrepancy is that first home buyers are generally capped at the figure of $600,000 in order to receive the 50% stamp duty concession and therefore a large number of these buyers are unwilling to go over this figure even though they may be able to afford to do so. This trend will surely change come 1 July with the government set to introduce a new policy which will mean that first home buyers will be fully exempt from paying stamp duty for purchases up to $600,000 and will receive a 50% concession for purchases between $600,000 and $750,000. This will also mean that prices for homes which are currently valued $500,000 to $750,000 are set to dramatically increase as there will be far more opportunity for first home buyers to increase their spending caps, especially for homes which are currently worth just over $600,000.
