From:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national...ntage-of-grants/2009/02/06/1233423496702.html
FIRST-HOME owners are buying property in greater numbers than for the past six years after the recent boost in Government grants.
About 8380 first-home buyers in NSW received $103 million from state and federal governments in the two months to December 31.
The majority, about 5483, each received $14,000, the NSW Office of State Revenue said. Just 225 received the full $24,000 grant.
The renewed competition for new home buyers has prompted the developer Australand to entice first-home buyers with cheaper food and petrol through a $6000 Woolworths gift card.
For the first time in six years, first-home buyers make up more than 20 per cent of buyers.
The first timers represented 23.6 per cent of the housing market in November, up from 19.5 per cent in October when the Rudd Government announced the doubling of the $7000 first-home owner grant to $14,000 for an existing house.
Another $7000 is available for a newly built house.
The NSW Government also announced in November an additional $3000 for first-home buyers purchasing a newly built house or building a house.
Grant numbers averaged 3610 a month since the first home scheme was introduced in 2000.
Loans to first-home buyers rose to 30.5 per cent in NSW last month, double the 15.2 per cent in July, after the sixth consecutive monthly rise, Mark Hewitt, the general manager of sales at the mortgage broker Australian Financial Group, said.
"Younger people with reasonably secure jobs have become an important force in the property market during the past few months," Mr Hewitt said. "You have the Government's subsidy, you have prices coming down, and interest rates are low."
Despite the fillip from first-home buyers, vendors are not securing their asking prices.
At Caringbah a two-bedroom Gardere Street townhouse, listed last October at $490,000, sold late last month at $430,000, a 12 per cent discount on the asking price.
It was sold by an investor getting $420 a week and was bought by first-home buyers who have been renting in the area.
"Young buyers have decided to get into the market while the Government has the bigger first-home grant on offer," the selling agent, Peter Fennell, said.
Real estate agents suggest the longer the property has been on the market, the bigger the drop in asking price as vendors re-acclimatise to price levels.
Agents report some quick sales to first-home buyers.
At Lane Cove a $397,600 sale was secured two weeks after a two-bedroom Burns Bay Road investment unit hit the market.
Rented out at $340 a week, it last traded at $362,000 in 2002.
But a Sylvania agent, Michelle Michell, said vendors were often needing to extend the five-day cooling-off period to allow first-home buyers enough time to get bank approvals.
"It might take a bit longer, but we haven't had a deal fall over because of finance," a Gymea agent, Dino Salvatore, said.
"I have only had one recent buyer needing finance who managed to get bank approval within the five-day period," Mr Salvatore said.
The Real Estate Institute of Australia has called on the Federal Government to extend the grants beyond its proposed June 30 cut-off.
"The boost has sparked increased interest in home ownership," the institute's president, Noel Dyett, said. "But the lag in the supply response by builders and developers means much of this increased demand will not be satisfied until the second half of the year at the earliest."
Me: I wonder if this take up of the FHB grants/boost is responsible for rising vacancy rates in some areas?
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national...ntage-of-grants/2009/02/06/1233423496702.html
FIRST-HOME owners are buying property in greater numbers than for the past six years after the recent boost in Government grants.
About 8380 first-home buyers in NSW received $103 million from state and federal governments in the two months to December 31.
The majority, about 5483, each received $14,000, the NSW Office of State Revenue said. Just 225 received the full $24,000 grant.
The renewed competition for new home buyers has prompted the developer Australand to entice first-home buyers with cheaper food and petrol through a $6000 Woolworths gift card.
For the first time in six years, first-home buyers make up more than 20 per cent of buyers.
The first timers represented 23.6 per cent of the housing market in November, up from 19.5 per cent in October when the Rudd Government announced the doubling of the $7000 first-home owner grant to $14,000 for an existing house.
Another $7000 is available for a newly built house.
The NSW Government also announced in November an additional $3000 for first-home buyers purchasing a newly built house or building a house.
Grant numbers averaged 3610 a month since the first home scheme was introduced in 2000.
Loans to first-home buyers rose to 30.5 per cent in NSW last month, double the 15.2 per cent in July, after the sixth consecutive monthly rise, Mark Hewitt, the general manager of sales at the mortgage broker Australian Financial Group, said.
"Younger people with reasonably secure jobs have become an important force in the property market during the past few months," Mr Hewitt said. "You have the Government's subsidy, you have prices coming down, and interest rates are low."
Despite the fillip from first-home buyers, vendors are not securing their asking prices.
At Caringbah a two-bedroom Gardere Street townhouse, listed last October at $490,000, sold late last month at $430,000, a 12 per cent discount on the asking price.
It was sold by an investor getting $420 a week and was bought by first-home buyers who have been renting in the area.
"Young buyers have decided to get into the market while the Government has the bigger first-home grant on offer," the selling agent, Peter Fennell, said.
Real estate agents suggest the longer the property has been on the market, the bigger the drop in asking price as vendors re-acclimatise to price levels.
Agents report some quick sales to first-home buyers.
At Lane Cove a $397,600 sale was secured two weeks after a two-bedroom Burns Bay Road investment unit hit the market.
Rented out at $340 a week, it last traded at $362,000 in 2002.
But a Sylvania agent, Michelle Michell, said vendors were often needing to extend the five-day cooling-off period to allow first-home buyers enough time to get bank approvals.
"It might take a bit longer, but we haven't had a deal fall over because of finance," a Gymea agent, Dino Salvatore, said.
"I have only had one recent buyer needing finance who managed to get bank approval within the five-day period," Mr Salvatore said.
The Real Estate Institute of Australia has called on the Federal Government to extend the grants beyond its proposed June 30 cut-off.
"The boost has sparked increased interest in home ownership," the institute's president, Noel Dyett, said. "But the lag in the supply response by builders and developers means much of this increased demand will not be satisfied until the second half of the year at the earliest."
Me: I wonder if this take up of the FHB grants/boost is responsible for rising vacancy rates in some areas?
