The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) is calling on the state government to raise the stamp duty concession threshold from $500,000 to $750,000 due to soaring property prices.
REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said the current threshold, set in 2008, no longer aligns with the reality of the market, with the median home value in Brisbane reaching $783,000 in December, a 10.45% increase over the year, PropTrack’s latest Home Price Index showed.
“The average cost of an entry level property has rapidly outpaced the current threshold of the first-home buyer’s concession being $500,000 and has not been reviewed since 2008,” Mercorella said.
PropTrack data showed that median home values across Queensland rose 8.47% to $634,000 in the same period.
The existing concession exempts first-home buyers from stamp duty on properties under $500,000, with concessional rates applying to those between $500,000 and $550,000, saving buyers up to $15,925, realestate.com.au reported.
Angus Moore, PropTrack’s senior economist, noted that only about a third of homes sold in Queensland in 2023 would qualify for the full discount, and more than 40% would qualify for a partial concession.
In Brisbane’s more challenging market, fewer than 25% of homes sold last year would secure the full discount, with just under a third qualifying for a partial concession.
“Stamp duty is particularly acute for first-home buyers because most first-home buyers are deposit-constrained,” Moore said. “Saving for a deposit is hard and stamp duty adds tens of thousands of dollars on top of the amount of deposit that you have to save.”
REIQ emphasised the urgent need for a review, citing the decade-low numbers of first-home buyers accessing the concession.
“While we are yet to see any appetite from the state government to tackle the inefficient and regressive tax that is stamp duty, a sensible interim measure would be to lift the concessional threshold for first-home buyers to a figure of at least $750,000,” Mercorella said.
Moore warned that stamp duty acts as a barrier to property markets, negatively impacting affordability and discouraging mobility. He advocated for broader reform, similar to initiatives in other states, such as the ACT’s phased-out approach to stamp duty over a 20-year period to enhance home buying equity.
To read the original report, visit the realestate.com.au website.
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