NSW real estate: Online calculator helps first home buyers choose between annual fee or stamp duty

The NSW Government has launched an online calculator to help first home buyers figure out if they want to pay stamp duty or an annual property tax. 

Under the First Home Buyer Choice plan, eligible buyers would have the choice of a smaller annual property payment or the traditional upfront stamp duty for properties with a purchase price of up to $1.5million. 

The new online calculator is designed to help people choose which option would better suit their needs if the legislation is passed. 

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the government’s proposed tax would help people buy houses sooner.

‘Home ownership… starts paying dividends from the moment you walk through your front door for the first time and we don’t want people to have to wait an extra couple of years to reap those benefits,’ he said.

But Labor’s shadow Housing Minister, Rose Jackson, said that ‘the Liberals want to force first home buyers into impossible choices’.

The Labor Party also pointed out the legislation, announced in June, has not yet passed and there are just 15 sitting days left before the NSW election in March 2023. 

‘After 12 years of neglect, this last-minute effort to rush this through the parliament is lazy and simply isn’t going to cut it,’ she said. 

Treasurer Matt Kean said the annual tax could help young families ‘fast-track their journey to the great Australian dream’.

‘Treasury analysis indicates half of all owner-occupiers sell their home within 10.5 years, with first home buyers likely to sell even sooner,’ he said.

‘That means for the majority of first home buyers that don’t already receive stamp duty assistance, First Home Buyer Choice will not only allow them to break into the property market earlier, but pay less overall.’

Finance Minister Damien Tudehope said the calculator was an important tool that would make it easy for first home buyers to make the decision that was right for them.

‘When you own your own home, you own a stake in our nation, and the First Home Buyer Choice will help more young people across NSW do exactly that,’ he said.

Legislation for the First Home Buyer Choice plan, which was announced in the 2022-23 NSW Budget, will soon be introduced into Parliament, but Labor said it is too close to the election and should be held over. 

The NSW Government has said an online calculator launched on Monday will help first home buyers break into the property market earlier and save money. Pictured is a house for sale in Sydney

‘The Liberals owe it to the people of New South Wales to take it to an election,’ said Ms Jackson.

‘This just demonstrates that after 12 years the Liberals have nothing substantive to show for on the issue of housing.’