First Home Market in Australia Falls
The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggest that the first home buyer activity in Australia is in a steady decline. In 2010, government applications went down by as much as two-thirds as compared to 2009 levels. In 2009, a monthly average of 19,000 first home buyers applied for federal grants, taking up grants that amounted to $1 billion. In 2010, the monthly average went down to 7460.
Throughout 2010, there were about 35,000 first time home buyers that took out total grants of $344 million. Also, only a small portion of the over-65 population took the government incentive to transfer in smaller properties. In five months, about 7,300 individuals took the Home Builders Bonus that offers incentives such as the cancellation of the stamp duty fee.
Among all first home buyers in New South Wales, most of them where from the western part of Sydney in suburbs such as Liverpool, Kellyville, Hoxton Park and Westmead. Suburbs in the western part of Sydney generates first home buyer grant finances from $3.3 million to $7.3 million. Since the First Home Buyer Grant was introduced in July 2000, close to 500,000 homebuyers have taken grants amounting to $4.1 billion.
