The Budget was presented last night and below are some of the announcements from Labor that will impact our real estate market:

First Home Buyers Help to Buy Scheme Expanded

The program involves the government providing eligible home buyers with an equity contribution of up to 40 per cent of the purchase price of a new home and up to 30 per cent of the purchase price for an existing home. Buyers will be able to purchase a property that they intend to live in with a deposit of as little as 2 per cent. Participating lenders finance the remainder of the purchase. There are income and purchase price caps on the scheme.

The changes in the 2025 budget will increase income caps from $90,000 to $100,000 for singles and from $120,000 to $160,000 for joint applicants and single parents. The scheme will also increase property price caps to better align with average house prices, in Sydney and Illawarra these caps will increase from $950,000 to $1.3 million. These two changes will increase the possibilities for our local first home buyers, especially the purchase price caps, which open up many more properties for them to purchase.

Foreigners Banned from Buying Existing Properties

Included in the budget is a ban on foreign buyers from purchasing existing dwellings for two years, starting 1 April 2025. This will have a small impact in our area as foreigners do buy existing homes from time to time.