Updated Stamp Duty Exemptions/Concessions – July 2012

Buying property? Here is an update on changes to Stamp Duty Exemptions/Concessions, as of 1st July 2012:

First Home – New Home

From 1^st July 2012 for a first home buyer the following thresholds will apply:

• Full exemption on a newly built home to $550,000.00 (up from $500,000.00)
• Concessional rate of duty on a newly built home to $650,000.00 (up from $600,000.00)
• Full exemption on land valued to $350,000.00 (up from $300,000.00)
• Concessional rate of duty on land to $450,000.00 (up from $400,000.00) purchased with the intention of building a first home.

First Home Owner Grant – New Homes Only

From 1^st October 2012 First Home Owner Grants will be restricted to buyers of newly built homes costing up to $650,000.00. The Grant will increase from the current level of $7,000.00 to $15,000.00 from 1^st October 2012 and then to $10,000.00 from 1^st January 2014.

The First Home Owners Grant scheme is fully funded by the NSW Government and administered by the Office of State Revenue. The present scheme that provides for a Grant of $7,000.00 for the purchaser of a first home (which includes an existing home) will no longer be available for contracts dated after the 30^th September 2012.

New Home Grant – (Not a First Home)

On 1^st July 2012 the Home Builders Bonus will be replaced by a new incentive: A $5,000.00 “New Home Grant”.

Purchasers of new homes up to the value of $650,000.00 will be eligible to apply for this Grant, as will purchasers of vacant land up to the value of $450,000.00 on which a new home is to be built. A purchaser can be an entity, including natural persons, a company, or a trustee of a trust and as a consequence there is no requirement for a purchaser to live in the home.

There will be two ways to claim this Grant:

1. Reduce the duty payable by $5,000.00; or
2. Pay the full amount and receive a payment of $5,000.00.

The NSW Government had planned to abolish mortgage duty on commercial mortgages, share duty on the transfer of private marketable securities and stamp duty on contracts for sale of business as of 1^st July 2012, however this has been deferred until 1^st July 2013.