Once a property has been converted to the property tax system, all future homeowners should pay the tax instead of the stamp duty. Previous buyers will not be affected by the changes.
The top 20% of NSW residential properties would not be eligible for buyers to opt for property tax and would continue to levy the stamp duty, as previously reported by The Sydney Morning Herald. The 80th percentile of all NSW homes stood at $ 1.54 million in the March quarter, according to Domain data.
Powell said the state government should also try to adjust the stamp duty bands, which were related to movements in the consumer price index. As property price growth soared far above that, more NSW buyers were now paying higher stamp duty rates.
Sydney’s average home price has risen 280 per cent over the past 20 years, from about $ 418,000 to about $ 1.59 million, while the cost of this home stamp duty average price rose 406 percent from about $ 14,300 to nearly $ 72,400.
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Housing policy expert Dr. Chris Martin, a senior researcher at the UNSW City Futures Research Center, said the stamp duty could deter people from making otherwise beneficial moves. , but it was not as big a barrier as thought.
Although the buyer paid the stamp duty, the evidence showed that it came from the price received by the seller, Martin said. He was concerned that any initial cost savings would be added to a buyer’s spending budget, which would eventually result in more money for sellers and push up prices.
A property tax could bring underused land to market and encourage homeowners to move more often, which he supported. However, he said he was concerned that reducing initial costs for investors could lead to more speculation and a rotation of the rental market, and would prefer to see the property tax limited to landlords.
“Having the stamp duty puts a bit of noise on the wheel of transactions, which could actually be a good thing … like an anti-flipping tax,” he said.
Sydney Buyer’s Agent Peter Kelaher, CEO of PK Property, said the stamp duty had reached outrageous levels as rising prices pushed more properties to the top of the tax. It influenced the decisions of the buyers and could influence the time that the owners owned a property.
Kelaher said a property tax would allow for more transactions, but said the initial cost would still be preferable to an additional annual expense for many buyers. He also said that choosing the less popular of the two options could work against future sellers during the transition phase.
“If you chose the unpopular product in a certain suburb, your home will not be as attractive,” Kelaher said.