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Wealthy buyers banned from first-home owners grant
Article from:
Rosemary Odgers
January 01, 2010 12:00am
WEALTHY househunters will be banned from accessing the first-home owners grant for properties worth $750,000 or more following claims on multimillion-dollar houses.
Queensland taxpayers helped one first-home owner buy a $6 million property last year for which they received the minimum $7000 rebate.
Another 78 homeowners were given up to $21,000 for homes worth more than $1 million, while a further 250 received the grants when buying homes that cost at least $750,000.
From today, the popular grant will be restricted to people paying less than $1 million for their first home.
But the Bligh Government will also today reveal plans to legislate to further reduce the cap in Queensland to under $750,000 by mid-year.
The decision is likely to save the state budget more than $2 million a year.
Treasurer Andrew Fraser, who lobbied for state power to cap the grant, said funding should be targeted at those who needed the most help.
He said the cap was still well above Brisbane's average house price of $410,000.
"I've never had the view that million-dollar property purchases needed assistance from the State Government," Mr Fraser said.
Other states are also moving to cap the first-home rebate scheme which was introduced in 2000 to offset the cost of the GST on housing and prevent a lull in the building industry.
In October 2008, amid the global financial crisis, the Rudd Government increased the rebate to $21,000 for new homes and $14,000 for existing homes with states paying the first $7000. It will return to a flat $7000 rebate today.
Last financial year, 34,438 first-home grants were issued in Queensland, costing the state budget $241 million. Mr Fraser flagged a change in the grant scheme when he handed down his first budget in 2008.
But he had to get the agreement of the other state and federal governments to introduce the cap amid concerns it amounted to means-testing.
Article from:
Rosemary Odgers
January 01, 2010 12:00am
WEALTHY househunters will be banned from accessing the first-home owners grant for properties worth $750,000 or more following claims on multimillion-dollar houses.
Queensland taxpayers helped one first-home owner buy a $6 million property last year for which they received the minimum $7000 rebate.
Another 78 homeowners were given up to $21,000 for homes worth more than $1 million, while a further 250 received the grants when buying homes that cost at least $750,000.
From today, the popular grant will be restricted to people paying less than $1 million for their first home.
But the Bligh Government will also today reveal plans to legislate to further reduce the cap in Queensland to under $750,000 by mid-year.
The decision is likely to save the state budget more than $2 million a year.
Treasurer Andrew Fraser, who lobbied for state power to cap the grant, said funding should be targeted at those who needed the most help.
He said the cap was still well above Brisbane's average house price of $410,000.
"I've never had the view that million-dollar property purchases needed assistance from the State Government," Mr Fraser said.
Other states are also moving to cap the first-home rebate scheme which was introduced in 2000 to offset the cost of the GST on housing and prevent a lull in the building industry.
In October 2008, amid the global financial crisis, the Rudd Government increased the rebate to $21,000 for new homes and $14,000 for existing homes with states paying the first $7000. It will return to a flat $7000 rebate today.
Last financial year, 34,438 first-home grants were issued in Queensland, costing the state budget $241 million. Mr Fraser flagged a change in the grant scheme when he handed down his first budget in 2008.
But he had to get the agreement of the other state and federal governments to introduce the cap amid concerns it amounted to means-testing.
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