August 31, 2016
More than 60% of first home buyers believe greater government support would have encouraged them to put their foot on the property ladder sooner.
According to Mortgage Choice's annual First Home Buyer Survey, 64.4% of first home buyers who purchased within the last 24 months would have bought sooner if they had received more financial assistance.
When asked whether or not the current level of government support provided to first home buyers in their state was sufficient, 57.3% of respondents said ‘no'.
Mortgage Choice chief executive officer John Flavell agreed with the majority of recent first home buyers and said the government should do more to help this home buyer segment achieve their property ownership goals.
“Property prices continue to rise across most markets, which is putting first home buyers off,” he said.
“Across the combined capital cities, property prices rose 8.3% over the last financial year. Sydney and Melbourne were the standout performers, with the two cities recording property price growth of 11.3% and 11.5% respectively.
“Sydney currently boasts a median dwelling price of $775,000, while Melbourne's median property price is $585,000.
“Across Australia, there is only one capital city that doesn't boast a median dwelling price above $400,000. With that said, it is easy to see why so many first home buyers struggle to get a foot on the property ladder.
“It is becomingly increasingly difficult for first home buyers to save the deposit they need in order to purchase a property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Worse still, it is widely expected that low rates will continue to keep heat in the property market, causing property prices to grow even more over the coming months and years.”
Mr Flavell said it was time for the government to act and do something before home ownership stops being the great Australian dream and becomes the unattainable dream.
“The government has actively spoken about the ongoing issue of housing affordability in a lot of public forums,” he said.
“But while there is a lot of talk about housing affordability and its impact on the broader community, there is next to no action. I believe the time for political grandstanding has come to an end and it is now time to act.”
According to the Survey, 47.4% of respondents would like to see stamp duty fees abolished for first home buyers, while a further 35.5% said they would like to see grants for established properties re-introduced.
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