First Home Buyers Cash Boost

CASH grants to first home buyers will be doubled to $14,000 – and trebled to $21,000 for those buying newly built properties – over the next eight months under the Federal Government’s economic package.

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said the move was designed to stimulate construction and help first home buyers, tackling the economy’s “twin challenges” of a subdued housing industry and poor affordability.

First home buyers are already eligible for a grant of $7000, which is funded by the Federal Government and administered by the states.

Now anyone who signs a contract to buy their first home from yesterday until June 30 next will be eligible for a grant of $14,000 if they buy an established dwelling and $21,000 if they buy a new house or apartment.

Mr Rudd said about 150,000 people were expected to benefit and the measure would cost the Government almost $1.5 billion.

“The construction sector and private dwellings investment are important generators of economic activity,” he told Parliament. “They are also important for the well-being and the living standards of Australians.”

The higher grants, which follow last week’s 1 percentage point cut in official interest rates, will give a shot in the arm to a housing market hit by higher interest rates and falling consumer confidence.

The latest statistics show housing loan approvals in August were down 25 per cent from their peak in the middle of last year and council approvals for construction of new dwellings were down more than 8 per cent compared with a year earlier.

The housing industry welcomed the move but developers warned it needed to be matched by action by local and state governments to release new land and speed up planning approvals.

The managing director of the Housing Industry Association, Ron Silberberg, said the grants would stimulate activity and help address the housing shortage.

He said that in 2001 when the Howard government doubled the first home owners grant for new house purchases, the number of dwellings built rose by 3000 a month in nine months. He expected yesterday’s initiative to boost new dwellings by 15,000.

(source www.smh.com.au)

Avoid the Stress and Drama of all the Paperwork…

Let someone else do ALL that for you…

Home Loans with no stress and no paperwork

Take all the stress and fuss out your finance

Home Buyers rejoice

Whether it’s your first home or refinancing LoanEasy will make it easy…