First home buyers grant increase (until June 2009)!

[kaz101]

For those of you who haven't bought your first home here there is some great news. It's just been announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that first home buyers grant is going to be doubled to $14,000 for those who buy an established home and tripled to $21,000 for those who buy a new a newly built home, and this will remain in place until the end of the financial year (30th June 2009).

This is part of some bonuses to strengthen the Australian economy.

More can be read about it here:
$10b: Rudd ramps it up - National - smh.com.au

Regards,
Karen

[Tiffani]

very helpful, except that it seems almost like a drop in the bucket when any house sells for about half a mill nowadays

[kaz101]

Originally Posted by Tiffani

very helpful, except that it seems almost like a drop in the bucket when any house sells for about half a mill nowadays

That depends on where you are looking since around here you can still buy units from $75,000 so $14,000 is quite a high percentage. I'm not saying that the units are great but they will get someone started on the property ladder. New build houses are around $300,000 so $21,000 isn't bad.

We found the $7,000 (which we received) very useful since we weren't expecting it and certainly helped with the initial outlay when we moved here.

In the UK at the moment you get nothing to help you get started at all!

Regards,
Karen

[zoeburrell]

I guess that'll be for people with permanent resident status only? We'll be out there (hopefully end of next month ) but on a business owner visa. We won't get PR for at least 2 years Thanks Zoe x

[kaz101]

Originally Posted by zoeburrell

I guess that'll be for people with permanent resident status only? We'll be out there (hopefully end of next month ) but on a business owner visa. We won't get PR for at least 2 years Thanks Zoe x

Hi Zoe,
Yes it's for citizens or PR status only. However there will still be something available in a few years. BTW if you are moving over next month then you probably have to wait 4 years to apply to citizenship since the rules were changed last year (I think it depends on when your visa was granted).

More info for the individual states can be found at:
First Home Owners Scheme but some of the sites haven't updated the amount info yet since it was just announced on 14th October.

Regards,
Karen

[MandM]

how long were you there Kaz, before you moved from rent to purchase?

[kaz101]

Originally Posted by MandM

how long were you there Kaz, before you moved from rent to purchase?

We didn't rent at all. We were advised to buy a house before we moved out here since because we are both self employed and if we didn't do it that way then it would be a couple of years before we could buy because we wouldn't be able to prove our income to the mortgage lenders over here.

We had already visited Oz a few times and in Feb 2007 we came over with the intention of finding an area and a home and that's what we did. We bought the house in February 2007 with a long settlement (completion as we call in the UK) and then moved over in July 2007.

I know that isn't the conventional way but that's how we did it and it's worked very well for us. We love Mount Gambier and have had incredible support from local groups we've joined.

Regards,
Karen

[Tiffani]

don't get me wrong, every little bit helps, but the housing prices in Melbourne are shocking. No way would I buy in the middle of this bubble!

Good luck to everyone else out there who's looking though

[IrishAngel]

be warned y'all, the bubble burst here and it will more than likely happen there, probably end of next year, so cheap cheap houses for all in 2010 : )

[ijbrown]

Originally Posted by Tiffani

don't get me wrong, every little bit helps, but the housing prices in Melbourne are shocking. No way would I buy in the middle of this bubble!

Good luck to everyone else out there who's looking though

Best thing to do now then if living in the uk sell you house take the profit and put in an ozzie dollar account then wait for the prices in Australia to fall.

Does anyone know if the first time buyer discount applys to all types of visa ?