As the winter season cools the auction market, new housing legislation has first-home buyers warming up!

As of 1 July, the Victorian government will no longer require first-home buyers to pay stamp duty on properties under the $600,000 threshold.

Premier Daniel Andrews says it’s an attempt to “level the playing field” for first-home buyers who are “battling rising prices, competing against investors and are up against federal government policies that advantage existing owners.”

Domain is confident that the change in legislation will inject some activity into a winter season that is otherwise trending to slow down in the cooler months.

But will the plan really make a difference for the growing number of home buyers flooding the market? Some experts aren’t so confident.

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver has his doubts about the longterm effect of this stamp-duty reprieve. “Grants tend to work well when you want to stimulate the economy when the market is depressed,” he said. “But when the market is already very hot, it usually just pushes prices up and the only beneficiaries are the existing homeowners.”

There are already enough hurdles for first-home buyers without having to give up every weekend attending auctions. Download the Gavl App now to watch from anywhere in the world.

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