80 home buyers per day have stamp duty slashed, capped in NSW

First-home buyers have saved a whopping $1.7bn after the NSW government moved to slash or cap stamp duty across the state, new data has revealed.

More than 82,000 buyers have taken part in the Labor government’s tax exemption scheme since it launched in July 2023.

On average, buyers saved $20,475 off the cost of their first home, with some 58,111 buyers being offered a full stamp duty exemption of $30,412 for properties purchased for up to $800,000, according to state government data.

A further 24,063 buyers of homes up to $1m were instead offered a concession.

Across the state, 80 first-home buyers saved on their stamp duty fees each day since the program kicked off, the NSW government said.

Premier Chris Minns said for those people, it meant “paying less upfront and getting into a home sooner”.

“We’re backing first home buyers because everyone deserves a fair shot at owning a home in NSW,” he said.

Finance Minister Courtney Housos said the program was a “critical piece of the puzzle” for housing in Australia’s most populous state.

“Saving up to $30,000 on stamp duty means more money in the pockets of families and more opportunities for them to achieve the dream of home ownership,” she said.

The program replaced the former Coalition government’s First Home Buyer Choice scheme, which allowed first-home buyers to choose between paying a traditional upfront stamp duty or an annual land tax.

It comes after the Albanese government introduced its 5 per cent deposit and shared equity scheme late last year that allows first-home buyers to purchase a home with just a 5 per cent deposit, with the government going guarantor.

Separately, the NSW government has pursued aggressive planning reforms it says will speed up delivery.

Work is also getting under way on higher density housing projects in some Sydney suburbs such as Woollahra.

In regard to stamp duty, western Sydney home buyers benefited the most, according to the data.

Nine of the top 10 suburbs for buyers participating in the scheme were in Sydney’s west, including Westmead, where buyers saved $28.4m, followed by Liverpool, Campbelltown, Parramatta, Homebush Bay as well as suburbs such as Schofields and Mount Druitt.

The busiest local government area for the scheme was Parramatta at $117m saved, followed by Blacktown, Cumberland, Central Coast, and Canterbury-Bankstown.

Across regional NSW, more than 8000 people used the scheme in the Hunter and Newcastle areas, saving a total of $178m.

About $70m was saved by buyers in the Illawarra, followed by the Central Coast, Capital Region, and New England and North West.