The Australian government has made it its mission in recent years to cast its shadow over the Australian property market.
This has been done by weaselling its way into the property market by offering solutions in the form of home buyer assistance.
In states such as Victoria and New South Wales, these government incentives are known as, the Victorian Homebuyer Fund and Home Buying Assistance.
However, both government incentives come with hidden agendas that render the purchase of a property, essentially in the favour of the government, not the buyer.
In Victoria, under the Victorian Homebuyer Fund, the state government makes a financial contribution for an equity share in your potential property.
The 1.6 billion dollar fund is intended to benefit 10,000 homebuyers by contributing towards the purchase of your property (up to 25%) in exchange for a proportional interest (share) in your property.
In NSW, The Home Buyer Assistance scheme is three-pronged:
- First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme: First home buyers can receive a transfer duty exemption or pay a reduced rate when buying established property or vacant land, as long as the worth of the property/land is 1 million dollars.
- First Home Owner (New Home) Grant: Those building or buying newly built homes are possibly eligible for a $10,000 grant to help with their purchase.
- Shared Equity Home Buyer Helper: Homebuyers just need a 2% deposit, with the NSW government contributing 40% of the purchase price for new homes and 30% for existing homes under the Shared Equity program.
Now that you understand the government incentives, let’s revert the discussion back to those aforementioned, hidden agendas.
Homebuyers are essentially in debt until the percentage footed by the government is paid off.
Therefore, homebuyers can say goodbye to moving on their own terms or risk selling at a barely profitable price.
Renovations are also a key area of concern, with unapproved renovations that potentially decrease the value of the home, resulting in the increase of government equity owed in order to compensate for the hypothetical financial loss.
This is just one of the property traps identified, others include:
- No refinancing
- Renovation approval required
- Shared profits with the government
Owning a property does not have to be filled with nefarious details hidden in plain sight.
We make it easy…