HomeMate.com.au

New First Home Buyers incentive hurts second home buyers. Queensland general manager of Brisbane-based developer Devine Homes, Paul Nash, said second-home buyer demand has been sluggish, but when the $21,000 first-home owner’s grant was introduced in October, there was a pickup in first-home owner inquiry. First Home buyers charge petering out “We had a spike, [...]

Coastal towns from Tully in Queensland to Upper Burnie in Tasmania are tipped to be among next year’s property hotspots, as house prices in capital cities experience modest falls and upmarket property languishes under the strain of the financial crisis. In its final property pulse report of the year, RP Data says it expects first-home [...]

First home buyers are allegedly forward dating contracts to illegally claim the boosted first-home grant. Some dodgy real estate agents and mortgage brokers are encouraging the fraud, suggesting buyers change the date of existing contracts to fall after October 14 so they qualify for the latest lucrative federal government grants. Forward-dating contracts could net first-home [...]

The sale of new homes rose strongly in October, the same month as Government assistance to first time owners was tripled and interest rates cut further, a survey shows. Yet despite the first monthly sales increase in four months for new homes, the housing industry says a recovery in the sector is still some way [...]