Stamp duty bites hard on incomes

Jessica Benton
Stamp duty on houses is costing Geelong region buyers up to 39 per cent of their annual incomes, according to a national survey.
Bankwest’s survey found that the region’s hardest-hit households were in Borough of Queenscliffe where the state tax cost $22,000 for an average $500,000 sale price.
The borough was tenth highest of Victoria’s 77 municipalities for stamp duty bills.
The survey found that stamp duty swallowed 30 per cent of annual income on the Surf Coast, while City of Greater Geelong buyers paid 17 per cent.
Bankwest senior analyst Tim Crawford said owner-occupiers buying in Borough of Queenscliffe were bearing a particularly “heavy stamp duty burden”.
“Queenscliff is one of 23 municipalities in Victoria where home owners are having to pay more than 20 per cent of income on stamp duty – in Queenscliff it’s nearly double,” he said.
“Additional tax expenses are making people think twice about purchasing homes in these areas.”
Mr Crawford said added costs like stamp duty were forcing many home owners to stay put and renovate instead.
Opposition treasurer Kim Wells called on State Government bring Victoria’s stamp duty in line with costs in other Australian states.
“The bankwest report confirms the Coalition’s long-held, deep concern that, despite the Brumby Government’s continuing spin and rhetoric, Victorian home buyers are being disadvantaged compared to their interstate counterparts,” he said.
“Queenscliff home buyers are being ripped off and the Brumby Government must immediately provide real and meaningful stamp duty relief to home buyers by at least making Victoria competitive against other states’ stamp duty rates and first-home buyers’ concessions.”