Increased taxes are the last thing Western Australia's fragile property market needs, the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia has told the state government in its pre-budget submission. REIWA President David Airey said stability in the housing market was needed to ensure that it could ride out the downturn expected over the coming year.

REIWA has called on the government to adopt a Five Point Plan to improve the housing market over the next financial year, and warned that buyers were cautious and could easily be spooked.

“The falling population growth rate and increasing number of properties on the market mean the year ahead is likely to be weaker for sales and the government needs to prepare for that," said Airey.
“Fewer sales means less stamp duty revenue to government coffers, but that’s no reason to increase stamp rates on prospective buyers to make up the shortfall."

The REIWA submission urges the government not to lift stamp duty rates for buyers or lower the threshold which sees most first home buyers exempt from the tax. “Additional costs would be a disincentive for buyers and slow the market further; it’s a false economy in regards to raising government revenue,” Airey said.

The REIWA submission also calls on the Barnett Government to readjust the First Home Owners Grant so it applies equally to those buying established homes and those building new ones. In WA the first home owners grant was changed in 2013 from $7000 for all applicants to $10,000 for a new construction and $3,000 for an established dwelling. “This imbalance has skewed many first time buyers to new-builds and as a result this demographic is not soaking up as much of the existing stock as has traditionally been the case. The original policy intent was to stimulate the construction sector and that objective has been met. The government now needs to review the policy to bring more first time buyers back to the established market because the current policy is impacting on trade-up activity across the whole market,” Airey said.

Other recommendations in the REIWA submission include stamp duty relief for off-the-plan-developments to nurture increased density, and removing land tax aggregation rules that penalise investors.

REIWA’s 5 Point Plan State Budget Submission:

- No increase in stamp duty rates or reduction to the exemption for first home buyers.

- Uniform application of the First Home Owners Grant.

- Stamp duty relief for off-the-plan developments.

- Disaggregate land tax bills for investors with multiple properties.

- Begin reform of stamp duty to abolish it over time, replacing it with a land tax on owners.