Stamp duty to go for first-home, off-the plan buyers and pensioners in next term, says Labor

All first-home buyers, off-the-plan buyers and pensioners will no longer have to pay stamp duty by the end of the next term of the Legislative Assembly, if Labor is returned to government in October.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr will announce the bringing forward of these stamp duty reforms, as well as outlining plans to enable 30,000 more homes to be built across Canberra by 2030, at today’s (27 July) ACT Labor Conference.

The scrapping of stamp duty will save these buyers thousands of dollars and encourage more downsizing and turnover of family homes in established suburbs.

Over the next four years, Labor will progressively remove stamp duty for all first-home buyers, pensioners and off-the-plan unit-titled purchases, as well as for all vacant land purchases for new housing.

This will apply no matter the buyer’s income, or the value of the new apartment, townhouse, duplex, or vacant land – as long as it is the buyer’s principal place of residence.

ACT Labor has been progressively reducing the upfront costs of buying a home by cutting stamp duty since the 2012 Budget, as part of its 20-year tax reform project in which rates have been rising incrementally and inefficient taxes removed.

Labor says it will deliver early on its long-term commitment to fully abolish stamp duty for certain property purchasers, prioritising owner occupiers that are buying their first home, pensioners looking to downsize, and those buying new housing through off-the-plan, unit-titled properties or vacant land.

It will also encourage the construction of new, well-designed ‘missing middle’ housing in established suburbs.

Following the development of a missing middle design guide, a re-elected Labor Government will make changes to the planning system to encourage the construction of low-rise housing in existing residential areas.

Labor says more housing choices such as townhouses, terraces, row houses and duplexes in existing suburbs will address a key gap in the Territory’s mix of housing types.

It will also use the demand for renewal of local shops to encourage additional housing at local shopping and group centres including mixed-use developments and apartments above shops, so-called “shop-top” housing.

Labor says this will mean more housing options for Canberrans in convenient locations.

A re-elected Labor Government will also accelerate land release to meet its target of 30,000 new homes by 2030 to keep pace with Canberra’s growing population.

Labor says this will deliver the housing future generations will need, while putting in place necessary environmental protections on sensitive land.

The Canberra Liberals have identified land in West Tuggeranong across the Murrumbidgee River as a possible new housing front but Labor has ruled it out on environment grounds.

In the recent Budget, the ACT Government outlined a land release program that will see more than 20,000 new homes built over the next five years.

This includes mostly medium-density infill sites but also new suburban land which Labor says will provide choice about where people want to live.

The Canberra Liberals have criticised the focus on infill, saying they would release more land for stand-alone family homes.

A re-elected Labor Government will continue to talk with the Commonwealth Government on releasing land at the CSIRO Ginninderra site. That site could deliver thousands of new homes.

It will also work with the Canberra Racing Club on its plans to redevelop Thoroughbred Park in Lyneham where it proposes to build 3200 multi-unit homes.