Tasmania’s first home buyer stamp duty exemption is ending, leaving some scrambling to settle before June 30

Heith Mineur is about to buy his first home and, like many first-time buyers, he is getting help from the government.

The 33-year-old is buying using the Tasmanian government’s shared equity scheme, MyHome.

But he says the process has dragged on for months, and he will now miss the June 30 cut-off for another of the state government’s help-to-buy incentives, the stamp duty exemption, adding an extra $25,000 to his loan.

Mr Mineur said the fact that the free stamp duty scheme was ending — as confirmed in last month’s state budget — and that eligibility was tied to the settlement date rather than the date the contract was signed, was making him anxious.

“If you’re buying a new home and you’re getting what I think is a $20,000 [first home buyers] grant now, that’s from the contract date when you sign,” he said.

When he realised he might not make the cut-off, Mr Mineur faced the difficult decision of whether or not to proceed with the purchase.

“I had no idea what I was going to do. I’m not going to be able to come up with nearly $25,000 just from nowhere,” he said.

“All my money is already set aside for the house purchase.”

Mr Mineur said he was “fortunate” MyHome’s partnered bank, Bank of Us, agreed to finance the stamp duty amount, but that he had not budgeted for the added cost to his mortgage.

“It’s about $35 extra a week, which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s going to add up,” he said.

The ABC has previously reported lengthy contract delays through the MyHome scheme, including how some Tasmanians believe it makes their house bids uncompetitive.

Mr Mineur’s real estate agent, Ant Manton, said while the MyHome scheme time frames had improved in recent years, delays were still common.

“A standard [home] contract is maximum 60 days,” Mr Manton said.

“A MyHome scheme … you’re looking at 120 days from signing to settlement, at a minimum.”

After a question from the ABC, Premier Jeremy Rockliff said he would look into Mr Mineur’s case.

“If there’s an account where the paperwork has been done, and processes have taken too long since that point,” he said.

‘A lot of customers in shock at the moment’

Launceston-based mortgage broker Chris Antypas said the stamp duty exemption had been instrumental for first home buyers and that he was disappointed it was not being renewed.

Tasmanian Treasurer Eric Abetz said the deadline had been clearly publicised and that the government had not indicated it would be extending it.

“The June 30, 2026, deadline was legislated by the Tasmanian parliament nearly two years ago and has been public since that time,” he said.

Meanwhile, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced on Thursday in the territory budget that stamp duty would be abolished for all first home buyers, “forever”, with no means testing.

Mr Antypas said Tasmania’s first home buyers should have been given some forewarning that the scheme was not going to be extended.

“You would consider there would be some sort of warning or notification saying, ‘by the way it expires, we have no intent to extend it’,” he said.

Mr Manton said real estate agents, conveyancers and banks were now under pressure from first home buyers to expedite the settlement process, so as to meet the cut-off.

“The number of people that we’re seeing scrambling to get their conveyancers to be able to make sure that settlements happen before June 30 is unprecedented,” he said.

Scheme pulled attention from building new houses, HIA says

Benjamin Price, the executive director for Tasmania at the Housing Institute of Australia (HIA), said the free stamp duty scheme may not be as helpful as it appeared.

“Since mid-2024, lending for established homes surged by more than 30 per cent, while lending for new homes in Tasmania fell by nearly 10 per cent,” Mr Price said.

“The government’s stamping out stamp duty scheme amplified demand, but it directed it away from new housing construction, which worsened Tasmania’s housing shortages.

The stamp duty scheme was first introduced in 2018 as a 50 per cent concession for first home buyers purchasing existing homes under $400,000.

At that time, the average house price in Tasmania was $406,140.

In 2021, price caps were increased to $500,000, then to $600,000 the following year.

In 2024, the 50 per cent concession became a 100 per cent exemption, and price caps were increased to $750,000.

A spokesperson from the Treasury Department said that between 2018 and 2024, 8,480 stamp duty concessions were granted to 12,359 Tasmanians.

They said that since 2024, 5,154 exemptions have been granted to 7,848 Tasmanians, 427 of whom received a top-up from concession to full exemption.

All up, more than 20,000 Tasmanians have used the scheme.