The 2015 Federal Budget has been the talk of the town over the past week as the nation weighs in on the forthcoming changes for the year ahead.

In particular, we have heard a lot in the media about the tax measures for small businesses ie. the tax breaks for purchases up to $20,000 and tax discounts of up to 5% for small, unincorporated businesses.  We have also been hearing a lot on the $2 billion savings in health and the Medicare review. 

Some Australians will be affected greatly by this new budget, and some not at all.  What we would like to delve into further today is what influence could the 2015 Federal Budget have when it comes to real estate.

To better understand the effect we could be seeing in the near future as the budget rolls out, let us look to key groups in the market and what changes they could experience as the budget is rolled out this year:

FAMILIES

Joe Hockey sold this to the nation as a family friendly budget with his catch-phrase ‘helping Australians to have a go’.

In this era of low interest rates and steadily increasing growth in house prices, we have seen a jump in consumer confidence when it comes to the property market of late.  With the additions in this year’s budget such as the $3.5 billion towards childcare and a renewed focus on assisting lower and middle income families, this confidence is only set to climb higher as families enjoy a slight reprieve in their everyday cost of living. 

This confidence is also exceptional news for the home owners as we are likely to see a lot more growth and movement in the market when it comes to people upgrading to bigger real estate and purchasing more investment properties.

INVESTORS

On budget eve investors all around the country sat with baited breath with whispers of ‘huge, detrimental changes to negative gearing and depreciation’ rife across media portals.  There were in fact no changes to these areas, nor to the use of self managed super funds investing in property so it was a definite win for the 1.9 million investors in Australia.  We are also likely to see those who have been perhaps holding off purchasing more investment properties in lieu of the ‘what ifs’ around the budget, so the investment market is set for a strong period ahead.

FIRST HOME BUYERS

Those looking to buy their first home this year potentially could be not so thrilled when it comes to this budget.  In 2014 we saw the First Home Saver Account scheme cut (which was designed to help first home buyers save for their deposit sooner) and also further cuts to the National Rental Affordability Scheme.

While this year many were hoping for reforms to encourage investment in new housing supply, and ease prices as our real estate markets continue to soar across our major capital cities, this was not the case.

The effect this could have on the property market is that rather than purchasing property, we are likely to see more tenants remain in the rental market.  While this may not be joyous news to young Australians hoping to purchase their first home it does mean good news for investors as vacancy numbers are likely to decrease.

Hannah Schuhmann

HS Brisbane Property Pty Ltd

Ph: 07 3254 0888

Email:  sales@hsbrisbaneproperty.com.au