Has the release of the federal budget this week has left you thinking,”What about me?”
Depending on what you’re looking to do, here are a few things you might want to investigate further.
1. Looking for help to buy your first home?
Whilst there wasn’t much in the way of additional support for first home buyers, the existing incentives/schemes for first home buyers are still available.
To work out what you might be eligible for, we suggest you look into:
– The Home Guarantee Scheme – this helps eligible first home buyers get into the market sooner with a low deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance.
– The First Home Owner Grant – you will need to check with your local state government to see if this is something you can take advantage of. It’s no longer available across all Australian states and there is specific criteria that needs to be met.
– Stamp duty waivers, concessions or deferral – these state-based incentives can help to reduce (or remove altogether) the upfront costs associated with purchasing a property.
– The First Home Super Saver Scheme is another option that can help first home buyers save for a deposit faster, by allowing additional contributions to made into a First Home Super Saver account.
If you’re not sure what you’re eligible for, talk to us to find out more.
2. Looking for a rate reduction on your home loan?
Whilst a rate drop may be expected over the next 12-18 months, we don’t think you should wait for the RBA. There’s nothing to stop you from trying to get a better rate now – either from your current lender, or as a result of refinancing.
Understandably, there’s been a huge surge in the number of home owners refinancing their loans recently to secure better rates and loan structures.
If it’s been a while since you reviewed your home loan, what’s stopping you?
3. Looking to build wealth by leveraging your property’s equity?
With the increases to property prices in recent years, lots of home owners have built up equity they’re not really aware of.
Equity in your current home can be released to help you purchase another property, add to your existing investment property portfolio, or even investing in the sharemarket for example).
Of course, the challenge in releasing equity rests with being able to demonstrate your capacity to repay a potential new loan, given current interest rates and servicing metrics.
Which leads us to the next point…
4. Looking to benefit from the tax cuts?
The federal budget advised that 13.6 million Australians will pocket tax savings from 1 July. Which means, there’s a good chance you’ll be among them!
The tax cuts are expected to deliver an average tax saving of $1,888 a year, which equates to about $36 a week.
Whilst that’s not going to do much for your weekly budget, depending on your financial situation, the tax cuts may help to increase your borrowing capacity.
Whilst we won’t know the real impact of tax cuts on servicing until lenders release their new calculators (there are other factors also at play here), if you’re wanting to borrow, it would be worth exploring how the tax changes will affect you.
