Developer Begs For Gov't Handouts & Assistance

Developer Satterley wants Govt to kick-start property market

Source: PerthNow

 

THE boss of Australia's biggest private property development company wants the State Government to lift the first homebuyers grant and pause stamp duty to kick start the residential market again.

At a business breakfast today, founder and managing director of the Satterley Property Group, Nigel Satterley painted a pretty bleak picture of the local market thanks to massive reserves of properties for sale, declining house values and potential interest rate rises from the Reserve Bank of Australia.

“I don’t want to get carried away with doom and gloom because we have genuine underlying strength in economy,” Mr satterley said.

“Our fundamentals are very sound. We are in the middle of the biggest mining and resource program in Australian history.

“I can also assure you that we have the best property buyers’ market I have seen in my 40 years in this business.”

But hesitant buyers causing reduced transaction levels amid increasing living costs has created a difficult equation to balance
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“I can’t say it loud enough: ‘This is the best buyer’s market in WA for years’,” he said. “Even so, property sales in WA have slowed. “As of this week, there are 23,000 properties up for sale between Yanchep and Mandurah. “In a normal balanced market there would be no more than 14,000 properties for sale.”

He said sixty seven per cent of potential buyers already owned a home and while they wanted to upgrade they were trapped in the slow lane - unable to sell and unlikely to trade up

“Potential new home buyers are faced with another costly problem,” he said. “I refer to the very high changeover costs which can be as much as $36,000 including agent’s fees, removalists, stamp duty and so on.” Mr Satterley called on the WA Government to kick start the residential market again by increasing the first home owners boost from $7000 to $15,000 on new and established homes up to the value of $450,000, and place a six month amnesty on all residential stamp duty up to $450,000.

“And on established homes from $650,000 to $1 million the stamp duty should be reduced by half, also for six months,” he added. “If we had a $15,000 first home buyers boost and stamp duty relief it would help to offset any further rate increase.”

Mr Satterley backed comments made by Premier Colin Barnnett last month, which were met with angry responses from talkback callers on local radio, when he advised young people not to be too ambitious when looking for their first home. “Colin Barnett was right,” Mr Satterley said. “The big double storey 15 room McMansions are ‘out’.

“For the first time in 25 years, buyers are happy with a smaller home to meet their budgets and not a large four by two.“Families don’t want to be crippled by massive monthly mortgage repayments and overheads. You need to have some disposable income.”