REIWA welcomes increase to the Home Buyers Assistance Account

REIWA CEO Cath Hart today welcomed the Cook Government’s increase to the threshold for the Home Buyers Assistance Account (HBAA).

The HBAA provides $2,000 for eligible WA first home buyers to help cover incidental costs incurred when buying a home.

Previously it applied to properties bought for $400,000 or less. That threshold has been increased to $500,000.

“REIWA has been advocating for an increase to the HBAA and we welcome this change,” Ms Hart said.

“Strong increases in dwelling prices over the past year meant the majority of first home buyers had not been eligible for the HBAA.

“This calendar year only 7.3 per cent of dwelling sales have been $400,000 or less whereas five years ago this was 36.5 per cent.

“Increasing the threshold to $500,000 will help more first home buyers, with 18.0 per cent of dwellings in WA selling for $500,000 or less this year.”

REIWA also recommended linking the HBAA eligibility threshold to REIWA price data.

“We would like to see the threshold increased further and pegged to REIWA’s median to ensure it reflects market conditions as has been done with Keystart’s eligibility thresholds,” Ms Hart said.