Data released from the State Revenue Office (SRO) confirms that the Andrew’s Governments, Homes for Victorians package is already helping first home buyers.

Data for the months of July and August shows that nearly 1000 Victorians have benefited from the complete removal of stamp duty on all first home purchases under $600,000. A further 132 benefited from a reduction in their stamp duty bill on properties between $600,000 and $750,000.

Locally in the City of Greater Dandenong the data indicates that in these two months 30 first home buyers benefitted from the reduction of stamp duty, including 24 purchases that were completely exempt from stamp duty.

Member for Dandenong, Gabrielle Wiliams, said that this was a significant boost for young people and families as they looked to enter the housing market.

First home buyers across the state have also been benefitting from the doubling of the regional First Home Owners Grant with the number of regional first home buyers claiming the grant increasing nearly six-fold compared with the same time last year, from 26 in 2016 to 161 in 2017 over the period of 1 July to 15 September.

These housing affordability changes took effect on 1 July 2017 and the Government expects that first home buyers will continue to save, with over $37 million in savings already.