Hunter home buyers pocket $12 million

NSW Treasurer Andrew Constance has released figures for first home owner grants and concessions in the Hunter for the year ending June 2014.

More than $12 million was paid out, with suburbs like Edgeworth, Rutherford, Wallsend and Gillieston Heights enjoying the highest take up rates in the region.

The grants of $15,000, aimed at stimulating the state’s housing sector, are available to first home buyers building or buying new properties, now capped at a value of $7,000 up from $6,000 last year.

 

Newcastle’s most popular suburb was Waratah where 16 grants were given out, with city buyers pocketing $3.4 million in support overall.

Booming Rutherford, on the doorstep of the Hunter Expressway, was top of the list with first home buyers across the region. 87 state government grants worth nearly $1.3 million were handed out, as well as concessions worth more than $400,000.

Nearby, Maitland first home buyers scored more than $2 million.

But they were outdone by those buying in Lake Macquarie.

There, 165 grants worth more than $2.3 million were handed out, with Edgeworth far and away its most in demand area with 72 first home buyers.