On 1st July, the temporary Stamp Duty waiver of 25%* will disappear forever. This was one of a number of incentives the Victorian Government introduced to revive the property market following the extended lockdown for 3 months till November last year. Needless to say, the market has bounced back hard and this largesse is about to expire.
As noted in a recent post here, there were good reasons to bring plans to sell forward to take advantage of the greater buying power of purchasers prior to this date. But then, we were suddenly plucked back out of our (semi-) settled lives by yet another breakdown of procedures and plunged back into lockdown. So, no property inspections.
Even with restrictions being reduced from Friday 11th June, with no visitors being permitted in homes, inspections will limited to 10 people. With the new Government rental laws also now in place, restricting access to rental properties to one hour per week, IF the renter cooperates, this effectively restricts inspections to between 10 and 20. PER WEEK! With the current extraordinary current demand… A real problem and a real, practical challenge.
So, whilst restrictions will continue to be reduced over coming weeks, with less than 3 weeks until the deadline, rental property sales have been somewhat sabotaged. Permitting adequate inspections and facilitating offers prior to the deadline may or may not be able to be done. As the countdown continues, this will be a very busy and stressful time for buyers (and agents).
*Applies to properties up to $1,000,000