Stamp duty bills are causing many home owners much misery, according to new reports. The inaugural Bankwest Residential Stamp Duty Report revealed that WA stamp duty bills have surged 127 per cent since 2003, and are now the highest in the nation as a proportion of household income. Recent figures show that on average, Perth home owners pay out 21 per cent of the annual household income on stamp duty, compared to 14 per cent in 2003.
WA homeowners pay a median stamp duty bill of $15,176 in 2008 compared with just $6686 in 2003. Household incomes over the same period rose just 42 per cent.
But although Perth tops the table when assessed as proportion of household income, according to the report, Sydney home buyers are paying the highest stamp duty bills in the nation. The median stamp duty bill in Sydney is $19,385, the highest of all eight capital cities. Brisbane has the lowest, at $5688.
BankWest's chief executive of retail banking, Ian Corfield, would like to see the burden of stamp duty bills eased for home buyers.
"This is the down side of the house price boom … The research might help explain why many Sydneysiders are finding it difficult to enter the housing market as established home owners abandon plans to trade up and opt to renovate instead."
Mr Corfield says that while first home buyers receive grants and stamp duty exemptions, the increasing stamp duty bills were a disincentive for existing home buyers. This caused lower sales, a flatter market and less choice.
In Mosman the median charge was $107,865, second only to the Perth suburb of Peppermint Grove, where it was $192,249.
BankWest says the stamp duty bill to buy the median house in Australia rose 59 per cent in five years, compared with a 36 per cent increase in household incomes.