Queenslanders have received $3.5 billion more than expected in stamp duty, but the government says the windfall is being reinvested to make housing more affordable.
The state collected $3.5 billion more than it had budgeted from transfer duty receipts alone in the past three years, with fees comprising a third of the price of a new home, according to a report by the Property Council of Australia.
Brisbane homebuyers would spend almost a decade paying tax on a 30-year mortgage at $730,000, the report found.Credit: Peter Rae
It found home buyers would spend almost a decade paying house taxes on a 30-year mortgage worth $730,000 on a house and land package in Brisbane.
But Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon rejected the analysis, saying buyers paid no income tax on home purchases and that the state had the lowest property taxes on the East Coast.
Median house prices in Brisbane in May were $845,000, while apartment prices were $565,000, up 42% and 29% respectively over the past three years.
A surge in land prices meant government revenue rose 29 per cent over that period, the group's chief executive for Queensland, Jess Claire, said.
Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon says Queensland has the lowest property taxes on the east coast.Credit: Tony Moore
Scanlon said the additional tax collected was spent on infrastructure, including more affordable housing and service delivery.
“We are spending more than $3.5 billion on providing infrastructure in public schools, hospitals, homes and roads,” he told reporters.
