Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Real Estate Institute of Northern Territory CEO Quentin Killian

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Katie Woolf spoke with Real Estate Institute of Northern Territory CEO Quentin Killian · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Every One is Listening Mix one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we've had quite a.
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  Speaker 1: Few people actually get in contact with us here at
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  Speaker 1: the station around the changes around stamp duty. Now, this
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  Speaker 1: is something that was actually announced in the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 1: budget last week, but one of those things I guess
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  Speaker 1: that while it has been covered in the media, it's
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  Speaker 1: maybe something that a lot of you aren't aware of
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  Speaker 1: exactly what the changes are going to mean. Now, joining
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  Speaker 1: us on the line to tell us a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more about the situation. Real Estate Institute of the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory CEO Quintin Killian, Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Quinton, morning, Katie, how are we very well? Great to
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  Speaker 2: have you on the show.
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  Speaker 1: Quintin, this was one of those changes that was announced
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  Speaker 1: or it was part of the Northern Territory budget last week.
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  Speaker 2: I guess to some degree it flew.
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  Speaker 1: Under the radar, but it's something that you write from
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  Speaker 1: the get go we're quite concerned about.
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  Speaker 2: Quentin. Firstly, talk us through what this change is going
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  Speaker 2: to mean.
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  Speaker 3: Well, essentially, Katie, it wasn't announced that was the point.
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  Speaker 3: It was basically just pushed through. So from the thirtieth
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  Speaker 3: of June this year, the stamp duty concession for first
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  Speaker 3: home buyers, which well, for all intents and purposes, gave
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  Speaker 3: them up to around a four hundred and fifty thousand
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  Speaker 3: dollars purchase no stamp duty, which was a saving of
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  Speaker 3: eight thousand, six hundred dollars on that purchase. That disappears
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  Speaker 3: in its entirety. It's gone, so you pay stamp duty
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  Speaker 3: from dollar one on your purchase. They're also taking away
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  Speaker 3: the stamp duty concession for the seniors for downsizing, so
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  Speaker 3: there was a ten thousand dollars stamp duty concession on
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  Speaker 3: a senior who decided to downsize their property, and that's
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  Speaker 3: also going.
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  Speaker 2: It's a pretty massive change.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, realistically, if you're going to be buying your
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  Speaker 1: first time, that stamp duty saving is a really big one.
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  Speaker 3: It means that the first home buyer is now going
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  Speaker 3: to have to look at finding another twenty to twenty
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  Speaker 3: five thousand dollars before they can even consider that purchase,
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  Speaker 3: because that's what the stamp duty revenue is or stamp
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  Speaker 3: duty pro portion is going to account for. Now that
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  Speaker 3: is going to stemy first home purchases. And in the
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  Speaker 3: last twelve months, if you look at Territory Revenue Office figures,
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  Speaker 3: I think the last one I looked at was April figures,
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  Speaker 3: there were twelve hundred and thirty three first home commitments,
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  Speaker 3: which equated to about forty two to forty eight percent
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  Speaker 3: of the entire purchasing commitments in property. So first home
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  Speaker 3: buyer has made up around half of the territory home
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  Speaker 3: purchases in the last twelve months, and that was driven
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  Speaker 3: largely by the incentives that they were getting to get
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  Speaker 3: into first homes. Now we've seen it with both the
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  Speaker 3: federal government and with the Reserve Bank. Both of them
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  Speaker 3: have noted that the stimulus is that they've put into
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  Speaker 3: into the marketplace are working. Proof positive that the stimulus
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  Speaker 3: that the territory government has put into the market is working.
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  Speaker 3: Now is not the time to take your foot off
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  Speaker 3: the accelerator and put your foot on the brake. In
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  Speaker 3: my article in the newspaper, I equated this to a
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  Speaker 3: gardener who for the five years hasn't been able to
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  Speaker 3: grow lawn. Now he looks at his lorn and goes,
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  Speaker 3: isn't that lush and beautiful. It's time to turn the
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  Speaker 3: water off and see what happens. Well, you know what's
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  Speaker 3: going to happen. It's going to turn back into brown
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  Speaker 3: dirt quick.
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  Speaker 1: How long has this step duty concession been in place
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  Speaker 1: in the territory.
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  Speaker 2: It's been quite a while, hasn't I.
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  Speaker 3: I actually lobbied in twenty sixteen at the election. I've
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  Speaker 3: put the option to both Adam Giles at the time
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  Speaker 3: and to Michael Gunner and alf Leonardi at the time,
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  Speaker 3: and I didn't want a grant system. They actually lobbied
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  Speaker 3: against grants because grants are money out of the government's
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  Speaker 3: pocket and they're given away, and they also have the
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  Speaker 3: habit of increasing prices. So I lobbied for a stamp
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  Speaker 3: duty concession, which is fore gone revenue. So it's revenue
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  Speaker 3: that they're not getting at the moment, but they will
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  Speaker 3: get later on because as people buy into their first home,
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  Speaker 3: at some stage they will upsize, they will trade up
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  Speaker 3: to another house and then they're going to have to
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  Speaker 3: stay full freight on their stamp duty. So it's a
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  Speaker 3: fore gone revenue model. And in twenty sixteen the Liberal
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  Speaker 3: government came back with a ten thousand dollars Grant and Labor,
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  Speaker 3: to their credit, came back and said, yes, we like
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  Speaker 3: the Foregne revenue model, and they actually implemented the stamp
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  Speaker 3: duty concession, which is what we've wanted. So it's been
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  Speaker 3: in the market since twenty sixteen. October twenty sixteen, I
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  Speaker 3: think we brought it in.
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  Speaker 1: So, Quentin, what impact or what feedback first of you
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  Speaker 1: had over the last since you know, since this change
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  Speaker 1: came into place.
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  Speaker 3: Look, the feedback has been one of shock and horror
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  Speaker 3: in the sense that most people and certainly within our industry,
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  Speaker 3: can see that it will have a negative impact on
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  Speaker 3: the marketplace. There is a real push towards getting new builds,
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  Speaker 3: so getting people to buy land and to build new property,
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  Speaker 3: and that's not a bad thing, bonny stretch. But then
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  Speaker 3: you look at places like Alice Springs and Tenant Creek
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  Speaker 3: and Catherine where currently there is no new land release
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  Speaker 3: and there is no new build activity. So the focus
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  Speaker 3: has been on first home buyers getting into it the
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  Speaker 3: existing property market, and until you have that opportunity, you
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  Speaker 3: are literally blocking the door for first home buyers. You
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  Speaker 3: were saying to them, you don't have an option in
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  Speaker 3: those places because we don't have new build activity happening.
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  Speaker 3: There isn't anything for you.
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  Speaker 2: To buy, Quentin. What needs to happen here. What's your
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  Speaker 2: message for the government.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the government really needs to have a think about
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  Speaker 3: what it's going to do to its forward revenue by
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  Speaker 3: closing this door, and it will be very obvious, very quickly.
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  Speaker 3: And in fact, this morning I was at the budget
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  Speaker 3: breakfast for ward Tellers and I was just talking to
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  Speaker 3: Dave Malone from Master Builders, and they've already seen a
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  Speaker 3: massive drop off in new build certificates that are going
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  Speaker 3: ahead because of the finalization of the bill, bonuses and
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  Speaker 3: other things that were stimulating their marketplace. And the same
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  Speaker 3: will happen to the revenue stream that government is counting
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  Speaker 3: on from taxation revenue. It will dry up and it
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  Speaker 3: will drive it very quickly. And that is silly because
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  Speaker 3: then you're going to have to find a way to
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  Speaker 3: restart it. At the moment, they haven't turned the tap off.
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  Speaker 3: It doesn't turn off until the thirtieth of June. And
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  Speaker 3: so my message is have a rethink about this and
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  Speaker 3: come back and say, look, we're not going to do it.
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  Speaker 3: We're not going to turn it off, We're going to
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  Speaker 3: keep it going even adjusted. Perhaps, you know, maybe if
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  Speaker 3: they're concerned about earning more revenue, let's sit down and
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  Speaker 3: have a talk about is there another way to do it.
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  Speaker 3: But you've got to keep that stimulus going while it's working,
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  Speaker 3: keep the momentum going well.
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  Speaker 2: Quentin Killian, it's always good to catch up with you.
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  Speaker 1: But I think that this is something that is going
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  Speaker 1: to concern people as they hear more and more about it.
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  Speaker 1: So we really appreciate your time today.
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  Speaker 3: My pleasure, Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: That is the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territories
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  Speaker 1: Chief executive Officer.
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  Speaker 2: They're Quentin Killian,