First home buyers rush to take advantage of grants

First home buyers were scrambling last week in an effort to take advantage of grants before the end of the financial year

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First home buyer activity increased across the country last week, as many people rushed to make the most of federal and state-based grants before the end of the financial year, according to Pepper Home Loans.

With many of these grants being downgraded, auction activity was especially strong as June drew to a close.

Speaking to SmartCompany, managing director of SQM Research, Louis Christopher, says the first-time buyer market is likely to taper off in the near future as grants in the likes of Victoria and Queensland are changed.

"Melbourne is likely to track Sydney's changes in that regard, meaning there was a drop off in first-home buying over the few months after those changes came into effect…There was also a slow and gradual build up after that period."

Figures from Australian Property Monitors showed that both Sydney and Melbourne experienced strong sales at auction during the final weekend of June.

The New South Wales capital registered a clearance rate of 77.4%, while Melbourne's stood at 67.8%.

Analysts at APM believe these figures to be strong, especially in light of the fact that the weekend marked the start of the school holidays and, in Sydney's case, poor weather.

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