Waiting for NSW first home benefits?

daveinthehills · Aug 08, 2012 1:06 pm

Hey,
am I reading this wrong or are we better off waiting for this to come in:
http://osr.nsw.gov.au/benefits/first_home/

"From 1 October 2012, the $7 000 First Home Owner Grant will be replaced by the $15 000 First Home Owner Grant (New Homes) Scheme.

First home owners who purchase or build a new home where the eligible transaction commencement date (contract date) is on or after 1 October 2012 will be eligible for the $15 000 grant. The grant will reduce to $10,000 on 1 January 2014 for eligible transactions which have a commencement date (contract date) on or after 1 January 2014.

The $7 000 first home owner grant for established properties ends on 30 September 2012 and will not be available where the eligible transaction commencement date (contract date) is on or after 1 October 2012."

We are super close to getting a construction contract draw up on our first home, so I think we are eligible for the $15K, so wouldn't it make sense to wait? The extra repayments on the land and rent etc still don't equal the $8K extra we get for waiting.
Or am I reading this wrong?
Any other tricks we can do?

PS_Sirocco7 · Aug 08, 2012 2:58 pm

Looks like you would be better off waiting until on or after the 1st of Oct to sign your contract.
However, its still approx. 8 weeks away and if you go over your tender period, watch for your builder increasing the tender price. Probably still be better off waiting though.

Best of luck with it all and I hope you get the best deal for yourself.

daveinthehills · Aug 08, 2012 6:46 pm

thanks. I happened to be at my lawyers and she asked the OSR for me - looks like it makes sense to wait.

tarsha678 · Aug 08, 2012 10:00 pm

just check with your builder first. we were at the stage of signing our contract and I asked if we could postpone a bit and was informed that we would be way outside our tender stage and there would most likely be a price increase of around $8000 in September.. (They increase a couple of times a year apparently)

daveinthehills · Aug 08, 2012 10:48 pm

our tender runs out just before 1 October, so we might be OK. if not, its a small increase I think anyway.

sammymac · Aug 08, 2012 11:55 pm

Wow, they do everything so differently in each state!

In SA we get $7000 for being a first home owner, and a bonus $8000 if we build a new home.

DenBer · Aug 09, 2012 11:51 am

YES WAIT! Do not sign anything with your builder till the 1st Oct or you will only be eligible for the $7K. I rang OSR for the same reason as we have put a deposit on land, but they told us to hold off on signing anything with a builder till Oct so we can get the $15K~~!!