First-home buyers Aaron Leedham and Sarah Campbell could be one of the last couples able to afford a property in Greater Brisbane with the First Home Owner Grant.
The pair managed to snag a house and land package for $680,000 last September, based in the Logan suburb of Greenbank.
“Both Sarah and I had been renting for the better part of nine years,” Mr Leedham said. “Battling the hurdles of paying rent while trying to save was probably a four to five-year process.”
Married couple Aaron Leedham Sarah Campbell were still able to buy a property under $750,000 with the First Home Owner Grant. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail
The two were lucky enough to find land in the area they could purchase for around $380,000, and then financed a build for about $300,000.
This allowed them to use the state’s First Home Owner Grant, which gives eligible buyers $30,000 towards the purchase of a property under $750,000.
But only 22 out of 382 suburbs across Greater Brisbane have a median house price underneath $750,000 today, and the cheapest median in the Logan – Beaudesert region sits at $795,000.
The state government can provide $30,000 towards first-home buyers building for less than $750,000 – but only 22 Greater Brisbane suburbs still have a median house price below that.
Mr Leedham said they were lucky to have the grant, which allowed them enter an area they risked being priced out of.
“It definitely helped us in getting our foot in the door,” he said. “Living in Greenbank is definitely gonna work perfectly for us … most of my work as an electrician is based in the western suburbs of Brisbane.”
Greenbank’s current median house price sits at $1.01m. Mr Leedham said trying to purchase in the same market today would likely not be possible, and that he and Ms Campbell would have needed to search elsewhere.
Mr Leedham said the couple would likely need to buy further out of Brisbane if they had tried to enter the market today. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail
“It would have been a longer process to where we are now,” he said. “I definitely reckon we would have had to adjust our expectations, and potentially look at going slightly further away from Brisbane.”
Loan Market broker Justin Hewitt said Mr Leedham and Ms Campbell were some of the last clients he worked with who were actually able to buy a home with the grant.
“We’re not seeing many clients take advantage of the scheme,” he said.
Loan Market broker Justin Hewitt said the primary way he was seeing first-home buyers enter the market now was through the Bank of Mum and Dad.
“For clients who want to take advantage of the 30,000 grant, they’re still limited to the $750,000 price.”
Mr Hewitt said he felt the Bank of Mum and Dad was becoming the primary way for first-home buyers to enter the market, with prices too high for the grant to have a real effect.
“It’s almost a redundant scheme to a degree, just based on where the Brisbane market has gone,” he said.
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