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Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local

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Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty

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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,