Increasing stamp duty burdens homebuyers

A Residential Stamp Duty report from BankWest found that stamp duty rates in the country rose by 36 percent in the past five years with Victoria found to have the highest stamp duty charges among all the states.

The increasing stamp duty costs are being passed on to the homebuyer. In the last two years alone, median stamp duty rates have risen in all Australian cities excluding Perth. House prices have been climbing but state governments have not kept up by adjusting stamp duty brackets accordingly.

"We found there's actually quite a lot of variation between states," BankWest senior analyst Tim Crawford told ABC News. "The highest bills are actually in Victoria and in Melbourne and the lowest bills are in Queensland and in Brisbane."

"Melbourne bills are above $30,000 for the median house compared to Brisbane where they're just over $7,000 for the median house, " he added. "Across Victoria as a whole, we've seen a 38 percent increase in the typical stamp duty bill over five years and that the typical bill in Victoria is pushing towards $20,000."

Melbourne median stamp duty rates have gone even higher, increasing by staggering 76 percent in more than five years. The Victoria government is working towards cutting stamp duty rates for first home buyers. "We are trying to make it fairer than what it was before. On a medium price house in Melbourne of $565,000, the amount of stamp duty that was being paid on that house in Melbourne, for example, was more than $28,000," Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells told ABC. "So by bringing in our package, there'll be a 50 percent reduction on that."