Good time to but property or just wait?

[fergus]

Out of curiosity, how would it cost nothing? The last time I paid nothing for something, it ended up costing me quite a bit of something.

Also out of curiosity, how would the GST be higher at the point of sale?

And because I'm having a fit of naivety, lots of governments have tried lots of things to "fix" their housing markets. Not a lot of them seem to have worked. In fact I think you could count the successful ones on the fingers of no hands.

It would cost the GOVT nothing simply to add the gst content on to the deposit of a first home buyer simply because the house would not have been built in the first place and they would eventually get the gst back at the later point of sale. the administration costs would be minimal with the gst content amount owed be written into the title. New houses new owners more houses less competition cheaper houses. The higher gst sell price down the track that the govt got back would make it a good investment for home owners and the govt. To simple I suppose they don't have the brains to fix the problem. FERGUS

[GTM 3442]

It would cost the GOVT nothing simply to add the gst content on to the deposit of a first home buyer simply because the house would not have been built in the first place and they would eventually get the gst back at the later point of sale. the administration costs would be minimal with the gst content amount owed be written into the title. New houses new owners more houses less competition cheaper houses. The higher gst sell price down the track that the govt got back would make it a good investment for home owners and the govt. To simple I suppose they don't have the brains to fix the problem. FERGUS

Well, if you say so.

Personally, my opinion is that when you start fiddling with the tax system, you automatically create unintended consequences. Lots of unintended consequences.

And that those unintended consequences usually involve lawyers and accountants designing ownership structures to exploit those unintended consequences.

Resulting in a somewhat reduced GST take. . .