Stamp duty cuts will spur property growth, says REINSW

Following the global financial crisis, certain industries in Australia have faced challenges returning to pre-crisis levels of output.

The real estate sector in particular has experienced varying degrees of successful recovery and has enacted different strategies across the country to tackle the problem.

The most recent attempt to spur growth was announced today (May 31) for the state of New South Wales.

Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (CEO) chief executive officer Tim McKibbin suggested reducing transaction fees would be the most effective solution and serve another purpose as well.

"At REINSW, we believe that the solution lies in part with a cut to the stamp duty levied on property transfers," he said.

"This will not just increase property transactional activity, but will also increase government revenues. A stamp duty cut of as little as 0.5% could act to boost state revenues by hundreds of millions of dollars."

Mr McKibbin referred to similar successful examples in Western Australia and Northern Territory to argue his case.

"REINSW's plan to cut stamp duty is a proven model and will protect government funding sources - and at the same time, it will light the badly needed spark to get the property market moving again," said Mr McKibbin.