2018 NSW Budget: First Home Buyers surge and record infrastructure spend
This year’s NSW State Budget carries forward the momentum set by the 2018 Federal Budget, with record infrastructure spending commitments, in efforts to keep up with the State’s growing population.
$51 billion win for Sydney commuters
The Government has increased its infrastructure investment to a record $87 billion over four years.
Of that $87 billion, $51 billion of the spending is on transport, $7 billion on hospitals and $6.8 billion on schools – with much of the spending targeting Sydney’s major growth corridors in the north- and south-west.
Key transport funding announcements include:
- $3 billion for the Sydney Metro West, a new underground line from the Sydney CBD to Parramatta
- $556 million over four years in planning and reconstruction funds for the Western Harbour Tunnel and Northern Beaches Link
- $100 million in planning money for the Western Sydney Airport North-South link
- $1.2 billion for the F6 first stage
- $5.7 billion over four years for the Sydney Metro and South West, and
- $2.1 billion over four years for the Parramatta Light Rail project.
Liverpool Hospital upgrade
The NSW Budget allocated $8 billion for capital works across 40 hospitals. This will be spent over the next four years.
A key highlight was the $740 million allocated towards upgrading Liverpool Hospital, which is located strategically within the ‘Western Parkland – Badgerys Creek City’ envisioned by the Greater Sydney Commission plan late last year.
$6 billion for education
The Budget included $6 billion towards building new schools and upgrades to existing campuses. This will be spent over the next four years.
The investment is intended to help schools cater for the soaring student enrolments, as a result of the State’s growing population which has far exceeded earlier forecasts.
The money will be spent on 170 schools, providing 2,000 new classrooms to cater for nearly 44,000 more students.
3.5 times more First Home Buyers
In last year’s NSW State Budget, First Home Buyers and housing affordability were the main focus – off the back of a hot Sydney property market, which bolstered the state’s coffers with about $7 billion in stamp duty revenue from residential property.
According to NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, last year’s affordability measures worked – noting that First Home Buyer numbers are now 3.5 times higher than they were this time last year for properties below $800,000. And in this year’s Budget no further affordability / First Home Buyers measures have been introduced.
With more First Home Buyers taking advantage of the State’s stamp duty concessions, this has also contributed to the 11% drop in transfer duty revenues in 2017-2018, as compared to the previous year.
Overall, however, the NSW Budget still managed to deliver a $3.9 billion surplus in 2017-18.
Current forecasts estimate a $1.425 billion surplus in 2018-19 and a $1.5 billion surplus in 2019-20.