That said, if anyone ever throws you this sales pitch in order to flog you a new property, tell them you're considering buying a one-year-old dwelling for the same benefits and gauge their reaction (if they're dead set against the idea, you'll know why: obviously they are angling for a sales commission from the developer).
Fourthly, a high percentage share of the new dwelling stock in Australia is bought by non-residents, a cohort typically restricted from buying established stock (except in certain circumstances, such as for development purposes).
The Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) typically restricts non-residents to new properties or development projects in order to encourage construction, and by and large this policy works.
For this reason - especially with lenders less than keen to extend finance to offshore buyers of late - non-settlements on new apartments will be one of the most keenly observed market metrics over the next two years.
And fifthly, purchasing new just suits some buying demographics. It is frequently said that Chinese buyers like unused property to the extent that some don't even let out their new dwellings, in order to keep them in a pristine condition.
Incentives for first homebuyers
For first homebuyers, there are typically incentives available to buy or construct new homes.
These tend to vary over time, and by state and territory. The available incentives as at September 2016 are summarised in the table below.
These tend to vary over time, and by state and territory. The available incentives as at September 2016 are summarised in the table below.
In the same way that I wouldn't buy a new investment property for the depreciation benefits due to the purchase price premium, first homebuyers should be wary of buying new solely to get their hands on cash grants.
Fortunately, most young people are quite wise to this, and a larger cash grant doesn't necessarily equate to more buyers.
In August, for example, the housing finance figures recorded only 6 (six!) owner-occupier commitments for the purchase of new dwellings in the Northern Territory, despite a lavish cash grant of $26,000 being available for first-timers!
That said, well-targeted grants do tend to be effective, as the recently revised first homebuyer statistics showed.
New dwelling purchases
With such a high share of new dwellings being bought by offshore buyers, particularly from mainland China these days, the domestic housing finance figures only show a part of the story.
Overall, the August housing finance commitments figures showed domestic transaction volumes for new builds holding up well, which is good news for the economy given that there is a record number of completions due over the next two years.
At the state level, when the original data is plotted in rolling annual terms, it appears that volumes began to increase steadily in each of the most populous states from around 2012 when the interest rate easing cycle commenced in earnest.
Stay and renovate
Finally for today, various forecasters have long predicted a boom in major renovations.
Generally this makes sense as a concept, for the stamp duty thresholds for the two largest cities were originally designed with much lower purchase prices in mind.
As such, from the sublime to the ridiculous, stamp duty collection in Sydney has risen to what would previously have been thought of as absurd heights - the state's coffers are literally overflowing!
Homeowners should therefore be incentivised to stay put and renovate rather than incur the punitive transaction costs of moving.
In the event there has indeed been a decent boom in major renovations activity in Sydney, but to date this has not been replicated elsewhere, and the anticipated contribution to GDP has not yet materialised.
PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of AllenWargent property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and blogger.
His latest book is Four Green Houses and a Red Hotel.
