How first-home buyers can get a $10,000 tax break to buy property

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PHOTO: First-home buyers can get a tax break towards their savings. Photo: Josie Withers

First-home buyers can get as much as $10,000 in tax breaks from the government towards their deposit, in measures announced in this year’s budget.

But in practice, they may have to fit into a specific set of income and life stage criteria to qualify for the cash, experts say.

The help comes in the form of the First Home Super Saver Scheme, which lets potential buyers save up to $50,000 through their superannuation accounts towards their property purchase.

This is an increase from a previous limit of $30,000, in acknowledgement that house prices have soared.

Savers cannot withdraw money from their super accounts that their employers have already paid in.

Instead, they can make their own extra contributions to their super, then withdraw those savings in future.

Because there is a tax break for pushing the money through the super system, buyers keep more of their own cash than if they had saved it in a bank account.