Couple have just 31 days to buy home

They are planning to take advantage of new spots opening up in the government’s First Home Loan Deposit Scheme on July 1, which allows people to buy with a 5 per cent deposit, along with the NSW Stamp Duty Exemptions that ends on July 31.

The husband and wife, who currently live in the inner west suburb of Marrickville, had planned to buy in five years.

But after saving $32,000 in the past 18 months by making big sacrifices, they saw an opportunity to get into the market by using both schemes.

Emily and Jarred Lawson have just 31 days to buy a property to take advantage of two schemes to help first home buyers. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

The couple have been looking for a two bedroom apartment for around $650,000, which would mean instead of the usual 20 per cent deposit, they save around $97,5000 under the scheme as they only need $32,500.

But they face immense pressure to snap something up before the end of July and ideally want to avoid an auction situation.

“We found a couple of places in the Canterbury and Hurlstone Park area, but we have been told by our broker we are not allowed to do anything until July 1, so it’s a waiting game,” Emily told news.com.au.

“I think for us we have seen things at auction go for way above what we can put down, so we are trying to avoid auctions. Part of the problem with the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme is when the government released the last 10,000 spots they were giving them out and then found people were not using them, so there were cracks in system.