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Staff Reporter
REIWA president Alan Bourke has called for an overhaul of the state's stamp duty regulations, following revelations that more buyers are paying top rate now compared to the height of the property boom.
According to the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia, one in three buyers have paid the top rate of stamp duty this year because their homes cost more than $725,000.
About one in four buyers were paying the top stamp duty rate in 2006-07, which then applied to homes costing more than $500,000.
"If the idea behind this stamp duty is revenue-raising, then it is counterproductive because it is preventing mobility," he said.
"I think people are quietly furious every time they have to write a cheque for stamp duty to the state government."
Mr Bourke denied that estate agents' fees were prohibiting buyers from entering the property market, saying an agent's fee on a $1 million property was $22,000, compared with $42,000 for stamp duty on the same property.
According to Mr Bourke, the state government should implement a system under which buyers would pay stamp duty only on the trade-up value of a property after selling their own home.
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