@hotinco Others have essentially made the relevant points. I like that you’ve thought about this in detail, and before I’d begun my house buying journey I thought all the things the government had done were helping.
While buying I realised they really weren’t. It was apparent very quickly that the stamp duty waivers or grants provided for first home buying were almost immediately factored in by buyers and sellers. Within six weeks of the FHLDS being announced you couldn’t find a house in brisbane under the price cap listed.
It was obvious that all the government incentives did was raise prices. We ended up being lucky enough to afford to buy without using the FHLDS and stamp duty exemption/first home loan grants, but it did end being a fair bit more money than we’d intended to spend.
I subsequently agree with other commenters. We really just need to stop getting the government involved (this includes negative gearing). Pull out entirely and let the cards fall where they may. Hopefully for everyone’s sake things drop, or at least plateau. This growth is unsustainable, but until availability catches up to demand I don’t see it changing.