Hey everyone,

I want to buy my first (and possibly forever) home (a unit in or near South Yarra, Melb). Unsure of budget, but ballpark $650k for the sake of simplicity.

I have just applied for my permanent visa. Once I get it (which I should in the next 6 months), I should get my permanent residency 2 years after that. In this case no foreign buyer duty applies and there are stamp duty concessions.

Total fees: (from https://stampduty.calculatorsaustralia.com.au/)

• Mortgage: $118.90
• Transfer: $1,617.00
• Stamp Duty: $11,356.67
• Foreign Buyers Duty: $52,000.00

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1. Option 1: Buy after getting PR total $663,092
2. Option 2: Buy now total : $715,092

At first glance, option 1 looks like a better deal. However, with property prices increasing constantly, I'm thinking it could be better to just buy now and then I'll break even eventually....

Calculating % increase... (663-715)*(-100)/663 = 7,84%

Let's break that down over... 3 years: 7,84/3 = 2,61%

So the property value would need to increase by 2,61% each year, over the next 3 years, to break even. Sounds pretty good to me.

What are your thoughts? Does my math check out or have I missed something?...

Thanks for taking the time to read my post :)