Wagga Wagga still remains in the top 20 postcodes for benefits received from the First Home Owner scheme. Since the First Home Buyer scheme commenced in July 2000, Wagga Wagga has remained in the top 20. Currently ranked 12^th, Wagga Wagga First Home buyers have taken advantage of $64,168,104 worth of grants.

In total, the scheme has helped more than 493,000 families and young couples enter the property market in NSW alone since 2000, with the total value of the scheme well exceeding $7 billion.

Between 1 July 2000 and 30 June 2011 there have been a total of 4,700 applications from Wagga Wagga for the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG). With 215 applications for the last financial year.  There has also been an additional 4,916 applications for the First Home Plus Grant, with 202 in the last financial year.

Looking at figures from the last 12 months alone, Wagga Wagga did not make the top 20, with the majority of postcodes coming from the Sydney metropolitan area. The top postcode to take advantage of the FHOG from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 was Westmead in Sydney’s west. Westmead first home buyers took advantage of $12,488,277 worth of these grants of the ast 12 months.

A recent survey conducted by mortgage insurance provider Genworth, revealed the average age of Australia’s first home buyers has risen to 31 years, up from 25 years from four decades ago.  First home buyers are waiting longer before taking on large amounts of debt.  Australian home owners were among the most indebted in the world, but most had no trouble meeting monthly repayments on their mortgage in the last year, according to the research.