All eyes were on Sydney’s first-home buyers over the weekend, with new stamp duty concessions coming into play to help keep thousands of dollars up their sleeves.

While many experts anticipated Sydney prices would jump “overnight”, the reality on the ground is that the changes are yet to give first-home buyers a serious foothold in Sydney’s housing market. 

“We have not seen stamp duty changes impact the Sydney market as of yet, and I believe this is because the entry price level is still so high for first-home buyers,” Century 21 Australia chairman Charles Tarbey said.

After the auction was moved to coincide with changes to stamp duty, 13/289 Stanmore Road, Petersham was sold to a first-home buyer.

“Regionally, I suspect that the proposed changes just made people that were thinking about buying hold off until the changes were in force.”

But there were signs on Saturday that these changes are giving first-home buyers a boost in confidence when it comes to bidding at auctions.

Agent Michael Field from Belle Property Annandale sold a two-bedroom unit at 13/289 Stanmore Road, Petersham for $789,000 to a first-home buyer on Saturday, after moving the auction back a week to coincide with stamp duty changes.

Agent Michael Field said if he hadn’t moved the auction on the two-bedroom Petersham unit, he would likely have only had one bidder.

“Had I kept the auction on the 24th of June, I probably would have only had one person to bid on the day,” Mr Field said, echoing Charles Tarbey’s sentiments. “Probably an investor, or someone who has bought and sold before.

“Sixty groups inspected the property and I’d say 50 per cent were first-home buyers – and the rest were investors and a couple of downsizers.”

On the lower north shore, John Welch from McGrath Mosman sold a one-bedroom apartment at 7/180 Raglan Street, Mosman to another first-home buyer.

A “whole bunch” of new prospective buyers attended the auction of 7/180 Raglan Street, Mosman.

He said changes to stamp duty exemptions would only help to stimulate the market.

“We actually saw a whole bunch of new prospective buyers coming to the auction, and they were first-home buyers. They immediately popped their heads up as soon as the first of July rolled around.”

He said interest in the one-bedroom apartment was split 50/50 between investors and first-home buyers, but the first-home buyers “were a bit more aggressive”.

First-home buyers put significant pressure on the other bidders at 4/46 Slade Road, Bardwell Park, which resulted in a $750,000 sale.

Selling agent Kieran Gianoudis, from Ray White Surry Hills, Alexandria and Erskineville, said that while his property at Bardwell Park didn’t sell to a first-home buyer, they put significant pressure on the other bidders which resulted in a $750,000 sale.

Of the 20 registered bidders for the two–bedroom apartment on Slade Road, he estimates at least 12 were first-home buyers.

“I think they helped push up the price, to be honest. They’re going to be saving that stamp duty – they can put it towards the price,” he said.

“That one- to two-bedroom market is going to explode across the board. I think it’s growing a bit more than … predicted.”

Across town, an apartment at 4/16-18 Belmore Street, Ryde sold for $672,000 to a lone investor, a local, who outgunned six first-home buyers.

“The investor just prevailed, he just kept putting his hand up,” said Daniel Hennessy, of McGrath Ryde. 

But Mr Hennessy said the first-home buyers were bidding aggressively, well aware of the changes to stamp duty concessions.

He also noted that the property sold for just above the threshhold for a complete exemption at $650,000.

NAB chief economist Alan Oster warned that while recent changes might help first-home buyers, they wouldn’t do much to improve affordability overall.

“They’ll give first-home buyers an extra ability to borrow and spend and won’t help the market that much in terms of cooling,” he said.

“It’s always the case – give them more ability to spend and they will. 

“We still think the market will fade out a bit. Sydney and Melbourne might [grow by] 3 to 5 per cent next year, because they’re still undersupplied.”

Mr Oster added that the idea of a property crash in either city was “garbage”, citing the low supply, low interest rates, strong demand and relatively low unemployment.