A Sydney-based mortgage broker is offering $500 rebates to all first-time buyers on loans arranged through them. X Inc Finance wants to help make the first homebuying process more affordable and is offering the rebate to everyone eligible for state-based first homeowner grants (FHOGs). Jennifer Nielsen, CEO of X Inc Finance, said the rebate should boost deposits and increase the amount people can sensibly borrow. "At a time when affordability is a major issue for intending homebuyers in most of Australia's property markets, this rebate will have the very practical effect of boosting buyer spending power," she says. Saving a deposit to buy a home can be a very tough time, as people are dealing with rising rents while also needing to save increasingly large deposits as house prices increase. "It's a particularly tough time right now for first homebuyers who are renting, because rents are on the rise everywhere. In fact, it's no longer the rising value of real estate that's pushing first homebuyers into the market more quickly than they might have originally planned, but rising rents," says Nielsen. Recent research by BIS Shrapnel has revealed that inner city rents in Sydney are set to rise 42% in the five years to June 2011.

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