The New South Wales government has been criticised for not making any concessions to stamp duty in the state after budget papers revealed it had received a record amount of revenue from stamp duty during the 2014-15 financial year.

The papers, released by Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian during the announcement of the 2015-16 budget, show the government collected $7.29 billion from stamp duty over the year, up from just over $6 billion in 2013-14.

The increase played a major role in the government recording a higher than expected $2.1 billion surplus.

After the increase in revenue, New South Wales (REINSW) president Malcolm Gunning believes the government should have made changes in regards to stamp duty rates and grants for first home buyers.

“The NSW government has become greedy, first home buyers have once again been left out in the cold despite property being the biggest contributor to the NSW economy,” Gunning said.

“We are disappointed at the decision by the NSW Government to refuse to act to reinstate first home buyer grants on existing property, which again highlights that the Treasurer and Premier are out of touch with the market. 

“The NSW Government has also chosen to ignore the stamp duty bracket creep which adds thousands of dollars to property transactions and is misguided in its view that a reduction in stamp duty rates, left untouched in 30 years, would fuel the affordability crisis that is currently being faced in Sydney.”

Gunning also called for stamp duty concessions for people who move from Sydney to regional NSW.