The 7 must-know numbers of the week, starting with NSW's new first-home buyer grant

The amount a NSW first-home buyer who purchases a $550,000 new home will get in government assistance from October 1 this year. But if it is not new, the first-home buyers will secure nothing.

The fall in villa, apartment and townhouse prices in Cairns in the 12 months to March 2012, according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland.  The median unit price in Cairns was March 2012 was $212,500, compared with $265,000 in March 2011.

The amount that house prices in Victoria's Alpine region have fallen in the year to March, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria. 

The number of countries that experienced house price falls during the March quarter, according to the Global Property Guide's latest house price indices survey. House prices rose in only 10, and Australian house prices fell for the fifth straight quarter to be down 6.04% from a year earlier, the longest downturn for a decade.

The price Hunter Sports Group boss Troy Palmer has paid for his boss Nathan Tinkler’s redundant beachside Merewether property as Tinkler moves to Singapore. It's a very friendly price, as Tinkler bought the four-bedroom, three-bathroom 2006-built Merewether house for a then bullish record-setting $4.3 million in 2008 from the rugby league legend Andrew Johns.

The potential stamp duty savings for NSW property investors who buy before July 1 this year. It’s available if buyers put a deposit down for an off-the-plan purchase or new house costing less than $600,000. Of course, taking the bonus and buying now requires a punt on the future of house prices.

The amount by which the "time to buy a dwelling" index in the Westpac Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment rose in June. The “time to buy a dwelling” index now stands at 128, compared with 118.2 in May and 115.4 in June last year, well above the historical average of 122.3.