About the Grant

A great start. A great opportunity to get into your first home.

Eligibility for the first home owner grant

For buying or building a new home, the grant amount is:

  • $30,000 for contracts signed between 20 November 2023 and 30 June 2025 (both dates inclusive)
  • $15,000 for contracts signed before 20 November 2023.

For owner-builders, the grant amount is:

  • $30,000 where foundations are laid between 20 November 2023 and 30 June 2025 (both dates inclusive)
  • $15,000 where foundations were laid before 20 November 2023.

Before you and any co-applicants apply for the first home owner grant, you and your spouse(s) must have an eligible transaction and meet the other following criteria.

Age

You are a natural person (an individual) aged 18 years or older.

In some exceptional circumstances, the Commissioner of State Revenue may use discretion in relation to some eligibility criteria, such as:

  • you are under 18 years of age
  • an application is made on behalf of a legal disability trust by a guardian.

Citizenship

You must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident (or applying with someone who is).

If you are applying for the grant as a joint applicant—for example, you are not a permanent resident but your spouse is an Australian citizen—you may be eligible for the grant if you meet the other eligibility requirements.

A permanent resident holds a permanent visa, or is a New Zealand citizen with a special category visa, as defined by the Migration Act 1958 (Cwlth).

A New Zealand citizen with a special category visa must have a current New Zealand passport to be a permanent resident.

You can check if your visa is permanent or temporary by clicking on its subclass in the visa list.

Previous grant recipient

You or your spouse must not have previously received a first home owner grant in any state or territory of Australia. If you received a grant that you later paid back, together with any penalty, you may be able to reapply for the grant.

Previous home ownership

You or your spouse must not have owned residential property in Australia:

  • on or after 1 July 2000 that you lived in
  • before 1 July 2000, whether you lived in it or not.

Investment properties

The grant is not available to purchase investment properties.

If you have owned an interest in residential property since 1 July 2000 that has been solely used for investment purposes, you may be eligible for the grant on a subsequent new property that will be your first home to live in.

You will need to show that you have not lived in the investment property by providing evidence that covers the entire period of ownership:

  • tenancy or lease agreements
  • electricity or phone accounts
  • tax return details declaring the rental property.

Residence requirements

You must move into your brand new home as your principal place of residence within 1 year of the completed transaction, and live there continuously for 6 months.

You can rent out one or more rooms in the home during your 6-month residency period, as long as this arrangement doesn’t affect your use of the home. However, renting out any rooms in the first year after you move in may affect your eligibility for the first home concession or first home vacant land concession.

Even though the residence requirements for the grant are similar to those for the first home concession, the grant and concession are separate benefits—you need to meet the requirements in each case. For example, you can rent the home out before moving in and keep the grant, but you may lose the first home concession.

You may be required to verify that you have met these requirements later, by providing documentation supporting the period of occupancy for all applicants.

In some exceptional circumstances, the Commissioner may use discretion in relation to some eligibility criteria if you:

  • move into the home after 1 year
  • live in the home less than 6 months.

Compare the requirements for first home concessions and the first home owner grant.

Disqualifying arrangements

Even if you meet the eligibility criteria, there are some circumstances that may stop you from getting the grant. For example:

  • you enter into an arrangement to circumvent limitations on, or requirements affecting, eligibility or entitlement to the grant
  • you enter into an arrangement with the sole purpose of obtaining the grant, rather than acquiring a home
  • you buy or build your new home with financial help from a related person (who is not eligible for the grant) who will also stay in the home often or for long periods of time, and the Commissioner is not satisfied there are genuine family reasons for the related person to occupy the home. (Money borrowed from a bank or lending institution is not considered to be financial help.)

If there is a disqualifying arrangement, we will not pay the grant. If the grant has already been paid, you will have to repay it.

Eligible transactions

You must be buying or building a new home valued less than $750,000 (including land and any contract variations).

The home:

New home

A new home is a brand new dwelling that has not been previously occupied as a place of residence or sold as a place of residence.

You do not have a contract to purchase a new home (including off-the-plan purchases or substantial renovations) if you have both a land purchase contract and a building contract.

The grant may be available for homes that have been moved from one site to another, as long as the home has not been occupied since being fixed to the new site (including kit homes, manufactured homes).

Off-the-plan purchase

An off-the-plan purchase is a single contract to buy a new home and the relevant interest in the land, which is a proposed lot on an unregistered plan resulting from a subdivision. In some cases, the property may not have been built yet.

For example, the purchase of a unit in a unit block, where the unit’s individual lot and plan description will not be available until the strata title has been registered.

Substantial renovation

The home:

  • must be substantially renovated before you buy it
  • must not have been lived in since the renovation.

The seller:

  • must be registered for GST and be selling the home as a taxable supply in the course of their business
  • must give you a tax invoice that shows the GST component of the home purchase price (as evidence that the sale is a taxable supply)
  • must give you a statement that confirms the house has never been sold or occupied since the renovation, the sale of the home is a taxable supply and a description of the type and extent of the renovations.

A substantial renovation is when all, or most, of the structural or non-structural components of a building are removed or replaced.

Most of the rooms in the building must have been affected, and the renovations must have affected the building as a whole for it to be considered a substantial renovation. However, the renovations do not need to involve removal or replacement of foundations, external walls, interior supporting walls, floors, roof or staircases.

A home has not been substantially renovated if:

  • only cosmetic work has been done to the home (e.g. painting)
  • only 1 part of the building has been renovated (e.g. renovation of 1 bedroom in a 4-bedroom house; removal and replacement of a kitchen and bathroom with little else being done to the building, apart from minor repair work).

Contract to build

For a contract to build a new home to be eligible, it must be a comprehensive home building contract. That is, a builder undertakes to build a home from the start of the building work (laying of foundations) to the point where the home is ready for occupation (final inspection certificate issued).

Building on a relative’s land

You may be eligible for a grant if you build a detached dwelling on a relative’s land.

  • A detached dwelling may include a granny flat or tiny home.
  • A relative can be a parent, grandparent, child, stepchild or sibling of an applicant, or the spouse of any of these.

The total value of the transaction must be less than $750,000.

You’ll need to provide the following documents with your application:

  • building contract, signed and dated by the builder and applicants (including any special conditions, annexures or any variations to the contract)
  • statutory declaration from the related person giving authorisation to build on their land, or a copy of a written agreement
  • final inspection certificate issued by your local council or private building certifier
  • valuation of the part of the land on which you have the right to build your detached dwelling. This can be provided by a registered valuer or real estate agent.

Owner–builder

You are an owner–builder if you build a home—or have a home built—on land you own without entering into a comprehensive home building contract.

You may do one of the following:

  • undertake the responsibility of building your own home from start to finish as an owner–builder
  • have a building contract with one or more builders where one builder is not solely responsible for the home from start to finish.

The home must be a qualifying residence (i.e. a class 1a dwelling as defined by the Australian Building Codes Board) and have a final inspection certificate. Depending on the commencement date of the build, you may be eligible for a previous grant amount.

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