The First Home Owner Grant (FHOG)

The First Home Owner Grant was introduced in 2000 to help Australians buy or build their first home.¹ It’s a national scheme that was introduced by the Australian Government but is funded and administered by the individual states and territories around Australia.

The FHOG takes the form of a cash contribution paid to eligible first home buyers or builders, with the exact amount paid and eligibility requirements varying across Australia’s various states and territories.

As the First Home Owner Grant is run by individual states and territories, the exact amount in question and the eligibility requirements you’ll need to satisfy to get it vary around the country.

Depending on where you are buying in Australia, the amount you could receive through the FHOG ranges from $10,000 to $30,000. The exact amounts on offer in each state and territory are:

• ACT – Does not offer the FHOG for transactions entered into after 1 July 2019²
• New South Wales – $10,000³
• Northern Territory – $10,000⁴
• Queensland – $15,000⁵
• South Australia – $15,000⁶
• Tasmania – $30,000⁷
• Victoria – $10,000⁸
• Western Australia – $10,000⁹

The FHOG is generally paid per home, and only one person on the application can receive the grant. This prevents couples from double claiming the grant for the purpose of buying the same home.

Once you’ve received the FHOG, you typically won’t be able to receive it again or be a co-applicant of someone who hasn’t received it before. Generally speaking, most states and territories will not approve an individual’s application to receive the FHOG if one of their co-applicants has received the grant before.

You can apply for the FHOG in your state through an ‘approved agent’. This will typically mean either:

1. Completing and lodging your application form through your state or territory authority
2. Asking your lender or financial institution to lodge it for you.

This application will typically need to be lodged within a year of settlement.

When exactly the FHOG is paid to successful applicants may vary by state and territory, but it’s generally paid at settlement.

If you’ve chosen to build your new home, the grant will typically be paid to the builder as part of the first progress payment. If you’re an owner-builder (i.e. building the home yourself), the grant will be paid on receipt of the Certificate of Occupancy and any other supporting documents the government requires.

Depending on when it’s paid, the FHOG can be used either as part of your deposit when buying or building a new home, or paid after the fact and put towards paying down the balance of your home loan principal.

However, some state/territory governments warn against counting on being able to use the grant as part of your deposit; for example, the Queensland Government explicitly warns against depending on the grant for a deposit.⁵

The FHOG cannot be used to buy or build an investment property, regardless of which state or territory you live in, as the grant is strictly for owner-occupiers only.

The First Home Owner Grant isn’t the only government scheme designed for and available to first home buyers. There are several others that can be used instead of or in conjunction with the FHOG:

• The First Home Guarantee allows first home buyers to purchase a home with a deposit as small as 5% without having to pay lenders mortgage insurance (LMI). This is because the Australian Government will guarantee the successful applicant’s home loan up to 20%, which is (typically) the cut-off mark for whether you pay LMI or not. The scheme is currently capped at 35,000 places a year.¹⁰
• The First Home Super Saver Scheme allows you to withdraw voluntarily concessional and non-concessional contributions worth up to $50,000 across all years (a limit of $15,000 per financial year applies) from your superannuation, and then use those funds as part of your house deposit.¹¹
• Stamp duty concessions are available to first home buyers in each state and territory (except for SA), which could help to save you a tidy chunk of change. First home buyers may be eligible for concessional rates of stamp duty or even receive a full exemption from paying any duty at all, based on:
  • The state or territory they live in and the relevant building and residence requirements
  • The value of the property/land they plan on buying
  • Where the property is located (e.g. regional or urban)
  • Whether the property in question is a new home, existing home or vacant land.

Each state and territory has different stamp duty concessions and eligibility requirements for said concessions, so check with your relevant housing authority or revenue office for more details.

In the ACT, the First Home Owners Grant was replaced by the Home Buyer Concession Scheme (HBCS) on 1 July 2019.²

Rather than contribute to a first homebuyer’s funds on hand, the HBCS reduces or eliminates the amount of stamp duty (also known as transfer duty) that the buyer would have to pay on their property purchase.¹²

To be eligible for the ACT’s HBCS, a buyer must:

• Be at least 18 years of age or older.
• Not have owned any other property in the last two years (the same applies to the buyer’s partner if they have one).
• Plan to live in the home continuously for at least one year following the date of settlement.
• Not earn more than the relevant income threshold (which is determined by the number of dependent children the buyer has).

The income caps for each threshold are displayed in the table below.

The maximum stamp duty concession a buyer can receive is currently capped at $34,790, meaning any payable duty in excess of this amount must be paid in full by the buyer.

In NSW, eligible buyers may receive $10,000 via the First Home Owner’s Grant (New Homes) if they’re currently under contract for a new home, or building a new home on vacant land.³

To be eligible for the NSW FHOG, the following eligibility criteria must be met:¹³

• You must be at least 18 years old.
• You must be buying as a person, rather than through a company or trust.
• You must be buying or building a new home that no one has lived in before.
• The property in question must be worth $600,000 or less if newly constructed, or $750,000 or less if you’re building a new home on vacant land.
• At least one applicant must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
• You must take up residence within a year of the settlement date, and live continuously in the home for twelve months.

In the NT, you stand to receive a FHOG of $10,000 if you’re buying or building a new home.⁴

To be eligible for the FHOG, you’ll have to meet the following requirements:

• You may not have occupied a residential property you owned (in whole or partially) after 1 July 2000 anywhere in Australia.
• You must be buying as a person, rather than through a company or trust.
• At least one applicant must occupy the home as their principal place of residence for a continuous period of 6 months commencing within 12 months of the completion date of the relevant property transaction.
• Your FHOG application must be submitted within 12 months of buying your home.
• At least one co-applicant must be at least 18 years old at the date of the relevant property transaction.
• At least one co-applicant must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
• Neither you nor your co-applicant can have received the FHOG before, anywhere in Australia.

In QLD, the FHOG gets you $15,000 if you’re buying a new home; meaning either a home that’s being built for you to live in or an established home that’s been ‘significantly renovated’.¹⁴ The Queensland Government considers a property to be a ‘substantially renovated home’ if the renovations involved the removal or replacement of most of the building’s structural or non-structural components.

To be eligible for QLD’s FHOG, you’ll need to meet the following requirements:

• You and any co-applicants for the grant must be at least 18 years old, and at least one of you needs to be either an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
• You and any co-applicants must not have received the FHOG before in any Australian state or territory.
• You and any co-applicants must not have owned residential property in Australia before.
• You must intend to move into the home in question within one year of the completed transaction and live there continuously for at least six months.
• The total value of the property in question must not be more than $750,000.
• The property in question must not have been sold or lived in since it was built or renovated.

If you’re buying or building a new home in SA, you could be eligible for a grant of up to $15,000.

To be eligible for the FHOG in SA, you’ll have to meet the following requirements:⁶

• You must be buying or building a new home and planning to use it as your principal place of residence.
• The property must be worth $650,000 or less.
• At least one applicant must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
• All applicants must be at least 18 years old.
• You must move into the property within 12 months of settlement and live in the home continuously for at least six months after initially taking up residence.
• Neither you nor your co-applicant can have received the FHOG before anywhere in Australia.
• You and your co-applicant must have not owned an Australian residential property before.

In TAS, you can receive up to $30,000 for new and ‘off the plan’ homes (homes that haven’t been built or are under construction) until 30 June 2024.⁷

To be eligible for the FHOG, the following application requirements must be met:

• All applicants must be at least 18 years old and at least one must be either an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
• Applicants must not have received the FHOG previously, or owned residential property in Australia before 1 July 2000, or owned and occupied a residential property for more than six months following that date.
• All applicants must plan to use the property as their principal place of residence for a continuous period of at least six months.
• All applicants must take up residence within 12 months of the property transaction’s completion.
• The building must have never been occupied before or sold as a place of residence.

There are also building and transaction requirements you may wish to look into before applying.

If you’re buying or building your first home in VIC, you could be eligible to receive $10,000 from the state government.

To be eligible for the FHOG, you’ll have to meet the following requirements:⁸

• At least one applicant must be 18 years old or older and an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
• This must be the first home you’ve bought in Australia.
• The home must not have been previously occupied, sold as a place of residence or used as short-term accommodation (like an Airbnb).
• No applicant has previously received the FHOG in Australia before or owned residential property in Australia before 1 July 2000, or owned and occupied a residential property for more than six months following that date.
• The purchase price of the property in question must be $750,000 or less.
• At least one applicant must occupy the property as their permanent place of residence for at least 12 months following the settlement date.

In WA, you could receive $10,000 if you’ve bought or built a new home. This grant applies if your home is worth $750,000 or less (for properties located below the 26^th parallel of south latitude), or $1 million or less above the 26^th parallel.

The 26^th parallel runs across the width of Australia, marking the border between the Northern Territory and South Australia. In Western Australia, it’s marked by Shark Bay, so use that to estimate whether you sit north or south of the 26^th parallel.

For you to be eligible for the FHOG, the following eligibility requirements must be satisfied:⁹

• You must be at least 18 years old.
• At least one applicant must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident.
• You must plan to occupy the home as your principal place of residence for at least six months continuously within 12 months of settlement date or construction completion.
• None of the applicants can have:
  • Previously received the FHOG anywhere in Australia
  • Owned residential property anywhere in Australia before 1 July 2000
  • Owned residential property anywhere in Australia on or after 1 July 2000 and used it as a primary place of residence continuously for six months or longer on or after 1 July 2004.