NSW first home buyers
NSW First Home Owner Grant
The First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment of $10,000 from the NSW Government to eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new home, an off-the-plan home, or a substantially renovated home that has never been lived in or sold since the renovation.
The rules are fussy, and the caps matter enormously in towns like Bungendore where land prices have moved fast. This page sets out what the grant pays, who qualifies, which properties it covers, how it combines with stamp duty relief, and what all of that means on the ground around Bungendore and the nearby villages.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The grant is worth a flat $10,000, paid once per transaction, once per applicant, per lifetime. It is not a large sum against a house purchase, and it has not been indexed upward, so its real value has quietly eroded as prices have risen. That is the surprising part for buyers who remember the headlines of years past: older articles and some third-party sites still quote a $30,000 figure that has not applied for years and cannot be verified against any current government source. The confirmed figure is $10,000, and the 2026-27 NSW Budget, handed down on 23 June 2026, made no changes to the amount or the caps. Where the grant genuinely earns its keep is in combination with the separate stamp duty relief scheme, which can be worth far more than the grant itself on the right purchase. Treat the two as a package rather than a single payment, and the arithmetic changes.
Who Qualifies
The eligibility test is stricter than most first home buyers expect, and the criteria below are the ones Revenue NSW applies when assessing an application:
Natural persons only
Citizenship or residency
A genuine first home
One grant per lifetime
The occupancy commitment
A qualifying property at a qualifying price
Which Properties It Covers
The property type test trips up more buyers than the citizenship or prior-ownership rules, so the distinction is set out plainly here:
| Property situation | Grant eligible? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Newly built home, never lived in | Yes, up to a $600,000 cap for home and land under one contract | The cleanest case: buy and settle in one transaction |
| Off-the-plan purchase of a new home | Yes, $600,000 cap | Paid at settlement, which may be years after the contract date |
| Vacant land plus a separate building contract | Yes, combined value cap of $750,000 | Land value and build contract value are added together |
| Substantially renovated home, never lived in or sold since renovation | Yes, $600,000 cap | The renovation must be genuine and the home unoccupied since |
| Established home, previously lived in or sold | No, at any price | No grant regardless of cost; stamp duty relief may still apply |
That last row is the one worth dwelling on. Revenue NSW is firm that an established home is excluded at any price, so a modest older house well under the cap earns nothing, while a new build at the cap earns the full $10,000.
Why The Rule Bites Here
The cap meets local prices
Bungendore sits within easy commuting distance of Canberra, and that demand has pushed land and house-and-land packages into territory where the $600,000 single-contract cap excludes much of the established market. A new home and land under one contract can still fit underneath it; a renovated older cottage on a quarter acre usually cannot, and the grant follows the contract type, not the buyer's need.
Where eligible stock actually sits
The eligible stock is new-release land and new builds, and this town has had plenty of both. Dwelling approvals here are strong, sitting in the eighty-second percentile for building activity across the state, with 461 approvals over the past five years and a standout 219 in 2021-22 alone. Almost all of it is detached housing, just 1.3 per cent of dwellings are flats, so the grant-eligible market here means new houses on new streets, not apartments.
The gap between eligible and desirable
Here is the tension for a first home buyer in this town: the dwellings that qualify for the grant are the newest releases, often smaller blocks on the edge of town, while the older houses that many buyers actually want, the established homes with gardens and established streets, fall outside the new-home test entirely. Nearly two thirds of local dwellings have four or more bedrooms, and that is the stock buyers come here for, but most of it was built years ago.
What that means for your search
The practical implication is that the grant should shape where you search, not just what you get paid. If the $10,000 and the associated duty relief matter to your budget, and for most first buyers they genuinely do, then house-and-land packages and recent substantially renovated stock deserve a look before the established market. Check the contract type against the cap before you fall in love with a property, and if the block-plus-build route appeals, our construction loans page covers how that lending actually works.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The grant is only half the story, and the half most buyers underestimate. The First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme is a separate scheme with its own rules, and the interaction between the two changes the total benefit considerably:
They are separate schemes
Established homes qualify for duty relief
Vacant land gets its own thresholds
The benefits stack on eligible purchases
The Budget left both alone
The saving from duty relief on a purchase near the exemption threshold can run to tens of thousands of dollars, several multiples of the grant itself, so buyers shopping only for grant-eligible stock may be optimising the smaller half of their benefit.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
- 1
Who lodges it
Most applications go through an approved bank or lender acting as an agent for Revenue NSW at the time your loan settles. If your lender is not an approved agent, the application goes directly to Revenue NSW instead, and the timing of payment differs accordingly.
- 2
When the money actually lands
For a home already built and ready to occupy, the grant is generally paid at settlement. Off-the-plan purchases are also paid at settlement, which can sit well beyond the contract date depending on developer completion, so budget your timeline accordingly.
- 3
The construction path
Under a construction contract the grant is typically paid once the first progress payment is made to the builder, not at land settlement. That matters for cash flow, because the early stages of a build are exactly when costs are heaviest; our first home buyer page walks through how the whole sequence fits together.
- 4
What to have ready
Applications need identity documents, the executed contract, and evidence of citizenship or permanent residency. Assembling these before lodgement avoids the most common processing delays, and your conveyancer or broker can check the pack against Revenue NSW's requirements before anything is submitted.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
The rejection reasons below come straight from the pattern Revenue NSW sees, and each one is avoidable with a contract read before you sign:
- Wrong property type Assuming any first home purchase qualifies, rather than checking the new-home test, is the most common mistake of all, and it is fatal to the application.
- Missing the occupancy window Not moving in within twelve months, or moving out before completing twelve months of continuous residence, puts the grant in doubt after it may already have been paid.
- Prior ownership by a partner An applicant's partner having previously owned property anywhere in Australia, even briefly or interstate, disqualifies the application under the prior-ownership rule.
- Wrong applicant structure Applying as a company or trust rather than as natural persons fails the eligibility test outright, which catches investors setting up their first purchase as a business.
- Contract price marginally over the cap A price even slightly above $600,000 or $750,000 disqualifies the whole application, it does not reduce the grant, so a negotiating margin of a few thousand dollars matters.
- Incomplete documents at lodgement Missing identity, contract or citizenship evidence stalls the application, and delays at lodgement can push payment past the point your budget expected it.
A marginally-over-cap contract deserves particular care around here: if a negotiation lands you at $605,000, you lose the entire $10,000, so a firm offer under the cap is worth real money. Where a deposit is the sticking point instead, our guarantor and low deposit page sets out the alternatives.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Bungendore works with first home buyers across Bungendore and the surrounding villages, where new-release land and new builds are exactly the stock the grant targets. We regularly help buyers in Mount Fairy, Mulloon, Palerang and Hoskinstown, as well as in town itself, and you can read more about the business on our About page.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the NSW First Home Owner Grant worth?
The grant is a one-off payment of $10,000 per eligible transaction. Beware older articles quoting $30,000, which has not applied for years and matches no current government source.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The grant only applies to new homes, off-the-plan purchases or substantially renovated homes never lived in or sold since renovation. An established home qualifies for stamp duty relief only.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
For a home and land bought under one contract the cap is $600,000. For vacant land with a separate building contract the combined value cap is $750,000. Going even slightly over disqualifies the application.
Do I have to live in the property to keep the grant?
Yes. For contracts from 1 July 2023 you must move in within twelve months of settlement or completion and live there continuously as your main residence for at least twelve months.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes. The grant is $10,000 towards a new home; the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme reduces or exempts transfer duty, and unlike the grant it covers established homes too.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
For a ready home or off-the-plan purchase it is generally paid at settlement. Under a construction contract it is typically paid once the first progress payment goes to the builder.
Mortgage broker for Bungendore and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing up a house-and-land package, an off-the-plan contract or a build, it is worth checking how the grant, the duty relief and your lending all interact before you sign anything. Call (02) 9072 0666 for a no-cost conversation, and note that Your Mortgage Broker Bungendore holds an AFCA membership and works under an Australian Credit Licence, so you have proper recourse at every step.