Buying your first home?

The First Home Owners’ Grant is a state government initiative to help first home owners to get their new first home sooner. The grant is available to those purchasing their first home and does vary by state. You can find out more information by visiting https://www.firsthome.gov.au or contact us and we can happily talk you through it in terms of your own application.

If you meet the First Home Owners Grant criteria, you might be eligible for a first home owner grant. We have listed some of the key points of the criteria below.

Unless you are an owner builder, you must have a signed contract to buy or build your first home before applying.

Age
You (and any co-applicants for the grant) are natural persons aged 18 years or older.

New home
The home you are buying, or building must be new and valued less than $750,000 (including land).

A new home is a brand-new dwelling (e.g. house, unit, duplex, townhouse, granny flat built on a relative’s land) that has not been previously occupied as a place of residence or sold as a place of residence.

The grant may also be available for:

• established homes that have undergone substantial renovations before you bought the house
• 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).

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.

For more information on the First Home Owners Grant, contact us today.

Anyone who will own any part of your new home must be included on the original application for a First Home Owners Grant. You only need one application for your new home, regardless of the number of applicants, because one grant is payable per new home.

If you have a spouse, they must be included on the application—either as an applicant or non-applicant spouse.

You must submit the original application and it must be:

• signed by all applicants
• witnessed
• completed in full
• accompanied by supporting documentation (e.g. proof of identity, contract, final inspection certificate)

The application form has a checklist of what you need to supply. For more information on the First Home Owners Grant, contact us today.

Recently renovated homes
Your home is also considered new if it has been substantially renovated before you buy it. You might be eligible for the grant if:

• most or all of the house was removed or replaced
• this is the first time the home has been sold after those renovations
• it hasn’t been lived in since being renovated, including by the builder or a tenant.