Queensland’s first home owner grant

As at October 2026, Queensland Revenue Office pays eligible first home buyers $30,000 towards buying or building a new home when the contract was signed on or after 20 November 2023, or $15,000 for contracts signed before that date. The home, land and any contract variations included, must be valued under $750,000, and there is no grant for an established home.

General information, not financial advice. This guide is published by Dotto and does not arrange loans or grants or give advice. The official place to check is Queensland Revenue Office’s first home owner grant pages, which include an eligibility tester and the application itself.

$30,000

Contract signed on or after 20 November 2023, or for an owner-builder, foundations laid on or after that date.

$15,000

Contract signed before 20 November 2023, or foundations laid before it.

“New”, in the grant’s sense

For the grant, a new home is one that has never been lived in and never been sold as a place of residence. A home substantially renovated by the seller can also count in limited cases, and since 1 December 2020 so can a home bought under a builders’ terms arrangement, which QRO covers in public ruling FHOGA006.2. The home can be a house, a unit, a duplex or a townhouse, a granny flat or tiny home built on a relative’s land, a home moved from another site, or a home in a manufactured home park.

QRO’s worked examples show where the line falls. In our summary:

A townhouse in a registered strata complex, bought from a seller who confirms in a vendor statement that it was never sold or used as a residence, may be eligible as a new home.
An apartment bought off the plan by one person and sold on to another is not eligible for the second buyer, even if nobody ever lived in it, because it has already been sold as a place of residence.
A home with tenants in place under the previous owner’s lease has been occupied, so it is an established home and not eligible.
A house and land package made up of a land contract and a separate building contract is not a purchase of a new home. It may qualify instead as a contract to build.

Off-the-plan purchases are eligible transactions in their own right: QRO describes them as a single contract to buy a new home together with a lot on a plan that is not yet registered.

Who can receive it

QRO’s criteria, in short. Each applicant and each applicant’s spouse is considered.

An individual, not a company or trust, aged 18 or over, though the Commissioner has some discretion in exceptional cases.
An Australian citizen or permanent resident, or applying jointly with one.
Neither the applicant nor their spouse has received a first home owner grant in any state or territory before.
Neither has owned residential property in Australia that they lived in on or after 1 July 2000, or any residential property in Australia before that date.
The home is to live in, not an investment. Someone who has only ever owned property as an investment and never lived in it may still qualify for a later new home they will live in.
Income makes no difference to eligibility.

QRO can refuse or recover the grant where there is a disqualifying arrangement. Its examples include an arrangement made only to obtain the grant, and buying with financial help from a related person who is not eligible and who will also stay in the home often or for long periods, unless QRO accepts there are genuine family reasons. A loan from a bank or lending institution is not financial help for this purpose.

From contract to keeping the grant

The contract is signed

The date sets the amount

The contract date decides between $30,000 and $15,000; for an owner-builder, the date the foundations were laid decides it.

Completion

Possession and title

For a bought home, QRO treats the transaction as complete once the buyer is entitled to possession under the contract and has registered ownership on the title.

Payment

Two routes, two timings

Through an approved agent, meaning a bank or lending institution, a grant for buying a new home is generally paid at settlement; QRO calls this the fastest route. Applied for directly with QRO, the grant is paid only once the home is complete and every supporting document is in, such as a registration confirmation statement or a title search showing the buyer’s name. QRO aims to process applications at “lodged” status within 10 working days, longer when it is busy or an application is incomplete.

Within 1 year of possession and title registration

The application deadline

For a bought home, the application and its supporting documents are due within a year of taking possession with the title registered. In special cases the period may be extended, with a written statement explaining the circumstances.

Within 1 year of completion, then 6 months

Moving in and staying

To keep the grant, every applicant must move in within a year of the completed transaction and live there continuously for 6 months. QRO’s example: a buyer whose title transferred on 4 August 2026 must move in by 3 August 2027. Anyone who cannot meet the requirements must tell QRO within 14 days of the change, and may have to repay the grant.

Where a loan comes in

Because payment timing depends on how the grant is applied for and on whether the home is bought or built, QRO says it is best not to count on the grant as a deposit or for anything else that is time-sensitive. A deposit is not needed to apply for the grant itself. The grant is separate from the national home guarantee schemes run by Housing Australia, and being eligible for one of those does not affect eligibility for the grant.

Queensland’s Boost to Buy scheme counts the grant differently: its 2% minimum deposit must come from demonstrated savings and cannot include the first home owner grant. That scheme is in guide 5.

Not the same thing

The grant and the duty concessions

Transfer duty concessions for first homes are a separate benefit with their own requirements. QRO gives an example of the difference: renting the home out before moving in can leave the grant intact but cost the concession. The concessions are set out on Queensland Revenue Office’s home concessions page.