QLD first home buyers
QLD First Home Owner Grant
The QLD First Home Owner Grant is a Queensland Government payment of $30,000 to eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new home in the state, where the property value sits under the threshold set by the Queensland Revenue Office.
For buyers around Graceville, the catch is that the grant only covers new homes, and the inner west has limited new stock, so knowing where eligible properties actually sit matters more than knowing the headline amount. This page covers eligibility, value caps, duty relief, application timing and the reasons applications fail, with every figure linked to the Revenue Office.
What It Is Worth Right Now
Here is the surprising part: the grant doubled with almost no fanfare. Contracts signed on or after 20 November 2023 attract $30,000, up from the $15,000 that applied to earlier contracts. The Queensland Revenue Office landing page still carries the 2026 State Budget reference and no change to either the amount or the value cap has been stated on its eligibility page, so $30,000 remains the working figure. The old $15,000 number still appears on secondhand pages across the web, and buyers who budget from stale sources can find themselves $15,000 short of what they assumed. Check the Revenue Office page itself before you set your deposit target, and treat any site still quoting the old amount as out of date. Amounts like this are set by state budget decisions, so confirm on the day rather than trusting a forum post, a comparison article, or a friend who bought two years ago.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility is decided by the Queensland Revenue Office against a fixed checklist, and each item below links directly to the eligibility page where the rule is published:
You are buying or building new
The value sits under the cap
You are the right applicant type
You hold the right status
You have never owned before
You will actually live there
Substantial means substantial
If any single item fails, the whole application fails, so work through the checklist before you fall in love with a property rather than after contracts are signed.
Which Properties It Covers
The fastest way to see the shape of the scheme is side by side, because the eligible and ineligible lists are genuinely asymmetric:
| Property situation | Grant eligibility |
|---|---|
| New house, unit, duplex or townhouse, never occupied or sold as a residence | Eligible, subject to the value cap |
| Substantially renovated home completed by the seller in limited circumstances | Eligible, subject to the renovation test |
| Off-the-plan purchase | Eligible, subject to the value cap |
| Contract to build under a comprehensive home building contract | Eligible, with land value added to the build price |
| Owner-builder project | Eligible, $30,000 where foundations are laid on or after 20 November 2023 |
| Established home at any price | Not eligible, with no discretion |
One distinction in that table trips more buyers than any other: the house-and-land package structured as a separate land contract plus a separate building contract is treated as a contract-to-build transaction, not a new-home purchase, so the value test includes the land. That is usually the intended outcome anyway, but buyers who assumed they were buying a finished new home can be caught by the different paperwork trail, and by the different payment timing described further down this page.
Why The Rule Bites Here
The grant is generous on paper and thin on the ground in Graceville, and the local numbers explain why.
The stock barely exists
Graceville has just 3.3 per cent of dwellings in flats or apartments against 88.4 per cent separate houses, so the suburb is almost entirely established character housing rather than new-build product. With only 124 dwelling approvals across the last five years, the pipeline of grant-eligible new homes in postcode 4075 is genuinely narrow.
Where eligible stock actually sits
Buyers hunting grant-eligible new stock usually end up looking at newer apartment and townhouse product in Indooroopilly, Tennyson and the river suburbs, where recent development has actually occurred. That means your search area widens beyond Graceville if the grant is central to your deposit strategy.
The gap between eligible and desirable
This is a high-income, high-amenity area: median household income of $2,929 a week sits at the 97th income percentile in the state, and the suburb rates in the top SEIFA decile for advantage. Desirable stock here is established stock, and established homes attract no grant at any price.
What that means for your search
If a $30,000 grant is the difference between buying now and saving another year, plan around new stock within commuting reach rather than holding out for a grant-eligible home in Graceville itself. Pair the grant question with the deposit conversation on our first home buyer loans page before you shortlist.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The grant is not the only money on the table, and the two schemes have different shapes, which surprises most buyers. Both come from the Queensland Revenue Office, both apply to a first home, and both can land on the same purchase:
The duty concession is broader than the grant
Under $700,000, no duty at all
A reduced band runs to $799,999
A new home can collect both
Occupancy rules differ
Renting part of it is possible
Add the two together and the effective government contribution to a qualifying new home purchase is substantial, but only if the property, the structure and the timing all comply with both schemes simultaneously.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The application route you choose changes when the money lands, sometimes by months, so this is worth choosing deliberately.
- 1
Through an approved agent
Applying through an approved agent, typically the bank or lender writing your loan, is the fastest route. For a purchase, the grant is generally paid at settlement, which means it can form part of the funds you actually settle with rather than a later reimbursement.
- 2
Directly to the Revenue Office
Applying directly to the Revenue Office for a purchase or a build means payment waits until the home is complete and every supporting document has been supplied. That is workable, but plan your cash flow around the delay rather than assuming the grant arrives early.
- 3
Building contracts and owner-builders
For a contract to build or an owner-builder project, the grant is paid after completion, once the final inspection certificate or certificate of occupancy is in hand. Anyone pairing the grant with a construction loan should understand this before structuring their deposit, and our construction loans page walks through how staged payments interact with lender requirements.
- 4
The deadline
Applications must be lodged within one year of taking possession and title registration for a purchase, or within one year of completion for a build. Miss it and the grant is gone, regardless of how clear-cut your eligibility was at the start.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
The Revenue Office publishes the reasons applications fail, and nearly all of them are foreseeable before you sign anything:
- Buying established Assuming an established home qualifies because a friend received a grant years ago under different rules.
- Landing on the cap A contract value at or over $750,000 is a hard cutoff; the grant is not reduced, it is refused in full.
- Misreading a package deal A land contract plus a separate building contract is a contract-to-build transaction, and the value test then includes the land.
- Watching land appreciate Land bought years earlier that has risen in value can push the combined build value over the cap even though the original plan sat comfortably under it.
- An incomplete building contract A non-comprehensive contract, for example one excluding benchtops or electrical work, fails the contract-to-build test entirely.
- Breaking occupancy Moving in later than one year after completion, or leaving before six continuous months have passed.
- Hidden prior ownership A spouse's previous residential property ownership anywhere in Australia, disclosed late, ends the application.
- The wrong structure Applying as a company or a trust rather than as natural people.
Every one of these is checkable before contracts are exchanged, which is exactly when the check should happen.
Where we work
Areas We Service
From our base in Graceville, Your Mortgage Broker Graceville works with first home buyers across the inner west, including Chelmer, Indooroopilly, Tennyson, Sherwood and Fig Tree Pocket, and we help buyers weigh grant eligibility, duty concessions and deposit structure together, because those decisions interact. You can read more about who we are on the About page.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the QLD First Home Owner Grant worth?
$30,000 for eligible new-home contracts signed on or after 20 November 2023. Contracts signed before that date attracted $15,000, an older figure that still circulates on outdated pages.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The Queensland Revenue Office states there are no home owner grants for established homes at any price. An established home can still attract the separate first home duty concession under its own thresholds.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
The home and land combined must be valued at less than $750,000, including any contract variations. At $750,000 or more the grant is refused outright, not reduced.
Do I have to live in the property to keep the grant?
Yes. You must move in within one year of completion and live there continuously for six months. Discretion exists only in exceptional circumstances, so plan your occupancy before you sign.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes. The grant applies to new homes only, while the transfer duty concession covers established homes too and has its own value thresholds and occupancy rules.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
Applying through an approved agent such as your lender is the fastest route, generally paid at settlement. Direct applications to the Revenue Office are not paid until the home is complete.
Mortgage broker for Graceville and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing a new-build purchase against the grant rules, one conversation will map the deposit, the duty position and the timing before you commit to a contract. Call (07) 3523 7109 to speak with a broker operating under an Australian Credit Licence, with our fee structure published and every recommendation drawn from a panel of lenders. There is no charge for the first conversation.