QLD first home buyers
QLD First Home Owner Grant
The Queensland First Home Owner Grant is a one-off state government payment for first home buyers who buy or build a brand new home and live in it as their principal place of residence. It never applies to established homes, and the property's total value must fall under a legislated cap.
Your Mortgage Broker Chapel Hill is a mortgage broking practice serving Chapel Hill and Brisbane's west, and this page explains the grant as it applies to buyers searching locally. It covers what the grant pays, who qualifies, which properties count, how it combines with transfer duty relief, and where applications commonly fail.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The current grant pays $30,000 on eligible new-home contracts, a figure that doubled from $15,000 when contracts signed on or after 20 November 2023 became eligible, according to the Queensland Revenue Office eligibility page. That doubling is the surprising part, because plenty of first buyers are still working from older figures they found on forum threads or comparison articles that were never updated. The $15,000 amount survives on dated pages across the internet, and it applies only to contracts signed before the change. If you are signing a contract now and budgeting around the old number, you are short by half the payment. Owner-builders are treated under the same dates, with the amount depending on when foundations were laid. The Queensland Revenue Office landing page still carries the 2026 State Budget references, and no change to the amount or the cap is stated on the current eligibility page, so $30,000 remains the working figure.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility is tested on the applicant, the property and how you intend to use it. Each condition below comes from the Queensland Revenue Office eligibility criteria, and every one of them is checked:
Applicant age and status
Citizenship or residency
Prior property ownership
Genuine residence
Property type
Value under the cap
Which Properties It Covers
The property-type rules trip more people than the money does, because the grant draws a hard line between new and established stock. This table summarises what the Queensland Revenue Office eligibility page covers and excludes:
| Property arrangement | Eligible? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New home, never occupied | Yes | House, unit, duplex or townhouse |
| Off-the-plan purchase | Yes | Must be new and never sold as a residence |
| Contract to build | Yes | Comprehensive home building contract required |
| Owner-built home | Yes | Amount depends on when foundations were laid |
| Substantially renovated home | Limited | Completed by the seller; cosmetic work does not qualify |
| Established home | No | There are no grants for established homes at any price |
One detail worth pausing on: a house-and-land package structured as a separate land contract plus a building contract is treated as a contract-to-build transaction, so the value test includes the land's unencumbered value at the contract date. A non-comprehensive building contract, where benchtops or electrical work are excluded, fails the contract-to-build test entirely.
Why The Rule Bites Here
Lead-in sentence for the local picture:
Where New Stock Sits
Chapel Hill is overwhelmingly established housing stock: 97.7 per cent of its 3,533 dwellings are separate houses, and only 0.3 per cent are flats or apartments. The grant pays only on new or never-occupied homes, so almost nothing on the ground in this suburb qualifies.
The Approvals Picture
Dwelling approvals across the suburb totalled just 124 in the last five counted years, which confirms that new construction is a trickle rather than a stream. When eligible new homes do appear, they are individual replacements on large blocks rather than townhouse developments.
Established Versus New
The gap between what buyers want here and what the grant covers is the sharpest local tension. Chapel Hill's four-and-five-bedroom family houses on quiet, leafy streets are exactly the established stock the grant excludes, at any price under the cap.
What It Means For Your Search
A grant-eligible buyer targeting this postcode is realistically searching for a new build on a subdivided block, a knockdown-rebuild contract, or new townhouse stock in neighbouring suburbs with more development activity. We cover the financing side of that on our construction loans page.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The grant and transfer duty relief are separate schemes with separate tests, and stacking them correctly changes the total cash a first buyer needs. The first home transfer duty concession page sets out the current terms:
No duty at all up to the threshold
A reduced band above that
The ceiling above which relief ends
Occupancy conditions apply here too
Renting part of the home
The citizenship change
A new home under $750,000 can receive the $30,000 grant and the duty concession on the same purchase, which is the strongest combined position available to a first buyer in Queensland. An established home gets no grant at any price, though it can still claim the duty concession under its own thresholds. A separate vacant land concession also exists, with thresholds not published on the pages linked here, so do not assume a figure for it.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The application route you choose determines how long you wait, and the difference is measured in months. Each pathway below is set out on the Queensland Revenue Office apply and payment page:
- 1
Through An Approved Agent
Lodging through your bank or lender as an approved agent is the fastest route, and when you are buying an existing new home the payment is generally made at settlement. Most buyers should use this pathway wherever their lender participates.
- 2
Directly To The Revenue Office
Applying straight to the Queensland Revenue Office means the grant is not paid until the home is complete and every supporting document has been supplied. For a buyer settling on a completed dwelling, that can push the money well past the point you needed it.
- 3
Building Contracts And Owner-Builders
For a contract to build or an owner-built home, the grant is paid after completion, against the final inspection certificate or certificate of occupancy. Budget your cash flow so the deposit and early costs do not depend on the payment arriving early.
- 4
The Deadline To Lodge
Applications must be lodged within one year of taking possession and title registration when buying, or within one year of completion when building. Missing the deadline forfeits the payment, so diarise it when you sign rather than when you remember.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
These are the refusal patterns the Queensland Revenue Office sees repeatedly, and each one is avoidable with a little contract-stage diligence:
- Buying established and hoping The single most common refusal, where a buyer assumes an older home qualifies. It does not, at any price, in any condition.
- Sitting at or over the cap $750,000 is a hard cutoff. The grant is not reduced above it, it is refused, and contract variations count toward the total.
- Splitting a house-and-land package incorrectly A land contract plus a separate building contract is a contract-to-build transaction, and the value test then includes the land's value at the contract date.
- Land value drift Land bought years earlier that has risen in value can quietly push a build over the cap when the building contract consideration is added.
- An incomplete building contract A non-comprehensive contract with items such as benchtops or electrical work excluded fails the contract-to-build test and voids eligibility.
- Residency failures Moving in later than one year after completion, or leaving before six continuous months, puts the grant at risk unless the Commissioner exercises rare discretion.
- Prior ownership anywhere An applicant or spouse who has owned residential property anywhere in Australia on or after 1 July 2000 is ineligible, and national records make this check straightforward.
- Applying through a structure Companies and trusts cannot claim the grant, and from 1 August 2026 the duty concession has its own citizenship requirements that trusts generally cannot meet either.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Chapel Hill arranges finance for first home buyers across Brisbane's west, including Mount Coot-tha, Indooroopilly, Fig Tree Pocket, Kenmore and Kenmore Hills. Grant rules are identical across these suburbs, but the stock that qualifies is not, and the financing structure that suits a house-and-land package in one suburb rarely suits a new townhouse in another. You can read more about our approach on the About page, or start with our first home buyer loans service page.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the QLD First Home Owner Grant worth?
For eligible contracts signed on or after 20 November 2023, the grant pays $30,000. Contracts signed before that date attracted $15,000, a figure that still appears on older pages.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The Queensland Revenue Office is explicit that there are no grants for established homes. The property must be new, never occupied as a residence, or a substantially renovated home in limited circumstances.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
The home and land together must be worth less than $750,000, including any contract variations. A property at $750,000 or more is refused outright, not paid a reduced grant.
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. Exceptions are rare and sit at the Commissioner's discretion.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes. The grant only covers new homes, while the first home transfer duty concession covers new and established homes and reduces or eliminates duty under its own thresholds.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
Applying through an approved agent, usually your lender, is the fastest route and is generally paid at settlement. Applying directly to the Queensland Revenue Office delays payment until the home is complete.
Mortgage broker for Chapel Hill and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing the grant against a guarantor route or comparing lenders on their handling of contract-to-build transactions, a conversation is free and without obligation. Call [TRACKING_PHONE] to speak with Your Mortgage Broker Chapel Hill. Every recommendation is made under an Australian Credit Licence and documented in writing, and the process we follow, published on this site, is applied to every single file from the first call through to settlement.