NSW first home buyers
NSW First Home Owner Grant
The NSW First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment from the NSW Government to eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new home in New South Wales. It covers new properties only, not established homes, and Revenue NSW administers the scheme through approved agents.
Your Mortgage Broker Bella Vista(/about/), a mortgage brokerage based in Bella Vista, helps first home buyers across The Hills work out what they qualify for before they sign anything. This page covers the grant amount, the price caps, who qualifies, how it stacks with duty relief, and where the rules bite locally.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The number that surprises most buyers is smaller than the internet told them: the grant is a one-off payment of $10,000, confirmed on the Revenue NSW grant page, and the 2026-27 NSW Budget, handed down 23 June 2026, made no changes to the amount or the caps. Plenty of older articles and third-party sites still quote a $30,000 figure that has not applied for years and cannot be verified against any current government source, which is why checking the Revenue NSW page directly, or having someone check it with you, matters more than trusting a search result. The grant is also only half the story for many buyers, because a separate scheme, the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, can wipe out transfer duty on the same purchase, and for a first home buyer in the Hills District the duty saving is often the larger of the two benefits. The two schemes have different property rules and different thresholds, so a purchase can qualify for one, both, or neither, and the difference is decided by property type and price rather than by how good your application looks.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility is a checklist, and every box must be ticked before the contract is signed, not after:
Natural persons only
Citizenship or residency
Genuine first home buyers
The occupancy commitment
Once per lifetime
Under the value cap
If any one of these fails, the application fails, and the knock-back reasons later on this page show how often that happens with paperwork that was never checked first.
Which Properties It Covers
The property test is where most eligibility conversations start and end, because the grant is a new-home scheme wearing a first-home name:
| Property type | Grant eligible | Value cap |
|---|---|---|
| Newly built home, never occupied, home and land under one contract | Yes | $600,000 total value |
| Off-the-plan purchase, never occupied | Yes | $600,000 total value |
| Substantially renovated home, never lived in or sold since renovation | Yes | $600,000 total value |
| Vacant land plus a separate building contract, combined value | Yes | $750,000 combined |
| Established home, previously lived in or sold | No, at any price | Not applicable |
The combined $750,000 figure for land plus a separate construction contract is the one buyers misread most often, because each component is assessed on its own contract but tested against the combined total. A block purchased at one price and a build contract signed later must together stay under the cap, which is worth modelling before the land contract goes unconditional. Our construction loans page covers how the two contracts interact with a lender's requirements. The established-home exclusion is absolute, which is the single most important line in the table for Bella Vista buyers, for reasons the next section makes painfully clear.
Why The Rule Bites Here
This is the part of the grant that national comparison sites never explain, because it is entirely local: around Bella Vista, the new-home rule and the local housing stock work against each other.
Where the median sits
Bella Vista's established housing is expensive, full stop. The suburb carries a median household mortgage repayment of about $3,400 a month, which points to prices sitting well beyond the $600,000 grant cap for the typical detached home. An established house here was never grant-eligible anyway, but the duty thresholds matter, and the same prices push against those too.
Where eligible stock sits
Eligible new stock exists, but it is concentrated. Bella Vista saw 1,040 dwelling approvals across the last five years, among the highest building activity in the state, yet almost all of it is apartment development around the Metro station and Norwest Business Park rather than new detached houses. The grant-eligible purchase in this suburb is, overwhelmingly, an apartment.
The gap that follows
That creates an awkward choice for buyers who pictured a house. Bella Vista's housing is dominated by large detached family homes, most built in the 1990s and 2000s, which are established and therefore outside the grant entirely. The property you can claim the grant on and the property you probably imagined buying are two different things here.
What it means
Practically, it means widening the search. Neighbouring suburbs with newer house-and-land or townhouse stock, or an off-the-plan apartment near the Metro, are where the grant and the duty exemption actually line up. Deciding that before you fall in love with an established house saves a disappointing eligibility conversation after the auction.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
Here is the detail most buyers miss: the grant and the duty scheme are separate, with different property rules, and a purchase can qualify for both at once.
The duty scheme is broader on property type
Full duty exemption up to $800,000
A taper to $1,000,000
Vacant land has its own thresholds
Both schemes can land together
For a Hills District buyer, the duty exemption is frequently the larger benefit, and it is the one that survives the established-home purchase the grant does not.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The application itself is straightforward, but the timing of the payment depends entirely on what you are buying:
- 1
Lodging the application
Applications go through an approved bank or lender acting as agent for Revenue NSW, or directly to Revenue NSW where no approved agent is involved. Because most buyers are financing through a lender anyway, the lodgement usually rides along with the loan, and incomplete supporting documents are the main thing that stalls it.
- 2
Settlement for completed homes
Where the home is already built and ready to occupy, the grant is generally paid at settlement, which is the fastest route and the one most off-the-plan buyers assume applies to them.
- 3
The first progress payment
For a build under a construction contract, the grant is typically paid once the first progress payment is made to the builder. That can be months after the land settles, so budget the deposit and the early stages without counting on the grant arriving early.
- 4
Off-the-plan waits
Off-the-plan purchases receive the grant at settlement, which can sit well beyond the contract date depending on when the developer completes the building. A contract signed today on an unbuilt tower may see the grant arrive a year or more later.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
Revenue NSW declines more applications than it needs to, and almost every knock-back traces to one of these, all of which are checkable before you sign:
- Wrong property type Assuming any first home purchase qualifies, rather than applying the new-home test, is the most common error, and it is usually discovered after the contract is unconditional.
- Missing the occupancy window Not moving in within 12 months, or moving out before the 12 months of continuous residence are complete, breaches the occupancy rule and can trigger a clawback of money already paid.
- Prior ownership by a partner A previous property owned by an applicant or their partner, anywhere in Australia, even briefly or interstate, disqualifies the application, and many couples discover a partner's history late.
- Company or trust structures Applying through a company or discretionary trust fails the natural-person requirement, and restructuring after exchange is rarely possible without losing the deal.
- Marginally over the cap A contract price just above the $600,000 or $750,000 threshold disqualifies the whole application; it does not reduce the grant to a partial payment, which makes a negotiated price reduction before exchange genuinely valuable.
- Incomplete documents Missing identity, contract or citizenship evidence at lodgement delays payment, and delays compound when a settlement date is already fixed.
Where we work
Areas We Service
From our Bella Vista base we help first home buyers right across The Hills, including Kellyville, Norwest, Baulkham Hills, Seven Hills, Kings Langley and Glenwood, checking grant and duty eligibility before contracts are exchanged rather than after.
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, confirmed on the Revenue NSW grant page. Some older articles still quote a $30,000 figure that has not applied for years and cannot be verified against any current government source.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The grant covers new homes, off-the-plan purchases and substantially renovated homes never lived in or sold since renovation. An established home is not eligible at any price, though it may still qualify for duty relief.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
The total value must sit at or under $600,000 for a home and land under one contract, or $750,000 combined for vacant land plus a separate building contract. A contract even marginally over the cap loses the entire grant.
Do I have to live in the property to keep the grant?
Yes, for contracts from 1 July 2023 you must move in within 12 months of settlement or completion and live there continuously as your main residence for at least 12 months. Moving out early can claw the grant back.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes with different rules. The grant covers new homes only, while the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme covers new and established homes and exempts transfer duty on purchases up to $800,000.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
For a completed home it is generally paid at settlement, and for a build it is typically paid once the first progress payment goes to the builder. Off-the-plan buyers wait until settlement, which can sit well beyond the contract date.
Mortgage broker for Bella Vista and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing an off-the-plan apartment against an established house and want the grant and duty position mapped before you commit, call Your Mortgage Broker Bella Vista on (02) 9072 0640. Every conversation is free, with no obligation, and we will tell you plainly which schemes your intended purchase qualifies for. You can also start with our first home buyer loans page or the home page for the full loan range.