NSW first home buyers
NSW First Home Owner Grant
The First Home Owner Grant in New South Wales is a one-off payment of $10,000 to eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new home, an off-the-plan purchase or a substantially renovated property that has never been lived in or sold.
This page explains who qualifies, which properties the grant covers and how it interacts with separate stamp duty relief, with every figure linked to Revenue NSW. It also looks at what the value caps mean for buyers searching around West Pymble, where Your Mortgage Broker West Pymble is based.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The confirmed figure is a one-off payment of $10,000, paid once per eligible transaction and once per applicant in a lifetime. What surprises many buyers is how much misinformation still circulates: older articles and some third-party websites continue to quote a much larger figure that has not applied for years and cannot be verified against any current government source. Before you plan a deposit or a purchase around any grant number, check it against the Revenue NSW page itself. The 2026-27 NSW Budget made no changes to the grant amount or the value caps, so the scheme you read about today is the scheme that will apply to a contract signed this financial year.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility turns on the buyer, the property and the applicant's history, and Revenue NSW applies each test strictly. These are the core conditions, each published on the grant page:
You are a natural person
At least one citizen or resident
Nobody has owned before
The property is genuinely new
The price sits under the cap
You commit to living there
One grant per person, ever
Which Properties It Covers
The property test is where most confusion sits, because the grant and the separate duty relief scheme treat established homes differently. This table sets out the position at a glance:
| Property type | Grant eligible? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New home, home and land under one contract | Yes, capped at $600,000 | The contract price must not exceed the cap, even marginally |
| Off-the-plan purchase | Yes, capped at $600,000 | Paid at settlement, which may fall well after the contract date |
| Vacant land plus separate building contract | Yes, $750,000 combined cap | Land value and build value are added together for the test |
| Substantially renovated home, never lived in or sold since | Yes | The renovation must be substantial and the home never occupied after it |
| Established home, previously lived in or sold | No, at any price | No grant, though separate duty relief may still apply |
Why The Rule Bites Here
In West Pymble the new-home test bites harder than the paperwork suggests, because the suburb was built out almost entirely after the Second World War and its stock is overwhelmingly established.
The Established Stock Reality
Around 96.1 per cent of dwellings here are separate houses and only 1.4 per cent are flats or apartments, according to the suburb facts table. The grant simply does not apply to an established weatherboard cottage on Kendall Street or Lofberg Road, no matter what price you pay, so most local buyers cannot claim it at all.
Where Eligible Stock Sits
The new and off-the-plan stock that does qualify tends to appear through knockdown rebuilds and scattered approvals rather than apartment precincts. With 464 dwelling approvals across the last five years and building activity sitting in the eighty-second percentile for the state, eligible new homes do surface, but they are individual projects, not a shelf you can browse.
The Gap Between Eligible And Desirable
A family shopping near West Pymble Public School or the Bicentennial Park sports precinct is usually choosing an established home for space, schools and the Lane Cove valley setting, and those homes fall outside the grant. The eligible new stock is often smaller, on remaining infill blocks, or priced well above the caps.
What This Means For Your Search
Most local first home buyers face a genuine fork: chase the grant on a new build elsewhere or further out, or buy the established home you actually want and rely on the separate duty relief instead. Neither answer is wrong, but you should make the choice with both schemes priced into your budget before you inspect.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The grant is only half the support available, and the other half is often worth more. The First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme is a completely separate program with its own rules:
It covers established homes too
A full exemption up to $800,000
A concession tapers to $1,000,000
Vacant land has its own bands
Both schemes can stack
An established home gets relief only
If the stacking rules leave you unsure which combination applies to a specific property, that is exactly the conversation a broker should be having with you before contract day. Our first home buyer loans page covers how these schemes sit alongside deposit requirements and lender policy, and our About page explains who you would be dealing with.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
Applying is procedural rather than difficult, but the timing depends entirely on the purchase stage, and lodging through the wrong channel adds weeks. These are the four payment pathways:
- 1
Already Built
For a completed home ready to occupy, the grant is generally paid at settlement, and it can be applied directly against your costs on settlement day.
- 2
Off The Plan
Payment also occurs at settlement, but settlement can sit well beyond the contract date depending on developer completion, so budget for a long gap between signing and receiving funds.
- 3
Construction Contract
For a build under a construction contract, the grant is typically paid once the first progress payment is made to the builder, which eases early cash flow during the build.
- 4
Where You Lodge
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, and your lender can confirm which applies.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
Revenue NSW lists the failure modes plainly, and almost all of them are avoidable with a careful read of the contract before you sign:
- Wrong property type Assuming any first home purchase qualifies, rather than checking the new-home test, is the single most common mistake.
- Missing the occupancy window Not moving in within twelve months, or moving out before completing twelve months of continuous residence, forfeits the grant.
- Prior ownership anywhere An applicant or partner having briefly owned property in Australia, even interstate or decades ago, disqualifies the application.
- Wrong applicant structure Applying as a company or a trust rather than as natural persons removes eligibility entirely.
- A price marginally over the cap A contract a few dollars past $600,000 or a combined value past $750,000 disqualifies the whole application rather than reducing the grant.
- Incomplete documents Missing identity, contract or citizenship evidence at lodgement delays processing and can sink the claim.
Where we work
Areas We Service
We work with first home buyers across the Upper North Shore and the Lane Cove valley, including Turramurra, Pymble, Gordon, Killara, Macquarie Park and Marsfield, where the mix of new development and established stock makes the grant and duty relief questions sharper than usual.
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 per eligible transaction. Beware older articles quoting a larger figure; the confirmed current amount on the Revenue NSW page is $10,000, and it has not changed in the 2026-27 Budget.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The grant only applies to a new home, an off-the-plan purchase or a substantially renovated home that has never been lived in or sold since the renovation. An established home is excluded at any price.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
For a home and land bought under one contract the cap is $600,000. For vacant land with a separate building contract, the combined value of the land and the build must stay under $750,000.
Do I have to live in the property to keep the grant?
Yes. For contracts from 1 July 2023 you must move in within twelve months of settlement or completion and live there as your main residence continuously for at least twelve months.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes. The grant only covers new homes, while the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme covers new and established homes, with a full duty exemption up to $800,000 and concessions tapering out at $1,000,000.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
A completed home is generally paid at settlement. A build is typically paid once the first progress payment goes to the builder. Lodgement runs through an approved lender or directly to Revenue NSW.
Mortgage broker for West Pymble and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing a new build against an established purchase and want both scenarios costed properly, call (02) 9072 0668 to talk it through. Published process, disclosed fees and a panel of lenders are the standards Your Mortgage Broker West Pymble holds itself to on every file.