NSW first home buyers
NSW First Home Owner Grant
The First Home Owner Grant in New South Wales is a one-off payment from the NSW Government to eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new home, purchase off the plan, or buy a substantially renovated home that has never been lived in or sold since the renovation.
Your Mortgage Broker Kenthurst(https://share.google/QgDlhsM3MdDGtOcdN) works with first home buyers across Kenthurst and The Hills, and the grant is only half the picture. This page covers who qualifies, which properties count, how the grant stacks with stamp duty relief, how to apply, and what most often goes wrong.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The confirmed figure is a single payment of $10,000 per eligible transaction, and that is the number to plan around. What surprises many buyers is how much stale information still circulates: older articles and some third-party websites continue to quote an amount that has not applied for years and cannot be verified against any current government source. The 2026-27 NSW Budget, handed down on 23 June 2026, made no changes to the grant amount or the value caps, so the scheme you read about here is the scheme currently in force. If a figure in your research cannot be traced back to Revenue NSW, treat it as out of date until proven otherwise.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility turns on the applicants as much as the property, and Revenue NSW tests each of these points against the contract documents:
Age and status
Citizenship
Prior ownership
One grant per person
Occupancy intention
The value caps
Which Properties It Covers
The property type test is where most confusion starts, so here is the position in one view:
| Property type | Grant eligible | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New home, never occupied | Yes | Full grant where the value cap is met |
| Off-the-plan, never occupied | Yes | Paid at settlement whenever that falls |
| Substantially renovated, never lived in or sold since | Yes | The renovation must be genuine and complete |
| Established home, previously lived in or sold | No | Ineligible at any price, for the grant |
| Vacant land plus separate building contract | Yes | Land and construction combined under the cap |
| Company or trust purchase | No | Natural persons only |
The word to watch is "new". A home someone has lived in before, however recently renovated, however long it sat unsold, fails the test. A display home that was never sold or occupied can pass. The distinction is documentary, not cosmetic, and Revenue NSW checks it against the contract and occupancy history.
Why The Rule Bites Here
This is the part a statewide article cannot tell you, because Kenthurst's housing stock sits awkwardly against the grant's design.
Caps Against Local Prices
Kenthurst is a suburb of large blocks and substantial houses: nearly every dwelling here is a separate house, and close to four in five have four or more bedrooms. That stock, and the land it sits on, generally trades well above the caps, and an established home is excluded from the grant at any price regardless.
Where Eligible Stock Sits
The eligible stock that does exist is new construction. Dwelling approvals across the suburb over the last five years run past five hundred, and building activity here sits in the state's upper band, so new homes and major renovations appear steadily. Those are the transactions the grant can actually attach to.
The Eligibility Gap
The gap is between eligible and affordable-to-build. A new four-bedroom home on a Kenthurst-sized block, with land and construction costs combined, frequently pushes past the cap under a separate building contract, which disqualifies the whole application rather than trimming the grant.
What It Means For Your Search
Practically, first home buyers here face a choice: hunt the limited new stock that fits inside the caps, including growth areas nearby such as Kellyville, or accept that an established purchase means duty relief only. We set out both paths before you sign anything, because the contract date fixes the test.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
Here is where buyers leave money unclaimed: the grant and stamp duty relief are separate schemes with separate thresholds, run by Revenue NSW, and missing one does not automatically mean missing the other.
Different schemes, different tests
Full exemption for homes
Concessional range
Vacant land thresholds
The stack
Established homes
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The mechanics are more forgiving than most buyers expect, and knowing the sequence helps you time the cash flow:
- 1
Lodging The Claim
Most claims are lodged through an approved bank or lender acting as agent for Revenue NSW, which means the paperwork travels with your home loan application rather than as a separate exercise, and approval of the grant sits alongside settlement.
- 2
When Payment Lands
A completed home is generally paid at settlement. An off-the-plan purchase pays at settlement, which can sit well beyond the contract date depending on the developer's completion. A construction build typically pays once the first progress payment is made to the builder.
- 3
Documents To Pull Together
Assembly is straightforward but unforgiving: identity documents, the contract of sale or building contract, and evidence of citizenship or permanent residency for the applicant claiming it. Incomplete files at lodgement are a leading reason claims stall or fail.
- 4
Timing The Cash Flow
Because the construction payment lands at the first progress payment rather than at the end, it can genuinely assist early cash flow on a build, and construction lending should be structured with that timing in mind from the first drawdown.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
These are the documented failure points, in roughly the order they occur, and each one is avoidable with a check before you sign:
- Wrong property type Assuming any first home purchase qualifies, rather than checking the new-home test against the contract and occupancy history, is the most common self-inflicted rejection.
- Prior ownership anywhere An applicant or their partner having owned residential property anywhere in Australia, even briefly or interstate, ends eligibility, and lenders and Revenue NSW both check.
- Marginal cap misses A contract price one dollar over the $600,000 or $750,000 cap disqualifies the entire application; it does not reduce the grant, so the number must be certain before exchange.
- Occupancy breaches Failing to move in within twelve months, or moving out before completing twelve months of continuous residence, puts the grant in dispute after it has been paid.
- Wrong ownership structure Applying through a company or discretionary trust rather than as natural persons fails the applicant test outright, regardless of who actually lives in the home.
- Incomplete documents Missing identity, contract or citizenship evidence at lodgement stalls the claim at best and sinks it at worst, usually when settlement timing is already tight.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Kenthurst is our base, and the surrounding Hills district is where most of our first home buyer files come from: Glenorie, Middle Dural, Dural, Glenhaven, Kellyville and Annangrove. Each has its own mix of new stock and established homes, and the grant and duty rules land differently in each one. If you are nearby and not listed, ask anyway.
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. Older articles quoting larger amounts are out of date, so check the figure against Revenue NSW before you plan around it.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The grant only applies to new homes, off-the-plan purchases, or substantially renovated homes that have never been lived in or sold since renovation. An established home qualifies for duty relief instead, at any price.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
A home and land bought under one contract caps at $600,000. Vacant land with a separate building contract caps at $750,000 combined. Going even one dollar over disqualifies the application entirely.
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 continuously as your main residence for at least twelve months.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes with separate thresholds. The grant covers new homes only; the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme covers new and established homes, and both can apply to the same purchase.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
A completed home is generally paid at settlement. An off-the-plan purchase pays at settlement whenever that occurs, and a construction build typically pays once the first progress payment is made to the builder.
Mortgage broker for Kenthurst and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing a new build against an established purchase in Kenthurst, we can map which scheme applies to each before you commit to a contract. Your Mortgage Broker Kenthurst works from a published process, compares a panel of lenders, and discloses its fees and commissions in writing. Call (02) 9072 0647 for a no-cost strategy call, or start with first home buyer loans and the About page to see who would handle your file.