QLD first home buyers
QLD First Home Owner Grant
The Queensland First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment from the Queensland Government to eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new home, never previously occupied, valued at less than $750,000 including the land.
Your Mortgage Broker Beaconsfield is a mortgage broking business based in Beaconsfield, and this page covers what the grant pays, who qualifies, which properties count, how it interacts with transfer duty relief and where eligible stock around Mackay actually sits.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The grant currently pays $30,000 to eligible applicants for contracts signed on or after 20 November 2023, double the $15,000 that applied before that date, according to the Queensland Revenue Office eligibility page. That is the surprising part many buyers miss: the $15,000 figure still circulates on older articles and forum threads, and it is out of date for anyone signing a contract today. Owner-builders qualify on the same scale, with $30,000 where foundations were laid on or after 20 November 2023. The Queensland Revenue Office landing page references the 2026 State Budget, delivered in June 2026, and states no change to either the $30,000 amount or the value cap, so the doubling holds. On a modest first build, $30,000 can cover most of a buyer's transaction costs or substantially shorten the deposit gap, which is why getting the eligibility rules right before signing matters more than most people expect.
Who Qualifies
The eligibility rules sit in a handful of plain tests, and each one has knocked out an application somewhere. Check every line against your own circumstances before you commit to a contract, because eligibility is assessed at contract and completion, not at the marketing display. The core requirements are:
Age and applicant type
Citizenship or residency
Prior property ownership
New home only
Value cap
Occupancy
Full detail sits on the eligibility page, and it is worth reading yourself before signing anything.
Which Properties It Covers
The property type test is where the grant divides cleanly, and it divides in one direction only: new. The table below sets out what counts and what does not, drawn from the Queensland Revenue Office rules:
| Property type | Grant eligible? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New house, unit, duplex or townhouse | Yes | Never previously occupied or sold as a residence |
| Substantially renovated home | Yes, in limited cases | Most of the building must be removed or replaced; a kitchen remodel is not enough |
| Off-the-plan purchase | Yes | If the finished home is new and under the value cap |
| Comprehensive contract to build | Yes | Value tested as contract price plus land value at contract date |
| Owner-builder | Yes | $30,000 where foundations laid on or after 20 November 2023 |
| Established (previous) home | No | There are no home owner grants for established homes, at any price |
| Land alone | No | Land only qualifies through a build contract or owner-builder project |
Two fine print points catch buyers. First, a house and land package structured as a separate land contract plus a building contract is a contract-to-build transaction, so the value test adds the land value to the build price. Second, a building contract that excludes items like benchtops or electrical work may fail the comprehensive contract test entirely.
Why The Rule Bites Here
New stock, mostly freestanding
Beaconsfield is an overwhelmingly detached suburb, with 86.6 per cent of its 2,101 dwellings being separate houses and only 0.3 per cent flats or apartments. That matters because almost none of the local stock is the unit or townhouse product that sometimes sneaks under a value cap in city markets. Your eligible purchase here will nearly always be a new freestanding house, priced land and build together.
Building activity is genuinely local
The suburb sits at the 81st percentile in Queensland for building activity, with 405 dwellings approved over the last five years, including 100 in 2021-22 alone. That means house and land contracts are being signed around here constantly, and each one is a contract-to-build transaction where the value test includes the land at the contract date, which is exactly the structure that trips eligibility rules.
The gap between eligible and desirable
Only 36.6 per cent of local dwellings have four or more bedrooms, and established family homes on larger blocks are precisely the properties the grant excludes. Buyers wanting space and an established street face a real fork: an eligible new build in a developing pocket, or an ineligible established home funded without the $30,000. Neither is wrong, but the decision should be made consciously, not discovered at contract.
What it means for your search
If the grant is central to your budget, you are shopping for new stock under the cap, which around Beaconsfield means house and land packages or recent builds in the growth pockets, with median household incomes here around the 65th percentile for the state shaping what lenders will service. Before you sign anything, it pays to run the full structure past our first home buyer loans page and one free conversation.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
Here is the part that changes the arithmetic: the grant is not the only concession on the table, and the second one is broader. The first home transfer duty concession is a separate scheme, run by the same office, with its own rules:
No duty up to $700,000
A reduced band above that
An $800,000 ceiling
Established homes qualify too
They stack on a new build
The occupancy rules differ between the two schemes: the duty concession requires you to move in with personal belongings and live there daily within one year of settlement, and that deadline cannot be extended. From 1 August 2026, duty concession applicants must be Australian citizens, permanent residents or specified foreign retirees. Vacant land carries its own separate concession, with thresholds you should confirm directly on the QRO page rather than assume.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
- 1
Lodge through your lender
The fastest route is applying through an approved agent, which in practice means your bank or lender lodging on your behalf. For a purchase, payment generally lands at settlement, so the grant arrives exactly when you need it most, offsetting transaction costs and the cash you have just stripped from your deposit.
- 2
Or lodge with QRO directly
Applying directly to the Queensland Revenue Office takes longer, because nothing is paid until the home is complete and every supporting document has been supplied. On a build this is not a minor delay: construction runs months, and the grant effectively arrives at the end rather than the start.
- 3
Builds pay at completion
For a contract to build or an owner-builder project, payment comes after completion, on presentation of the final inspection certificate or certificate of occupancy. Your cash flow during the build needs to work without the grant, and a staged drawdown structure can be planned around this on our construction loans page.
- 4
Watch the deadline
Applications must be lodged within one year of taking possession and title registration if you are buying, or within one year of completion if you are building. Miss it and the $30,000 is gone, so treat the deadline as a diary item from the day you sign, not an afterthought at handover.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
Most declined applications trace back to a rule that was knowable before the contract was signed. Reading the list below costs five minutes and can save five figures:
- Buying established The single most common mistake, assuming a previously lived-in home qualifies. It does not, at any price point.
- Landing exactly on the cap A total value of $750,000 or more means the grant is refused outright. It is not scaled back, and contract variations count toward the total.
- Ignoring rising land values Land bought years earlier that has appreciated can push a combined land-and-build value over the cap when the contracts are finally priced.
- A non-comprehensive build contract Contracts excluding items such as benchtops or electrical work can fail the contract-to-build test altogether.
- Misreading a renovation A kitchen remodel or new carpet is cosmetic work, not a substantial renovation; most of the building must be removed or replaced.
- Breaking the occupancy rule Moving in later than one year after completion, or leaving before six continuous months, puts the grant at risk.
- Prior ownership A spouse who owned property in Australia years ago disqualifies a joint application, even if the applicant themselves has never owned.
- Wrong structure Companies and trusts cannot apply, which is worth knowing before a structure is set up around a future purchase.
A guarantor arrangement can bridge the deposit gap on an eligible new build where the grant alone is not enough, though a guarantor takes on genuine risk and should always get independent legal and financial advice before signing anything.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Beaconsfield works with borrowers right across the Mackay region, and the grant rules read differently depending on which suburb's stock you are shopping in. We regularly help first home buyers in Rural View, Blacks Beach, Andergrove, North Mackay, Mount Pleasant and Richmond, as well as Beaconsfield itself, and each suburb page sets out how the local housing mix shapes lending.
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.
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. The grant is new builds and substantially renovated homes only.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
The home and land together must be valued under $750,000, including 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. The Commissioner can extend this only in exceptional circumstances.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes. The grant applies to new homes only. The first home transfer duty concession applies to established homes as well, with no duty payable up to $700,000.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
Applying through an approved lender is fastest, generally paid at settlement. Applying directly to the Queensland Revenue Office means waiting until the home is complete and documents are supplied.
Mortgage broker for Beaconsfield and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing a house and land package against an established purchase, or you want the grant, duty concession and your deposit tested together before you sign, call (07) 3523 7109 for a free, no-obligation conversation. We work with a panel of lenders, we publish our fees and process, and you will deal with one named broker, Your Mortgage Broker Beaconsfield, from the first call.