First home buyer QLD: the $30,000 grant, the stamp duty concession and how they add up

What do first home buyers get in Queensland?

Queensland first home buyers can get up to three kinds of help: the state's First Home Owner Grant, the state's first home concession on transfer duty, and the federal 5% Deposit Scheme. They are separate, with separate rules, and a buyer can qualify for one without the others.

The grant is cash toward a new home. The duty concession cuts a tax you'd otherwise pay at settlement. The 5% Deposit Scheme doesn't give you money at all: it lets you buy with a smaller deposit without paying lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), the insurance a lender charges you for when you borrow more than 80% of the price.

What this means for you: the grant gets the headlines, but it's for new homes only. For anyone buying an established home, the duty concession and the deposit scheme are where the money is.

How much is the first home owner grant in QLD?

The Queensland First Home Owner Grant is $30,000 for first home buyers who buy or build a new home valued under $750,000 [1]. Older contracts got $15,000 [1].

It's run by the Queensland Revenue Office, the state agency that also runs transfer duty. It's a grant, not a loan, and it comes with conditions on living in the home (part 5).

Can you get the QLD grant on an established home?

No. The Queensland grant is only for a new home: one that has never been lived in or sold as a home, whether you buy it finished or build it [1]. Buy an established home and there's no grant, whatever the price.

The first home concession on transfer duty is different. It applies to established homes too, so a buyer of an existing house or unit at $700,000 or less still pays no duty [2]. Queensland also runs a separate first home (new home) concession for newly built homes, with its own rules on the Queensland Revenue Office's site; we check which of the two fits your contract.

What this means for you: if you're choosing between new and established, the grant is only $30,000 of the difference. Price, location and the duty concession can matter more.

What counts toward the $750,000 grant limit?

The home's value must be under $750,000, and that value includes the land and any variations to the building contract [1]. Exactly $750,000 doesn't qualify: the value has to be less than the limit.

This is where builds go wrong. A house-and-land package priced just under the limit can creep over it with a few upgrades signed after the contract, and the grant is lost. Before you sign variations, add them to the land and build price and check where you land.

Do first home buyers pay stamp duty in QLD?

Not on a home valued at $700,000 or less. Queensland calls stamp duty transfer duty, and the first home concession removes it in full up to that value [2]. Between $700,001 and $799,999 you pay reduced duty, and from $800,000 the first home concession stops, though Queensland's general home concession may still apply [2].

The concession isn't a grant. It's applied when your duty is assessed, usually by your conveyancer or solicitor at settlement, so it lowers a bill rather than putting money in your account.

How does the first home concession work in QLD?

The first home concession works in two steps. First, the duty on your home is worked out at Queensland's home concession rate, the rate for a home you'll live in. Then a first home concession amount is taken off it [2][3].

Up to $700,000, the first home concession amount matches the duty in full, so there's nothing to pay [2]. Compared with the general rate of transfer duty, that's worth up to $24,525: the general-rate duty on a $700,000 home [2][8].

Use the stamp duty calculator for the duty on any price, and read on for what happens between $700,000 and $800,000.

Where does the QLD stamp duty concession cut out?

The concession doesn't stop all at once at $800,000. It shrinks in $10,000 steps from $710,000, and reaches nil at $800,000 [3]. The table shows the first home concession amount the Queensland Revenue Office takes off the duty in each band.

The Queensland Revenue Office's own worked example: on a $730,000 home, a first home buyer pays $6,555 in transfer duty [2].

What this means for you: a buyer at $750,000 doesn't get the full concession, and one at $790,000 gets very little of it. If your budget sits in this band, a lower price or a better negotiation can be worth more than it looks, because each $10,000 band you move down brings back $1,735 of concession [3].

I owned a home overseas. Am I a first home buyer in Queensland?

For the duty concession, no. The first home concession is lost if you've held an interest in any other home, in Australia or overseas [2]. This can catch people who moved here after owning a home abroad.

For the grant, the ownership test is about homes in Australia [1]. And the 5% Deposit Scheme looks at property in Australia in the last 10 years [4]. So someone who owned only overseas can fail one test and pass the other two. Check each one separately.

Who counts as a first home buyer? Four different tests

There isn't one definition of a first home buyer in Queensland. The grant, the duty concession, the 5% Deposit Scheme and the First Home Super Saver Scheme each ask a different question about what you've owned before.

What this means for you: passing one test tells you nothing about the others. A buyer who owned an investment unit in recent years and never lived in it can still pass the grant's test, yet fail the deposit scheme's 10-year test and the super saver test, and the duty concession counts any other home they've held. That's why we check every test against your history before you sign.

Can first home buyers in QLD avoid LMI?

Yes, through the federal 5% Deposit Scheme. It lets a Queensland first home buyer buy with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance, because Housing Australia, a government agency, guarantees the lender in place of the insurance [4]. Single parents and legal guardians can buy from a 2% deposit [4].

The scheme has no income cap and no limit on places [4]. It has a ceiling as well as a floor: if you have 20% or more saved after purchase costs such as stamp duty and legal fees, you can't use it [4].

Here's what LMI would cost on a 95% loan for a first home buyer, from one insurer's published rate card [7]. Under the scheme, that cost isn't charged. These are illustrations from one card, not quotes; your premium depends on the insurer, the loan and the lender.

Some lenders also waive LMI for certain professions. See LMI waivers.

What are the price caps in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and regional Queensland?

For the 5% Deposit Scheme, the Queensland cap is $1,000,000 in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, and $700,000 everywhere else in the state [4]. Both the price you pay and the lender's valuation have to be at or under the cap [4].

The regional centres are a short list. A buyer in Townsville, Cairns, Toowoomba or anywhere outside Brisbane and the two coasts is on the $700,000 cap [4].

What this means for you: in Brisbane and on the two coasts, the deposit scheme's $1,000,000 cap sits well above the duty concession's $700,000 line and the grant's $750,000 limit, so those two bite first. In regional Queensland, the $700,000 caps line up, and a home at that price can get the full duty concession and the deposit scheme together.

Help to Buy and the First Home Super Saver in Queensland

Two more federal schemes are open to Queensland buyers. Help to Buy is shared equity: the government contributes up to 30% of the price of an existing home, or up to 40% of a new one, and you buy with a deposit from 2% [5]. You own the home and share some of its value with the government. There are 10,000 places a year, and the current income limits are $103,000 for a single and $165,000 for joint applicants or a single parent [5]. All applicants must be Australian citizens [5].

The First Home Super Saver Scheme lets you save for a deposit inside your super. You can put in up to $15,000 a year, and up to $50,000 in total, in voluntary contributions, then ask the Australian Taxation Office to release them, with deemed earnings, toward your first home [6]. See Help to Buy and First Home Super Saver.

Can you get the grant, the concession and a federal scheme together?

Mostly, yes. On a new home under $750,000 you can get the grant and the duty concession on the same purchase, and both in full at $700,000 or less [1][2]. The 5% Deposit Scheme's guide says using it doesn't stop you getting state or territory help [4].

The one firm exclusion: the 5% Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy can't be used together [4]. Help to Buy also rules out state shared equity schemes, loans and guarantees, while stamp duty concessions and grants still apply [5].

What is the whole package worth on a Queensland home?

An illustration, not a client file. A first home buyer pays $700,000 for a newly built home in Brisbane. The grant is $30,000. Transfer duty is nil, a saving of up to $24,525. Through the 5% Deposit Scheme, a $35,000 deposit is enough and the price is under the $1,000,000 Brisbane cap. That's $54,525 of Queensland help [1][2][4][8].

On top of that, the scheme means no LMI. On the same 95% loan, one insurer's card puts LMI at about $29,992 [7]. Counted together, that's about $84,517 the buyer doesn't pay or gets back [8].

Buy an established home at the same price instead and the grant falls away; the duty saving and the deposit scheme still apply. Buy the same home in Townsville and it sits right on the $700,000 regional cap, so the deposit scheme still works, but only just [4].

The Queensland Revenue Office explains the state help and the federal sites explain the federal help, so the total on your own price is worth adding up before you sign. See how the schemes fit together.

Can the QLD grant go towards your deposit?

Usually not at the time you need it. The grant is usually paid at settlement, or at the first progress payment on a build, so it can't pay the deposit you hand over when you sign the contract.

Plan your deposit from your own savings, and treat the grant as money that arrives later. For the 5% Deposit Scheme, the 20% ceiling is counted after purchase costs [4]: on a $700,000 home, $140,000 or more left after purchase costs puts you outside it [8].

How long do you have to live in the home?

Each scheme sets its own rule, and the strictest one you use is the one that counts.

What this means for you: if you use the 5% Deposit Scheme, plan to move in within 6 months of settlement, not the year the state allows, and don't plan to rent it out later while the guarantee is in place [4].

Can you rent out a room in your first home?

For the duty concession, yes: renting out part of the home, such as a room, is allowed under the newer rule, as long as you live there and don't lease the whole home in the first year [2].

The 5% Deposit Scheme is stricter. The home can't be rented out while the guarantee is in place [4]. If a boarder is part of how you'll pay the loan, ask before you choose the scheme.

Buying with a partner, a friend or family

For the grant, your spouse's past ownership counts, so a partner who owned and lived in a home before can rule you both out [1]. At least one buyer must be a citizen or permanent resident [1].

The 5% Deposit Scheme takes exactly two people on a joint application, and they don't have to be a couple: partners, friends or family members. Both must pass every test, and three or more buyers can't use it [4]. The First Home Super Saver works person by person, so a couple can each use their own savings for the same home [6].

A parent can help in another way, by putting up part of their home's equity as security. See guarantor home loans.

Do you need to be a citizen to get first home buyer help in QLD?

It depends on the scheme. Four of the five ask for citizenship, and three of those also accept permanent residents.

If you're on a visa, the grant may still be open if you buy with a citizen or permanent resident [1]. See home loans for visa holders.

Building a new home or buying off the plan in Queensland

A new build is where the grant lives, and where the rules are tightest. For the grant, the land, the build and every variation count toward the $750,000 limit [1].

Under the 5% Deposit Scheme, the building contract must be signed within 6 months of the loan settling, building must start within 12 months and finish within 36 months, and you move in within 6 months of the occupancy certificate [4]. Owner-builder contracts don't qualify; the builder must be licensed, insured and on a fixed-price contract [4].

Two traps: the land has to be titled before the guarantee can be issued, inside the 90-day pre-approval window, and if you already own the vacant land, you can't use the scheme to build on it [4]. See construction loans.

How much can a first home buyer borrow in Queensland?

What you can borrow comes from your income, your debts and your living costs, and each lender works it out its own way. The grant and the duty concession don't change what a lender works out you can repay; they change how much cash you need on the day.

That's why the order matters: work out what lenders will lend you first, then fit the schemes to the price. See how much can I borrow.

What does a broker cost you?

How a broker is paid, and the rule Money Brain holds against it, is set out in full on its own page: what a mortgage broker costs.

Your first move

You've read the rules. Now there's one question left: on the home you want, at the price you'll pay, which of the grant, the concession and the federal schemes do you actually get, and in what order do you do it?

That depends on new or established, where you're buying, what you've owned and what you've saved, and it's what Money Brain works out before anything goes to a lender.