NSW first home buyers
NSW First Home Owner Grant
The First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment of $10,000 from the New South Wales Government to eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new home, an off-the-plan home, or a substantially renovated home never previously lived in or sold.
The grant sits beside a separate duty relief scheme, and together they change what a first purchase in New South Wales actually costs. Your Mortgage Broker Dover Heights keeps this page current against Revenue NSW, and covers what the grant pays, who qualifies, which properties it covers, and how the rules apply around Dover Heights.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The confirmed current figure is $10,000, paid once per transaction and once per applicant per lifetime, according to Revenue NSW. 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 today is the scheme you would apply under. It is worth flagging a stubborn myth here: older articles and some third-party sites still quote a $30,000 figure that has not applied for years and cannot be verified against any current government source. If a page or a well-meaning relative quotes thirty thousand, the number is out of date. Check everything against the Revenue NSW page linked above, because that is the body that pays the money and the only source that counts when a contract is signed.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility is tested on the applicants, their history and the property together, and a weakness in any one of them can sink the whole application. These are the tests that matter, each drawn from the Revenue NSW grant page:
Natural persons only
Citizenship or residency
A clean ownership history
A genuine intention to occupy
The right property type
Under the value cap
Once in a lifetime
Which Properties It Covers
The property test trips up more buyers than any other rule, because the grant follows the home, not the buyer. A first home buyer who has never owned anything can still walk away empty-handed if the house has been lived in before. The table sets out the two value caps and the rule for established stock:
| Purchase type | Value cap | Grant payable? |
|---|---|---|
| New home, home and land under one contract | $600,000 | Yes, if all applicant tests are met |
| Vacant land plus a separate building contract, combined | $750,000 | Yes, if all applicant tests are met |
| Established home, previously lived in or sold | No cap applies, because the rule is absolute | No, at any price |
That last row is the one worth reading twice. There is no price at which an established home becomes eligible, so the grant is not a discount on the kind of period brick house that defines most of this suburb. It is a payment that steers first buyers toward new stock, and the rest of this page is about where that stock actually is.
Why The Rule Bites Here
A rule that looks generous in a statewide brochure can behave very differently on a clifftop where the housing stock is mostly decades old. Revenue NSW sets one test for the whole state, and Dover Heights reads against it in a particular way.
The Cap And Local Values
Dover Heights is a low-density suburb of detached and semi-detached brick homes, many rebuilt or extended into large rendered houses chasing ocean and harbour views, and market values here sit far beyond the $600,000 cap. An established house on Wentworth Street or Blake Street could never qualify, whatever the buyer's circumstances.
Where Eligible Stock Actually Sits
The grant tracks new dwellings, and this suburb has some: 283 dwellings were approved across the last five years, including 99 in 2021-22, and around a fifth of local dwellings are flats or apartments. Newer units and off-the-plan sales are where an eligible purchase is realistically found.
The Gap Between Eligible And Desirable
Eligibility and desirability pull in opposite directions here. The clifftop character that makes the suburb sought after comes from its older homes, so the grant pushes a first buyer toward stock that is eligible rather than toward the house they actually pictured themselves in.
What It Means For Your Search
Practically, a first buyer targeting this suburb chooses between a newer unit or off-the-plan purchase under the cap, or dropping the grant and relying on the duty relief scheme instead, which does cover established homes. Our first home buyer page works through that trade-off in detail.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
Two schemes, two sets of thresholds, and a combination that surprises most first buyers when the numbers land on one page. The duty scheme is the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, administered separately by Revenue NSW:
It is a separate scheme with separate tests
It covers established homes
Full exemption up to $800,000
A concession then tapers out
Vacant land has its own bands
Both can stack
The 2026-27 Budget made no changes to either scheme, so the interaction described here is current.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
Applying is procedural once eligibility is clear, but the timing of the money depends entirely on what stage the purchase is at, and that catches buyers off guard. Revenue NSW handles payment through lenders or directly.
- 1
Lodging The Application
Most applications lodge through an approved bank or lender acting as Revenue NSW's agent, usually alongside the home loan application, which is the simplest route for buyers financing a purchase. Where no approved agent is involved, the application goes directly to Revenue NSW instead.
- 2
Documents To Have Ready
Identity documents, the contract of sale and evidence of citizenship or residency form the core of the file. Applications fail on incomplete supporting documents more often than on eligibility itself, so assembling the full set before lodgement saves weeks of back-and-forth.
- 3
When The Money Actually Arrives
For a home already built and ready to occupy, the grant is generally paid at settlement. Off-the-plan purchases are paid at settlement too, which can sit well beyond the contract date depending on the developer's completion timeline.
- 4
The Construction Timing Difference
Under a construction contract, the grant is typically paid once the first progress payment is made to the builder, not at settlement and not at completion. That timing affects cash flow planning for anyone building on vacant land.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
These are the failure modes Revenue NSW sees repeatedly, and each one was avoidable at the contract stage:
- Wrong property type Assuming any first home purchase qualifies, without checking the new-home test, is the most common error of all.
- Missing the occupancy window Not moving in within 12 months, or moving out before completing 12 months of continuous residence, triggers repayment.
- A hidden ownership history Prior property ownership by an applicant or their partner anywhere in Australia, even briefly or interstate, disqualifies the application.
- The wrong structure Applying as a company or trust rather than as a natural person fails the applicant test outright.
- Nudging over the cap A contract price marginally above $600,000 or $750,000 disqualifies the whole application. It does not reduce the grant to part payment.
- Incomplete documents at lodgement Missing identity, contract or citizenship evidence stalls the file and can forfeit the payment timeline entirely.
If any of these tests feels uncertain in your own case, resolve it before you sign, not after.
Where we work
Areas We Service
This page supports first home buyers across the eastern suburbs, and Your Mortgage Broker Dover Heights works with buyers in Vaucluse, Rose Bay and North Bondi as well as Dover Heights itself. Each neighbouring suburb carries the same grant rules but a very different mix of eligible stock, so where you search changes the strategy even though the statewide figures stay fixed.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the NSW First Home Owner Grant worth?
The grant pays $10,000, once, for an eligible new home, off-the-plan purchase or substantially renovated home that has never been lived in or sold since the renovation.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. A home that has been previously lived in or sold is not eligible at any price, so the grant never applies to the established houses that dominate most eastern suburbs streets.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
For a home and land under one contract the cap is $600,000. For vacant land with a separate building contract the combined value cap is $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 12 months of settlement or completion and live there as your main residence continuously for at least 12 months.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes. Duty relief is a separate scheme, the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, with its own thresholds and its own eligibility test. Eligible buyers can receive both on the same purchase.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
For a ready home it is generally paid at settlement. Under a construction contract it typically arrives after the first progress payment, and off-the-plan timing follows settlement of that contract.
Mortgage broker for Dover Heights and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
Grant and duty rules interact with deposit size, lender policy and loan structure, and the combination is worth an hour of proper planning before you commit to a contract. Call (02) 9072 0666 to talk it through with a broker operating under an Australian Credit Licence, with published fees and a documented process. You can also read more about the business on the About page.