QLD first home buyers
QLD First Home Owner Grant
The Queensland First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment from the Queensland Government for first home buyers who buy or build a new home, including off-the-plan purchases, building contracts and substantially renovated properties, provided they meet the eligibility rules.
For Palmview buyers the grant stacks with a separate transfer duty concession, which changes what an established home is worth considering. This page covers the current amounts, the value cap, eligibility, duty relief, payment timing, the reasons applications get refused, and what the rules mean for house hunting locally.
The Grant Is Now Twice What Older Pages Say
The figure most first home buyers still carry in their heads is out of date. Contracts signed on or after 20 November 2023 attract $30,000, double the $15,000 that applied before that date and that a surprising amount of comparison content still quotes. Owner-builders qualify for the same amounts depending on when the foundations were laid. The Queensland Revenue Office landing page still carries the 2026 State Budget references and states no change to either the amount or the cap, so $30,000 remains the working figure for any contract signed now. That sum sits on top of, not instead of, the first home transfer duty concession covered below, and together the two often make a new home in Palmview cheaper to enter than buyers assume from established stock prices alone.
Who Qualifies For The Payment
Eligibility is tested on the applicant, not the property alone, and each test below comes from the QRO eligibility page. Miss one and the application fails regardless of the property, so work through the list first:
Every applicant must be a natural person
Applicants must be eighteen or older
Citizenship or residency is required
The prior ownership test is strict
You must occupy the home
The property value must fit under the cap
Which Properties It Covers
The grant is deliberately pointed at new supply, and the eligibility page is blunt that established homes receive nothing at any price. This table separates what qualifies from what does not:
| Property situation | Grant eligible? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New home, never occupied or sold as a residence | Yes | House, unit, duplex or townhouse all count |
| Substantially renovated by the seller | Yes, in limited circumstances | Cosmetic work such as a kitchen remodel or re-carpeting does not count; most of the building must have been removed or replaced |
| Off-the-plan purchase | Yes | Treated as a new home when conditions are met |
| Contract to build, comprehensive building contract | Yes | The contract must be comprehensive; exclusions such as benchtops or electrical can fail this test |
| Owner-builder | Yes | $30,000 where foundations were laid on or after 20 November 2023, $15,000 before |
| Established home, any price | No | The QRO states plainly that there are no home owner grants for established homes |
Why The Rule Bites Here
Palmview is the wrong suburb to assume the grant rules from a statewide headline, because the local stock profile interacts with the value cap and the new-home requirement in specific ways. With 2,814 dwelling approvals in the suburb over the last five years, placing Palmview at the top of the state for building activity, and 92.8 per cent of dwellings being separate houses against barely half a per cent flats or apartments, the practical questions for a first buyer look like this:
New Stock Is The Local Market
Palmview is a growth suburb by construction, not by conversion, so a large share of what comes up for sale is genuinely new and grant-eligible in principle. The catch is that new estates here have appreciated with the market, and larger four-bedroom homes on family-sized blocks, which make up 63.2 per cent of local dwellings, sit well above the entry level where the cap is comfortably clear.
The Cap Is A Cliff, Not A Slide
The $750,000 value test is hard-edged: the QRO refuses the grant entirely at or above the cap rather than reducing it. For a contract to build, the test adds the building contract price to the unencumbered value of the land at the contract date, so land bought cheaply years earlier that has since risen can quietly push a build over the line.
Desirable And Eligible Rarely Match
The gap in Palmview is between the homes buyers want and the homes the rules will fund. Entry-level new stock is where the grant works; the four-bedroom family homes that dominate the suburb, and that a household with a median age of twenty-nine and average size of three is usually shopping for, are the segment where the cap bites hardest. Budget discipline at contract stage matters more here than in established-market suburbs.
What This Means For Your Search
Practically, first buyers in Palmview should sort listings by contract type and total contract value, not asking price alone. A house-and-land package structured as separate land and building contracts is a contract-to-build transaction, which changes how the value test is applied, and the construction loans pathway differs from a straight purchase. Run the total, land plus build plus variations, against the cap before you commit, because the difference between clearing it and missing it is $30,000.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
Here is the part most grant pages bury: the grant and the duty concession are separate schemes with different property rules, and both change which homes you should even inspect. The details come from the QRO first home duty concession page:
The duty concession covers established homes too
No duty at all up to $700,000
A reduced concession runs to $799,999
A new home under the cap can claim both
The occupancy requirement differs
Renting out part of the home is allowed
Citizenship rules tightened recently
How it works
How To Apply And When The Money Arrives
Timing is where first buyers get burned, because the grant is not always paid when you expect it. The QRO apply and payment page sets out routes that behave very differently, and the difference can decide whether you have the funds at settlement or months later:
- 1
Through An Approved Agent
Applying through an approved agent, meaning a bank or lender, is the fastest route and the one most buyers should default to. When you are buying, the payment generally lands at settlement, and the agent lodges for the stage you have reached. Most lenders fold the application into the loan process.
- 2
Directly To The QRO
Applying straight to the Queensland Revenue Office is slower by design: payment is not made until the home is complete and every supporting document has been supplied. For a buyer relying on the grant for settlement funds, this route can leave a genuine cashflow gap, so it deserves a hard look before you choose it.
- 3
Building Or Going Owner-Builder
Contract-to-build and owner-builder applications are paid after completion, tied to the final inspection certificate or certificate of occupancy. Because a Palmview build runs to a drawdown schedule with progress payments along the way, plan your cash position on the assumption that the grant arrives at the end, not the beginning.
- 4
The Application Deadline
The deadline is generous but absolute: within one year of taking possession and title registration for a purchase, or within one year of completion for a build. Missing it forfeits the payment entirely, so diarise it the day you settle rather than trusting memory a year later.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
The refusal reasons the QRO sees are consistent, and almost all are avoidable at contract stage rather than fixable afterwards. Read this as a pre-contract checklist, because once one surfaces, the money is gone:
- Buying an established home and assuming it qualifies This is the single most common error, and no amount of goodwill at assessment fixes it, because there are no grants for established homes in Queensland.
- Contract value at or over $750,000 The cutoff is hard and the grant is refused, not reduced, so a contract that lands a few hundred dollars over the line loses the full $30,000.
- A house-and-land package treated as a new-home purchase Structured as a land contract plus a separate building contract, it is a contract-to-build transaction, and the value test then includes the land.
- Land appreciation pushing a build over the cap Land bought years earlier and now worth considerably more can take the combined contract-to-build value past $750,000 even though the original purchase seemed safe.
- A non-comprehensive building contract If the contract excludes items such as benchtops or electrical work, it fails the contract-to-build test outright, so read the inclusions schedule before signing.
- Breaching the occupancy rule Moving in later than one year after completion, or leaving before six continuous months, puts the grant at risk, and the Commissioner's discretion reaches only exceptional circumstances.
- Prior property ownership anywhere in Australia The applicant or spouse test sweeps in property held in other states, and a forgotten unit or inherited share disqualifies the application.
- Applying through a company or trust The grant is for natural people, so no ownership structure workaround exists for this payment.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Palmview works with first home buyers right across the southern Sunshine Coast, and the grant rules above apply identically in each of these suburbs: Sippy Downs, Birtinya, Meridan Plains, Glenview and Tanawha. Where the differences show up is in what local stock and the value cap do to eligibility, which is a conversation to have before you sign a contract rather than after. If you are weighing a new build against established stock, the first home buyer loans page covers the lending side, and about explains who you would be dealing with.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the QLD First Home Owner Grant worth?
Eligible contracts signed on or after 20 November 2023 attract $30,000. Contracts signed before that date attract $15,000, a figure older pages still quote.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The Queensland Revenue Office states there are no home owner grants for established homes. The grant applies to new homes, substantially renovated homes, off-the-plan purchases, building contracts and owner-builders.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
The home and land together must be worth less than $750,000, including any 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 only extend this in exceptional circumstances.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes. The duty concession applies to established homes as well as new ones, with no duty payable on a first home valued at $700,000 or under.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
Applying through an approved agent such as a bank or lender is the fastest route, generally paid at settlement. Applying directly to the Queensland Revenue Office delays payment until the home is complete.
Mortgage broker for Palmview and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you want the grant and duty concession maths run against a specific Palmview property or house-and-land package before you sign, that conversation costs nothing. Call (07) 3523 7115 to speak with a broker who works across a panel of lenders, publishes its process openly and will tell you plainly whether the contract clears the cap. The best time to check eligibility is before the contract is signed, not after.