NSW first home buyers
NSW First Home Owner Grant
The NSW First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment from the NSW Government to first home buyers who buy or build a new home in New South Wales. It applies to new homes, off-the-plan purchases and substantially renovated homes, subject to a property value cap.
Your Mortgage Broker Berowra, a mortgage broker serving Berowra and the surrounding Hornsby Shire, checks grant eligibility on every first home file at no cost. This page covers the current grant amount, the eligibility rules, how it combines with stamp duty relief, and what it means for buyers searching locally.
What It Is Worth Right Now
Here is the figure that surprises people, partly because old articles still quote a $30,000 amount that has not applied for years and cannot be verified against any current government source. The confirmed current grant is $10,000, one-off, paid by Revenue NSW to eligible first home buyers purchasing or building a new home. The 2026-27 NSW Budget, handed down 23 June 2026, made no changes to either the grant amount or its value caps. That number matters for two reasons: first, because the money arrives as a payment, not a discount on your loan, so it can fund moving costs, furniture or the first months of repayments; and second, because eligibility depends entirely on the property being new, which is where the rule starts to bite around Berowra.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility turns on a handful of tests, and each one is checked against every applicant on the title, not just the primary borrower:
First home, genuinely
Natural persons only
Citizenship
The new home test
The value cap
Occupancy
Once per lifetime
Which Properties It Covers
The quick way to sort your target property is a table, because the difference between the grant and the duty scheme is where most confusion starts:
| Property type | Grant eligibility | Duty relief eligibility |
|---|---|---|
| Brand new home and land, one contract under $600,000 | Eligible for the $10,000 grant | Full exemption up to $800,000, concession to $1,000,000 |
| Vacant land plus separate building contract, combined under $750,000 | Eligible for the grant | Full exemption on land up to $350,000, concession to $450,000 |
| Off-the-plan new home under $600,000 | Eligible for the grant | Same duty thresholds as other new homes |
| Substantially renovated, never lived in or sold since | Eligible if under the cap | Same duty thresholds |
| Established home, previously lived in or sold | Not eligible for the grant, any price | Full exemption up to $800,000, concession to $1,000,000 |
| Property above $1,000,000 | Not eligible | No duty relief |
The pattern to notice: the duty scheme is more generous on price and covers established homes, while the grant is narrower but pays cash. A new home under both thresholds can receive both the grant and duty relief on the same purchase, which is the best-case combination.
Why The Rule Bites Here
This is the section that matters most for buyers around Berowra, because the grant's new-home requirement collides with what this suburb actually is.
Nearly All Local Stock Is Established
Berowra's housing is almost entirely detached houses, roughly ninety-four per cent of dwellings at the last census, with virtually no flats, and that stock was built mostly through the 1960s to the 2000s as the railway suburb grew. Nearly every home on the market here has been lived in, which means nearly every home is outside the grant by definition.
New Approvals Are Scarce
Building activity in the area sits around the state's forty-second percentile, with only 129 dwellings approved across the last five years, including 19 in 2021-22. Off-the-plan apartments and new estates, the stock the grant was designed for, are simply not part of this suburb's rhythm.
The Cap Versus Local Prices
With a median household mortgage repayment of about $2,700 a month and household incomes in the state's ninety-fourth percentile, local buying power is real, but the grant's caps constrain what counts. A knock-down-rebuild or a land-plus-build package on a bush-fringe block is the realistic local path, and it must stay under the $750,000 combined cap to qualify.
What That Means For You
Practically, a grant-eligible purchase around here usually means land in Berowra, Cowan or Berrilee plus a construction contract, and that route has its own financing shape. Our construction loans and first home buyer loans pages set out how those loans run, stage by stage.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
Here is the part most buyers miss: the grant is only half the support available, and the two schemes have different rules.
Duty relief reaches further on price
Duty relief covers established homes
Vacant land gets its own thresholds
The schemes stack
Both were left unchanged in 2026-27
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The application itself is straightforward; the timing of the money depends on what you are buying.
- 1
Lodging The Application
The application goes through an approved bank or lender acting as agent for Revenue NSW, or directly to Revenue NSW where no approved agent is involved. If your loan is arranged through Your Mortgage Broker Berowra, the application is lodged with your lender as part of the same process.
- 2
For A Completed Home
Where the home is already built and ready to occupy, the grant is generally paid at settlement, which means the money can land in your account within days of moving in.
- 3
For Off-The-Plan
Off-the-plan purchases also pay at settlement, but settlement can sit well beyond the contract date depending on when the developer completes, so budget as though the grant is a year or more away.
- 4
For A Construction Contract
If you are building, the grant is typically paid once the first progress payment is made to the builder, so your build schedule effectively controls when the money arrives. That timing should be built into your cash flow plan, not treated as a deposit substitute.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
Every knock-back reason below is avoidable, but each one ends the application rather than reducing it:
- Wrong property type Assuming any first home qualifies, rather than checking the new-home test, is the most common error. An established cottage in Berowra fails the test no matter how perfect it looks.
- Missing the occupancy window Not moving in within 12 months, or moving out before 12 months of continuous residence, breaches the rule and can require repayment.
- Prior ownership by a partner Previous property ownership by any applicant or their partner, anywhere in Australia, even briefly or interstate, disqualifies the application. This catches couples where one partner owned a unit years ago.
- Applying as a company or trust Only natural persons qualify, so a file structured through an entity fails at the eligibility stage.
- Marginally over the cap A contract price even slightly above the $600,000 or $750,000 cap disqualifies the whole application; it does not reduce the grant to a part payment. Negotiating the price down before exchange is the fix.
- Incomplete documents Missing identity, contract or citizenship evidence at lodgement stalls the payment, sometimes for weeks.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Our lending work concentrates where our clients live: Berowra Heights, Cowan, Brooklyn, Cottage Point and Berrilee, all within reach of the Berowra railway line. Whether your first purchase is a knock-down-rebuild, a block of land plus a builder, or an established home where duty relief does the heavy lifting, the About page sets out who you deal with and how we are paid.
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 for an eligible first home buyer purchasing or building a new home in NSW. No changes to the amount were made in the 2026-27 NSW Budget.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The grant applies only to new homes, off-the-plan purchases or substantially renovated homes never previously lived in or sold. Established homes are not eligible for the grant at any price, though they may qualify for duty relief.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
The total price must not exceed $600,000 for a home and land under one contract, or $750,000 combined where you buy vacant land and sign a separate building contract.
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. The $10,000 grant is one scheme; transfer duty relief under the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme is separate and covers new and established homes up to $1,000,000 on a sliding scale.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
For a completed home it is generally paid at settlement. For a construction contract it is typically paid once the first progress payment is made to the builder, so timing depends on your build stage.
Mortgage broker for Berowra and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
Check your grant and duty eligibility before you exchange, not after. Call (02) 9072 0640 for a free, no-obligation conversation, nothing lodged without your say-so, and every recommendation explained in writing.