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 eligible first home owners who buy or build a new home, purchase off the plan, or buy a substantially renovated home that has never been lived in.
Your Mortgage Broker Eglinton is a mortgage broker serving Eglinton and the wider Bathurst Region, and this page sets out the grant as it applies here: who qualifies, which properties it covers, how it combines with stamp duty relief, and where eligible stock actually sits locally.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The grant pays ten thousand dollars, once per eligible transaction. That figure surprises people for two reasons. First, older articles and some third-party websites still quote an amount several times larger, a figure that has not applied for years and cannot be verified against any current government source; the only figure Revenue NSW publishes today is ten thousand. Second, the amount has not moved in a long time, while prices around Bathurst certainly have, which makes the value caps rather than the payment amount the thing that decides who actually gets it. The 2026-27 NSW Budget, handed down on 23 June 2026, made no change to the grant amount or the caps, so the scheme you read about today is the scheme you will deal with at contract time.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility is set by Revenue NSW and tested at settlement or completion, so every condition below has to hold on the day that matters, not just on the day you sign: Revenue NSW sets the applicant rules and applies them strictly.
Applicants must be natural persons
At least one applicant must be a citizen or permanent resident
Nobody on the application may have owned before
One grant per applicant, for life
The occupancy rule applies
The property must pass the new-home test
Which Properties It Covers
The property type and the price cap work together, and the cap changes depending on how you buy, so check both before you sign anything: Revenue NSW publishes the caps and treats the two contract styles differently.
| Purchase style | Eligible property | Value cap |
|---|---|---|
| Home and land under one contract | New home, off the plan, or substantially renovated and never lived in or sold since | $600,000 |
| Vacant land plus separate building contract | New build on land you buy separately | $750,000 combined |
| Established home | Not eligible, at any price | No cap applies because the property fails the new-home test |
The combined cap on the land-and-contract route is the detail that catches buyers out: it is the land price plus the full building contract added together, not either figure alone.
Why The Rule Bites Here
Eglinton is exactly the kind of suburb where the grant looks easy from a distance and gets complicated up close, because the housing stock, the price points and the building pipeline pull in different directions: dwelling approvals data tells only half the story.
New Stock Is Growing Fast
Eglinton sits in the 76th percentile in the state for building activity, with 392 dwellings approved over the last five years against a total stock of just 1,026 dwellings. That is a genuine pipeline of brand-new homes, which is precisely the property type the grant requires, and it keeps arriving as the estate stages release.
The Cap Decides Everything
The $600,000 cap for a home and land under one contract is the binding constraint locally. Almost everything standing in Eglinton is a separate house, and six in ten homes have four or more bedrooms, so the larger new builds can push past the cap even where a smaller equivalent on the same street would clear it comfortably.
Eligible And Desirable Diverge
Here is the gap buyers feel: the stock that qualifies for the grant, smaller new builds and house-and-land packages at the entry end of the estates, is not always the stock families want, particularly those needing the four-bedroom format that dominates the suburb. Choosing between eligibility and the home you actually want is a real decision, not a paperwork detail.
What It Means For Your Search
With a median age of 34 and households averaging 2.9 people, most Eglinton first buyers are young families sizing for space. The practical consequence is that your search should start with the land-plus-contract route, where the combined $750,000 cap gives more room, and with house-and-land packages at the entry end of the newer releases rather than established listings.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The grant is only half the money on the table. The First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme is a separate scheme with its own thresholds, and it is often worth more than the grant itself, which is why it changes the property shortlist so dramatically:
Established homes qualify for duty relief
Full exemption up to $800,000
The concession tapers to $1,000,000
Vacant land has its own thresholds
Both can land on one purchase
The thresholds are current
The interaction is what turns a first purchase from expensive to achievable, and it is why we check both schemes against any shortlisted property before recommending a buyer commit to a contract: the assistance scheme page is the authoritative source on the duty side.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
Applications are not complicated, but timing depends entirely on how the purchase is structured, and knowing when the money lands changes how you plan your cash flow around settlement: Revenue NSW sets the payment rules for each purchase stage.
- 1
Built And Ready To Occupy
For a completed new home, the grant is generally paid at settlement, so it can sit alongside your other settlement funds and reduce the cash you need on the day. Most buyers never see it as a separate payment at all.
- 2
Off The Plan
An off-the-plan purchase is paid at settlement, which can sit well beyond the contract date, sometimes years, depending on developer completion. Budget for the wait, because the grant will not help with your deposit at exchange.
- 3
Building Under A Construction Contract
With a construction contract, payment is typically made once the first progress payment goes to the builder, early in the build rather than at the end. That timing helps with early construction cash flow more than buyers expect.
- 4
Where You Lodge
Most applications go through an approved bank or lender acting as agent for Revenue NSW, lodged alongside the home loan itself. Where no approved agent is involved, the application goes directly to Revenue NSW instead, which takes longer.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
Revenue NSW refuses applications for predictable reasons, and every one of them was avoidable at contract stage rather than fixable afterwards, which is what makes a pre-contract eligibility check worth the phone call: Revenue NSW lists the requirements in full.
- Wrong property type Assuming any first home purchase qualifies, rather than checking the new-home test, is the most common refusal. An established home fails at any price.
- Missing the occupancy window Not moving in within 12 months, or moving out before completing 12 months of continuous residence, forfeits the grant after the fact.
- Prior ownership anywhere An applicant or their partner having owned residential property anywhere in Australia, even briefly or interstate, ends eligibility, with only narrow exceptions for pre-2000 holdings.
- Wrong applicant structure Applying as a company or a trust rather than as natural persons disqualifies the claim outright, no matter the intentions behind the structure.
- A price marginally over the cap A contract price even slightly above $600,000 or $750,000 disqualifies the whole application. The grant does not reduce, it disappears.
- Incomplete documents at lodgement Missing identity, contract or citizenship evidence stalls the application, and delays compound when they sit alongside a settlement date.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Eglinton serves first home buyers right across the Bathurst Region from Eglinton, with dedicated local pages for Llanarth, Windradyne, West Bathurst, Bathurst and Kelso, alongside our first home buyer loans and construction loans services. You can also read more about us.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the NSW First Home Owner Grant worth?
The grant pays $10,000, once per eligible transaction. It has sat at that figure for years, and the 2026-27 NSW Budget made no change to the amount or the property value caps.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The grant only covers new homes, off-the-plan purchases and substantially renovated homes never lived in or sold since the renovation. An established home qualifies for duty relief instead, not the grant.
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. Going even slightly over disqualifies the application.
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, they are separate schemes. Duty relief covers both new and established homes up to set thresholds, while the grant covers only new homes. Some buyers can receive both on one purchase.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
A ready-built home is generally paid at settlement. Off-the-plan is paid at settlement, which can be years after contract. Construction contracts are typically paid once the first progress payment goes to the builder.
Mortgage broker for Eglinton and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing up a house-and-land package against an established home and want to know which schemes attach to each, call (02) 9072 0666. You will speak with Your Mortgage Broker Eglinton, a qualified broker operating under an Australian Credit Licence, and the conversation costs nothing.