QLD first home buyers
QLD First Home Owner Grant
The Queensland First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment from the Queensland Government to people buying or building their first home in Queensland, paid on eligible new homes and claimed through the Queensland Revenue Office.
This page explains the current grant amount, the eligibility rules and the value cap, then connects each rule to what is actually for sale around Logan Village. It covers applications, payment timing and the mistakes that get claims refused, with every figure linked to the Queensland Revenue Office.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The grant pays $30,000 on contracts signed on or after 20 November 2023, which is double the $15,000 paid on earlier contracts. The doubling quietly reset the maths for first buyers across Logan City, because $30,000 is a genuine deposit contribution rather than a rounding error, and it stacks on top of separate duty relief rather than replacing it. Owner-builders qualify too, with $30,000 where foundations were laid on or after 20 November 2023. The Queensland Revenue Office landing page references the 2026 State Budget of 23 June 2026, and no change to the amount or the cap appears on its eligibility page, so the figures here are current as at September 2026. The older $15,000 figure still circulates on comparison sites and forum posts, and buyers who believe it under-plan their deposit for no reason.
Who Qualifies
The eligibility rules come from the Queensland Revenue Office eligibility page, and they are tested strictly. The main requirements are:
Age and identity
Citizenship status
Prior property ownership
Occupancy commitment
Eligible property
Value under the cap
Which Properties It Covers
The grant applies to new housing only, and the table below sets out how each purchase route is treated. The full property definitions sit on the eligibility page:
| Purchase route | Grant eligible? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Newly built home, never occupied | Yes | House, unit, duplex or townhouse all qualify |
| Off-the-plan purchase | Yes | Must be new and under the value cap |
| Contract to build with a registered builder | Yes | Must be a comprehensive home building contract |
| Owner-builder construction | Yes | $30,000 where foundations laid on or after 20 November 2023 |
| Substantially renovated home | Limited | Seller must have completed it in qualifying circumstances |
| Established home, any price | No | There are no grants for established homes |
| Cosmetic renovation of an existing home | No | A kitchen remodel or re-carpeting is not a substantial renovation |
The renovation test matters more than most buyers expect. Most of the building must have been removed or replaced for a renovation to count as substantial, so a beautifully refurbished older house remains ineligible no matter how thorough the work looked.
Why The Rule Bites Here
This is the section that changes what a Logan Village buyer actually searches for, because the $750,000 cap interacts with local housing stock in ways a statewide page never mentions.
The Cap Sits Close To Local Prices
Logan Village is a house market, with 92.8 per cent of dwellings being separate houses and 59.6 per cent offering four or more bedrooms, so the typical purchase here is a substantial family home rather than an entry-level unit. That pushes many local prices toward the cap, and a house-and-land package that starts comfortably under $750,000 can cross it once upgrades and variations are added, because the cap counts the lot.
Where Eligible Stock Actually Sits
New-build stock around Logan Village clusters in the newer releases toward Wolffdene, Stockleigh and Jimboomba, and the building pipeline here is real: 449 dwellings were approved across the last five years, placing the suburb in the state's top quintile for building activity at the 84th percentile. Those approvals are mostly detached homes on larger blocks, which is exactly the product type the grant covers, and they give first buyers a genuine local choice of eligible properties rather than forcing a commute.
The Gap Between Eligible And Desirable
Here is the tension. An established four bedroom home on a quarter acre in Logan Village, the sort of house that dominates the suburb, attracts no grant at any price, while an eligible new build down the road in Cedar Creek or Buccan qualifies in full. Buyers therefore face a choice between the character of an established house and $30,000 plus duty relief on a new one, and pretending the choice is automatic does anyone reading this page a disservice. The rent market sharpens it further, with a median rent of $455 a week against a median household income of $2,049 a week, so saving while renting is possible but slow.
What It Means For Your Search
Practically, first buyers here should filter for new or off-the-plan stock and run the value test early, adding contract-to-build land values to the build price before falling in love with a floor plan. Because land bought years earlier can appreciate and push a build over the cap, and because a house-and-land package structured as separate land and building contracts is tested differently, checking the $750,000 arithmetic before signing beats discovering it at assessment. Our construction loans page walks through how a build contract is financed stage by stage, and our first home buyer loans page covers how the deposit and the grant fit together.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The grant is not the only concession on the table, and the interaction surprises most first buyers. Transfer duty relief runs separately through the Queensland Revenue Office's first home concession, and the two schemes can combine:
No duty at all on qualifying homes
A reduced band above that
The ceiling at $800,000
Established homes can still claim duty relief
New homes under the cap can claim both
Renting part of the home is allowed
The citizenship rule changed
The occupancy rules differ between the two schemes, which trips people up: the grant requires six months of continuous residence, while the duty concession requires moving in with your belongings and living there daily within one year of settlement, and that deadline cannot be extended.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
Applications run either through an approved agent, usually your bank or lender, or directly to the Queensland Revenue Office, and the route you choose determines when the money lands. The apply and payment page sets out both.
- 1
Through An Approved Agent
Lodging through your lender is the fastest route, and for a purchase the grant is generally paid at settlement, where it can reduce the cash you need on the day. Most buyers with a loan already in train should apply this way.
- 2
Directly To The Revenue Office
A direct application is not paid until the home is complete and all supporting documents are supplied, so the money arrives later in the transaction and cannot be counted at settlement.
- 3
Building Contracts And Owner-Builders
For a contract to build, payment comes after completion alongside the final inspection certificate or certificate of occupancy, so you fund the build stages yourself in the meantime and the grant reimburses at the end.
- 4
The Deadline
You have one year from taking possession and title registration for a purchase, or one year from completion for a build, and a missed deadline forfeits the grant entirely, so diarise it.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
The knock-back patterns are predictable, which is good news, because every one of them is avoidable with a contract read before signing. The Queensland Revenue Office's eligibility rules are applied as written:
- Buying an established home on assumption The most common refusal, where a buyer assumes the grant applies to any first home. It applies to new homes only, at any price point.
- Landing at exactly $750,000 The cap is a hard cutoff, and the grant is not reduced at higher values, it is refused. A valuation or variation that nudges the package to the line kills the claim.
- A split house-and-land structure A land contract plus a separate building contract is assessed as a contract-to-build transaction, so the unencumbered land value at the contract date counts toward the cap.
- Rising land values on old blocks Land bought years before the build can push the combined value over the cap even though the original purchase looked comfortable.
- A non-comprehensive building contract Contracts excluding items such as benchtops or electrical work can fail the contract-to-build test entirely.
- Occupancy failures Moving in later than one year after completion, or leaving before six continuous months, both trigger repayment of the grant.
- Hidden prior ownership A spouse's forgotten investment unit or an inherited property anywhere in Australia disqualifies the application, so check both applicants' histories before signing anything.
If your structure is unconventional, a conversation with a broker before you sign costs nothing and can save the entire claim, and a guarantor or low deposit loan may also change how much the grant actually needs to carry.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Logan Village works with first home buyers across Logan Village and the surrounding district, including Buccan, Wolffdene, Cedar Creek, Tamborine, Jimboomba and Stockleigh. Wherever you are buying in the region, the grant rules are identical, but the stock, the prices and the lender attitudes to rural residential security are not, and those differences shape how the deposit, the grant and the loan fit together.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the QLD First Home Owner Grant worth?
Contracts signed on or after 20 November 2023 attract $30,000. Contracts signed before that date attract the older $15,000 amount, which still appears on many outdated pages.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The Queensland Revenue Office states plainly that there are no home owner grants for established homes, at any price. Only new or substantially renovated homes qualify.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
The home and land together must be valued at less than $750,000, including any contract variations. A property at $750,000 or more 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. Discretion exists only in exceptional circumstances.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes. The grant covers new homes only, while the first home duty concession also covers established homes valued at $700,000 or under.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
Applying through an approved agent, usually your lender, is the fastest route and is generally paid at settlement. Direct applications to the Revenue Office wait until completion.
Mortgage broker for Logan Village and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing a new build against an established home and want the grant, duty and deposit arithmetic worked through properly before you sign, call (07) 3523 7115. You will speak with Your Mortgage Broker Logan Village directly, and every single figure discussed will be written down, not guessed.