NSW first home buyers
NSW First Home Owner Grant
The NSW First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment of $10,000 from the NSW Government to eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new home, an off-the-plan home or a substantially renovated home that has never been lived in or sold.
Your Mortgage Broker Warrawee(/) covers the details on this page because the rules trip up more buyers than any lender policy does. Below you will find the current grant amount and value caps, who qualifies, which properties count, how the grant interacts with stamp duty relief, and how the picture changes for buyers searching around Warrawee and the Upper North Shore.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The grant pays exactly $10,000, once, per eligible transaction, and no applicant can receive it more than once in a lifetime. If that sounds modest against Warrawee price levels, it is, but the surprising part is how many buyers still arrive believing an older figure: some third-party articles and outdated guides still quote $30,000, a number that has not applied for years and cannot be verified against any current government source. The confirmed figure on the Revenue NSW grant page is $10,000, unchanged by the 2026-27 NSW Budget handed down on 23 June 2026. Treat anything larger with suspicion, and always check the revenue office before relying on a number from a comparison site.
Who Qualifies
The eligibility test is narrower than most buyers expect, and Revenue NSW enforces each item literally. To qualify, every one of the following must be true:
You are a natural person
Citizenship or residency status checks out
Nobody on the application has owned before
The property passes the new-home test
The price sits under the cap
You meet the occupancy commitment
You have not claimed before
Which Properties It Covers
The table below lines up what each property type attracts, because the grant and the separate duty relief scheme do not always reach the same homes:
| Property type | Grant available? | Duty relief available? |
|---|---|---|
| New home under one contract, up to $600,000 | Yes | Full exemption up to $800,000 |
| Off-the-plan new home within the caps | Yes | Yes, within duty scheme thresholds |
| Substantially renovated, never lived in or sold | Yes | Yes, if it passes the new-home test |
| Established home, any price | No | Exemption up to $800,000, concessions to $1,000,000 |
| Vacant land plus separate build contract, combined to $750,000 | Yes | Full exemption on land to $350,000, concessions to $450,000 |
Duty figures come from the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme page, and grant figures from the Revenue NSW grant page. The pattern worth noticing is that established homes attract duty relief but never the grant, which shapes where first buyers with the grant in mind can actually shop.
Why The Rule Bites Here
The cap versus local stock
The $600,000 single-contract cap would have bought comfortably around here decades ago, but the established Federation and heritage homes that dominate Warrawee's streets sit far above it, so the grant simply does not reach the suburb's signature detached housing stock. That is not a policy criticism, it is arithmetic, and it means grant-hunting buyers around Warrawee are almost always shopping in the apartment market rather than the house market.
Where eligible stock sits
The realistic grant-eligible supply around here clusters along the Pacific Highway and the rail corridor, where newer apartment buildings have been added to an otherwise low-density garden estate. The suburb facts table shows 372 dwellings approved across the last five years, a building-activity figure sitting in the 75th percentile for the state, and apartments make up about 30.6 per cent of local dwellings. That corridor is where the new-home test and the price cap line up.
The gap between eligible and desirable
Here is the tension: grant-eligible stock near the station is walkable to Knox Grammar, Abbotsleigh and Warrawee Public School, which makes it desirable beyond the first-buyer market, while the heritage quarter-acre blocks that define the suburb's character are permanently outside the grant's reach. Buyers should decide early whether the grant is a goal or a bonus, because chasing it narrows the search considerably.
What this means for your search
If the $10,000 matters to your deposit, look first at new or off-the-plan apartments within the caps along the highway and rail spine, and run the numbers on duty relief as well, since a purchase under $800,000 attracts the full exemption regardless of whether the home is new. Our first home buyer page walks through how the two schemes combine on a single purchase.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The grant and the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme are separate programs with separate thresholds, and stacking them correctly changes the cash you need on settlement day. The mechanics:
Both can apply to one purchase
The thresholds differ, deliberately
Established homes qualify for relief only
Concessions taper, they do not cliff
Both schemes were left untouched
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The application itself is straightforward, but the timing rules differ by purchase stage and catching them early prevents a cash shortfall at settlement. The route looks like this:
- 1
Lodge through your lender
Most applications go through an approved bank or lender acting as agent for Revenue NSW at the same time as your home loan application, which is the simplest path. Where your lender is not an approved agent, you apply directly to Revenue NSW instead, and the sequencing changes slightly.
- 2
Gather the documents early
Identity documents, the contract of sale, and citizenship or residency evidence form the core set, and incomplete paperwork at lodgement is one of the most common reasons applications stall. Have everything ready before the contract goes unconditional rather than after.
- 3
Timing depends on the stage
For a home already built and ready to occupy, the grant is generally paid at settlement. Off-the-plan purchases also settle at settlement, though that date can sit well beyond the contract date depending on developer completion, so plan your cash flow around the later date.
- 4
Construction pays at first progress
Under a construction contract, the grant is typically paid once the first progress payment goes to the builder, which helps early cash flow but does not cover your deposit obligations at contract exchange. Our construction loans page covers how progress payment structures and the grant interact on a build.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
Revenue NSW publishes the refusal patterns, and they are remarkably consistent. The repeat offenders:
- Wrong property type Assuming any first home purchase qualifies, without checking the new-home test, is the single most common mistake.
- The occupancy window slips Not moving in within 12 months, or moving out before completing 12 months of continuous residence, triggers repayment of the grant.
- Hidden prior ownership A partner who briefly owned an apartment interstate years ago disqualifies the application, even though the other applicant is a genuine first buyer.
- Wrong applicant structure Applying as a company or trust rather than as natural persons fails the test outright.
- A price marginally over the cap A contract at $600,500 forfeits the whole grant; the rule disqualifies, it does not reduce.
- Incomplete documents Missing identity, contract or citizenship evidence at lodgement delays or derails the claim.
Where we work
Areas We Service
This page is written for buyers across Warrawee and the surrounding Upper North Shore, and our lending work covers the neighbouring suburbs too: Wahroonga, where the hospital and school hubs keep apartment supply turning over, and Turramurra, where a similar split between heritage housing and newer units applies. If you live nearby and want the grant and duty rules applied to a specific property you are eyeing, ask. You can also read about the broker behind the service on the About page.
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 applies to a new home, an off-the-plan purchase or a substantially renovated home that has never been lived in or sold since the renovation.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. An established home, meaning one previously lived in or sold, is not eligible at any price. The grant only covers new homes, off-the-plan purchases and substantially renovated properties never occupied since the works.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
For a home and land bought under one contract the cap is $600,000. For vacant land with a separate building contract the combined cap is $750,000. Going even slightly over disqualifies the whole 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 continuously as your main residence for at least 12 months.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes. The grant covers new homes only, while the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme covers new and established homes and offers a full duty exemption up to $800,000.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
For a ready-built home the grant is generally paid at settlement. For a construction contract it is typically paid once the first progress payment goes to the builder, so timing depends on your build stage.
Mortgage broker for Warrawee and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing a first purchase in Warrawee and want the grant, duty relief and lender requirements worked into one plan, call (02) 9072 0668 or send a message. You will deal with Your Mortgage Broker Warrawee directly, with a published fee structure, a written process with real timelines, and worked examples using real numbers before you commit to anything.