The first hurdle to clear is saving a home loan deposit. The median price for a home in regional Australia is around $600,000 and between $700,000 and $1 million-plus in our capital cities.
To save a 20% deposit, which banks would prefer, you'll need to squirrel away 6 figures' in savings. Unless…
- You qualify for the federal First Home Super Saver Scheme, which helps you save more towards a deposit using tax breaks. Essentially, you pay less tax and redeploy those savings into your home deposit.
- There's also the First Home Guarantee (formerly the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme). This can help eligible first-time buyers nationally buy with a deposit as low as just 5%, if you have the income to support the larger loan size. On a $700,000 purchase price, this means a deposit of $35,000.
- Lastly, you could co-buy with the government using the Help to Buy scheme. Yes, it owns 30–40% of your home, but it means you only have a mortgage worth 60–70% of the purchase price, less a deposit of just 2%. On a $700,000 purchase price of an established home, with the government owning 30%, this means a deposit of $14,000, a mortgage of $476,000 and monthly repayments of around $2,850.
Assuming you have your deposit sorted and you've looked into the above opportunities to get a leg up, what is available for you in each state?
NSW
- $10,000 when building a new home under the First Home Owner Grant (New Homes) scheme. The value of the property must be $600,000 or under, or $750,000 for a house-and-land package.
- The First Home Buyers Assistance scheme provides first-time buyers in NSW with stamp duty exemptions, which could save you tens of thousands of dollars. You'll get:
- A full exemption when purchasing a new or existing home up to $800,000.
- A discount when purchasing between $800,001 and $1 million.
- If you buy vacant land under $350,000, you'll pay no stamp duty. You'll receive a discount if it's between $350,000 and $450,000.
VICTORIA
- $10,000 First Home Owner Grant is available to eligible applicants buying or building a new home valued at up to $750,000.
- Victoria's stamp duty discounts are available up to $750,000. First home buyers purchasing a new or established home valued below $600,000 will be exempt from paying stamp duty altogether, while buyers of homes priced between $600,001 and $750,000 are eligible for a stamp duty concession, applied on a sliding scale.
QUEENSLAND
- The Queensland first home owner grant now offers a generous $30,000 to first-time owners buying or building a new home on homes priced at up to $750,000.
- There is also stamp duty relief available, but the cap is on the lower side: Queensland's first home buyer stamp duty exemption is only available on properties priced up to $550,000.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
- The first home owner grant of $15,000 is available when you spend up to $650,000 on a brand new home or when you build your own home.
- You'll also get a 100% stamp duty waiver on homes under $650K and a discount if you pay between $650,000 and $700,000.
TASMANIA
- Tasmania's first home owner grant is worth a whopping $30,000. There is one big caveat, however: existing houses don't qualify, so it must be a new home (or you enter a contract to build).
- However, Tassie has one of the least-generous stamp duty discount policies on offer for first-home buyers: 50% off on homes up to $400,000. That means you're looking at a 5-figure stamp duty bill.
CANBERRA
- The ACT offers no first home owner grants to its residents.
- You may be eligible for a stamp duty waiver, if the buyers earn less than $170,000 combined (a little more if you have dependent children). The value of the first home buyer concession you can receive is capped – for 2023/24, it's $34,504.
NORTHERN TERRITORY
- The Northern Territory's $10,000 First Home Owner Grant is available to eligible applicants who purchase or construct a new home, with no value cap on the property you buy or build and no income restrictions.
- There are also no stamp duty discounts specifically for first home buyers, but there is a stamp duty exemption in the NT for those buying a house-and-land package.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
- A grant of $10,000 is available when buying or building a new home in WA, with some (literal) lines in the sand around eligibility.
- Properties located south of the 26th parallel south latitude must be priced at less than $750,000 to qualify. Properties north of the 26th parallel south latitude can be valued at up to $1 million.
- The First Home Owner Rate of Duty also provides stamp duty exemptions when purchasing homes valued at less than $530,000 and vacant land less than $400,000.
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