The lowdown on grants and concessions for first-home buyers in NSW

State government-funded schemes

The NSW government has three key programs to help first-home buyers in our state: the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, the First Home Owner (New Home) Grant, and the Shared Equity Home Buyer Helper.

First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme (FHBAS)

This scheme was introduced at the beginning of the current financial year. It is designed to relieve eligible first-home buyers of the burden of paying transfer duty, or what was previously known as stamp duty.

A full exemption is available for whole properties with a purchase price of up to $800,000 ($350,000 for vacant land). Buyers may also be eligible for a reduced transfer duty rate on properties up to $1 million ($450,000 for vacant land).

To qualify for the exemption, you must move into the property within 12 months of settlement (or completion in the case of a new build) and remain in continuous residence there for at least 12 months.

Applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents over 18 years of age who have never owned or co-owned residential property in this country. If you are purchasing property with your partner or spouse, neither of you can have owned or co-owned residential property in Australia to qualify for the scheme.

For those considering buying with friends or different family members, this rule is slightly different. The eligible first-home applicant (or applicants) must be buying at least half of the property. Ineligible buyers will be required to pay transfer duty proportional to their share of the property. Applications for this scheme are usually made through your conveyancer or solicitor.

First Home Owner (New Home) Grant

This is a one-off payment of $10,000 offered to eligible first-home owners who are buying a newly built or substantially renovated property priced at up to $600,000. This figure goes up to $750,000 for a vacant land and home-build package. The grant is not means tested or taxable.

As with the FHBAS, applicants must be Australian citizens or permanent residents over 18 years of age who have not have owned or co-owned residential property in this country before 1 July 2000. If you owned a residential property after that date but did not live in it for more than 6 continuous months, you may still be eligible for the grant.

Also in line with the FHBAS, to qualify for this grant, you must move into the property within 12 months of completion and remain in continuous residence there for at least 12 months.

Applications for the grant can be made through your bank or financial institution while you are arranging a home loan.

Shared Equity Home Buyer Help

The NSW government has committed to helping certain buyers purchase their first home by contributing up to 40% of the purchase price for a newly-built home or 30% of an existing property.

Under this shared equity scheme, buyers may be able to secure finance with a deposit as low as just 2% and can avoid having to pay costly lender’s insurance.

The scheme is open to single parents with dependent children, single people over the age of 50 and key workers, defined as: nurses, midwives, paramedics, teachers, early childhood educators or police officers. Applicants must prove that they can adequately service a mortgage. Properties bought under this scheme are capped at $950,000 in Sydney and major regional centres. In other regional areas in NSW the cap is $600,000. There are income and asset limits in place for this scheme and applicants are expected to pay all the associated costs, such as legal fees, transfer duty and inspection fees.

Furthermore, this scheme is only available (at the time of writing) through two lending partners: Bendigo Bank and Unity Bank. Any application for this scheme should be made through one of these institutions.

You can find out more about these schemes on the NSW government’s Home Buyer Grants and Assistance Schemes website.