WA first home buyers
WA First Home Owner Grant
The WA First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment of up to $10,000 from the Western Australian Government for first home buyers who buy or build a new home, or a substantially renovated home, within the state's property value caps.
This page sets out the current amount, the eligibility rules, the value caps and how the grant combines with transfer duty relief, using figures published by RevenueWA. Your Mortgage Broker Swan View, a mortgage broker serving Swan View and the Perth hills, keeps this page current so local buyers can plan their purchase around the real rules.
The $10,000 Payment Is Only Half the Story
The headline figure surprises people in both directions. The grant itself is worth up to $10,000, paid once per eligible transaction, and it has been restricted to new and substantially renovated homes since contracts dated on or after 3 October 2015. That means the buyer of an established home, which is most of the housing stock in the Perth hills, receives nothing from this scheme at any price.
The larger financial lever for most first home buyers is actually the separate first home owner rate of duty, which can wipe out transfer duty entirely below a set threshold and applies to established homes and vacant land as well as new builds. The two schemes have different rules, different thresholds and different property limits, and treating them as one entitlement is the single most expensive misunderstanding on this page. Both changed on 7 May 2026, so older articles and older advice now quote figures that no longer apply.
Who Qualifies
The eligibility test is published by RevenueWA and reads as follows:
Age and residency
New or substantially renovated property
Under the value cap
No prior ownership
No prior grant
Occupancy commitment
No means test
One grant per transaction
Which Properties It Covers
Because the grant and the duty concession are separate schemes with separate rules, the property-type table looks like this:
| Property type | First home owner grant | First home owner rate of duty |
|---|---|---|
| New home under the cap | Eligible, up to $10,000 | Eligible, no duty below the threshold |
| Substantially renovated home | Eligible, up to $10,000 | Eligible, no duty below the threshold |
| Established home | Not eligible at any price | Eligible, no duty below the threshold |
| Vacant land to build on | Eligible once the home is built | Eligible, no duty below the land threshold |
The practical reading of that table is that an established home still attracts meaningful relief even though the grant does not apply, which is why the duty scheme matters to more buyers in suburbs like Swan View than the grant itself does.
Why The Rule Bites Here
The new-build restriction collides with the shape of the Swan View housing market, and understanding that collision changes how a local buyer should search. This is not a generic statewide warning; the local numbers explain exactly where the friction sits.
Established Stock Dominates The Suburb
Nearly ninety per cent of dwellings here are separate houses and only a fraction of one per cent are flats or apartments, with just over forty per cent of homes still being paid off and a median age of forty four. This is an established, owner-occupier suburb where the homes that first buyers actually want, the four bedroom houses on reasonable blocks that make up close to half the stock, are overwhelmingly existing builds rather than new ones, so most local purchases fall outside the grant on property type alone.
Where New Stock Actually Appears
New, grant-eligible stock enters this market through building approvals rather than through turnover, and the suburb recorded 538 dwelling approvals across the last five years, sitting at the eighty eighth percentile for building activity in the state. That signals infill and replacement building on established streets, typically a knockdown rebuild or a block subdivision, so eligible new homes do exist locally but they arrive in small numbers and compete hard when they list.
The Gap Between Eligible and Desirable
An eligible property must be new or substantially renovated and, south of the 26th parallel, valued under the $800,000 cap for transactions on or after 7 May 2026. A newly built family-sized house in the hills that clears that cap, or an established four bedroom home that fails the property type test, both miss out, and the subset of homes that satisfy both tests at once is genuinely narrow in a suburb of about 3,158 dwellings.
What This Means For Your Search
Buyers here should run two parallel searches rather than one. Track genuinely new and substantially renovated listings under the cap as grant candidates, and price established homes against the duty concession instead, because on most local stock the duty relief is the larger and more achievable benefit. Before signing anything, it is worth working through the numbers with a first home buyer loan specialist who can test the purchase against both schemes at once.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The duty scheme is where the money compounds, and the interaction rules changed materially on 7 May 2026:
No duty on modest homes
A concessional band above that
Vacant land has its own thresholds
The regional split is gone
The cap link is severed
The strongest combination
Watch the order of operations here: because the two schemes have different caps and different property rules, the grant eligibility and the duty outcome must be calculated separately for every contract, and a price just over one threshold can land in a very different position than the buyer assumed.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The application process itself is short, but the deadlines around it are strict and the timing of payment depends on how the transaction completes. The published RevenueWA process covers all of it.
- 1
Choose Your Lodgement Route
You can lodge the application online with RevenueWA yourself, or lodge through an approved agent, which in practice usually means your lender as part of the home loan process. Most buyers building or buying new have the lender lodge alongside the loan application, because the same documentation serves both.
- 2
Mind The Twelve Month Deadline
The application must be lodged within twelve months of the completion date of the eligible transaction, and there is no grace period worth relying on. Diarise the completion date the day it occurs, because a missed deadline converts an approved entitlement into a written-off one.
- 3
When The Money Actually Lands
RevenueWA pays the grant once the eligible transaction completes, and the sourced pages do not promise fixed processing dates for different purchase types, so plan cash flow around completion rather than around a promised payment date. If the lender is lodging, the grant is commonly applied against the transaction at completion rather than paid to you first, which is worth confirming before you rely on the funds for the deposit.
- 4
Keep The Occupancy Evidence
Because the six month occupancy rule is a condition of keeping the money, keep evidence from day one: enrolments, utility accounts, and any documentation that shows continuous residence starting within twelve months of completion. If your circumstances change and you cannot meet the occupancy requirement, raise it with RevenueWA rather than letting it default.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
The rejection reasons are predictable, which means they are avoidable:
- Buying established and expecting the grant The most common knock-back, where a buyer assumes the grant applies to any first home. Contracts on or after 3 October 2015 must be for new or substantially renovated properties.
- Crossing the value cap A contract above the $800,000 cap south of the 26th parallel forfeits the grant, so verify the total value before signing, not after.
- Breaking the occupancy rule Failing to live in the home for six continuous months, or starting occupation more than twelve months after completion, triggers repayment.
- Prior ownership or prior grant An applicant who previously owned and occupied a home for six months or more, or who has taken a grant in any jurisdiction, is ineligible.
- Missing the lodgement deadline Applying more than twelve months after completion ends the entitlement regardless of eligibility.
- Confusing the two schemes Assuming the grant cap and the duty thresholds are one set of figures, when they are separate schemes with different limits and different property rules.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Swan View serves first home buyers across the Perth hills east of Midland, and this grant rule shapes the search in every one of these suburbs: Stratton, Jane Brook, Hovea, Darlington, Greenmount and Bellevue, each with its own mix of established stock and new building.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the WA First Home Owner Grant worth?
Up to $10,000, paid once per eligible transaction. If the consideration paid is less than $10,000, the grant equals the price paid. Two co-buyers on one contract share the single grant.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. Contracts dated on or after 3 October 2015 must be for a new home or a substantially renovated home. An established home attracts no grant at any price, though duty relief can still apply.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
South of the 26th parallel, including all of Perth, the cap is $800,000 for transactions on or after 7 May 2026. North of the parallel it is $1,000,000.
Do I have to live in the property to keep the grant?
Yes. You must occupy the home as your principal place of residence for at least six continuous months, starting within twelve months of completion. Otherwise the grant can be repaid.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes. The first home owner rate of duty covers established homes and vacant land as well as new homes, with a no-duty threshold of $600,000 for transactions from 7 May 2026.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
RevenueWA pays the grant once the eligible transaction completes, either lodged online or through an approved agent such as your lender. The sourced pages do not state fixed processing dates, so allow time after completion.
Mortgage broker for Swan View and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing a new build against an established purchase and want the grant and duty positions calculated on real numbers before you sign, call (08) 6311 4000. You deal with one named broker throughout, fees disclosed in writing before you proceed, and a clearly published process with real timelines.