Queensland First Home Grants and Duty 2026-27

Queensland pays the largest First Home Owner Grant of the six states. The 2026-27 Queensland Budget kept the $30,000 First Home Owner Grant for eligible contracts signed from 1 July 2026, so the step back to $15,000 that buyers had been planning around will not happen. Duty relief is unchanged: a first home buyer pays no transfer duty on a new home or on vacant land at any price, and no duty on an established home up to $700,000. AgentBridge sets out what each scheme does, who qualifies and how the numbers work for contracts signed in 2026-27.

First Home Buyer Help Available in Queensland in 2026-27

Queensland's three state-level programs are the First Home Owner Grant, the First Home Concession on transfer duty and the First Home Vacant Land Concession. All three are administered by the Queensland Revenue Office (QRO). The grant covers new homes only. The duty concessions cover new homes, established homes and vacant land.

Federal programs sit on top. The First Home Guarantee lets eligible buyers settle with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance. Help to Buy, the federal shared equity scheme, has been open since 5 December 2025. Most Queensland first home buyers can stack at least one federal program with one or two state programs.

At a Glance

The Queensland First Home Owner Grant: Amount, Eligibility, Property Type

The grant pays $30,000 toward buying or building an eligible new home where the contract is signed on or after 20 November 2023. The 2026-27 Budget confirmed the $30,000 amount continues for eligible contracts signed from 1 July 2026. No end date has been announced. Contracts signed before 20 November 2023 attract the earlier $15,000 grant. For owner-builders, the amount turns on the date the foundations are laid rather than a contract date.

The home must be valued under $750,000, including land and any contract variations. Eligible homes are new homes that have not been previously occupied or sold as a residence, including off-the-plan apartments and house-and-land builds. A substantially renovated home can qualify in limited cases.

Applicants must be at least 18 and an Australian citizen or permanent resident (joint applicants need at least one to qualify). Neither the applicant nor their spouse can have received a first home owner grant in any state or territory. Neither can have owned residential property in Australia before 1 July 2000, or owned and lived in a residential property since then.

You must move into the home as your principal place of residence within 1 year of completion and live there for 6 continuous months. Renting it out before then triggers repayment of the grant.

Queensland First Home Buyer Stamp Duty Concession

Queensland calls stamp duty transfer duty. Every eligible owner-occupier pays the lower home concession rate, and first home buyers then receive a further First Home Concession on top. How much depends on whether the home is new or established.

New homes. For contracts dated on or after 1 May 2025, a first home buyer purchasing a new home receives a full duty concession with no value cap. A first home buyer pays no transfer duty on a new home at $650,000, $900,000 or $1.5 million.

Established homes. The concession is a fixed amount deducted from the home concession duty. It is worth up to $17,350, which removes all duty on homes valued up to $700,000. It then steps down in $10,000 bands and reaches nil at $800,000.

The home concession rate that the concession comes off is $10,150 plus $4.50 per $100 over $540,000 for homes between $540,000 and $1,000,000.

Worked Examples: Established Homes

$650,000 established home. Home concession duty is $10,150 plus $4.50 for each $100 on $110,000 (1,100 lots of $100), or $10,150 plus $4,950, which is $15,100. The $17,350 concession exceeds the duty, so duty payable is $0.

$700,000 established home. Home concession duty is $10,150 plus $4.50 per $100 on $160,000, or $10,150 plus $7,200, which is $17,350. Less the $17,350 concession, duty payable is $0.

$730,000 established home. Home concession duty is $10,150 plus $8,550, which is $18,700. Less the $12,145 concession, duty payable is $6,555.

$750,000 established home. Home concession duty is $10,150 plus $9,450, which is $19,600. Less the $8,675 concession, duty payable is $10,925.

$780,000 established home. Home concession duty is $10,150 plus $10,800, which is $20,950. Less the $3,470 concession, duty payable is $17,480.

$800,000 established home. Home concession duty is $10,150 plus $11,700, which is $21,850. No first home concession applies, so duty payable is $21,850.

Worked Examples: New Homes and Land

$900,000 new home. At the home concession rate, duty would be $10,150 plus $4.50 per $100 on $360,000, or $10,150 plus $16,200, which is $26,350. The first home (new home) concession removes it in full, so duty payable is $0. The home is over the $750,000 grant cap, so no grant is paid.

$400,000 vacant land. At the standard rate, duty would be $1,050 plus $3.50 per $100 on $325,000, or $1,050 plus $11,375, which is $12,425. The First Home Vacant Land Concession removes it in full, so duty payable is $0.

Concession Eligibility

You must not have held an interest in a residence anywhere in Australia or overseas. You must move into the home with your belongings and live there on a daily basis within 1 year of settlement, and this period cannot be extended. Selling, transferring or leasing the whole property before then means the concession is reassessed. For established homes valued between $700,001 and $799,999, you must also pay market value, so a discounted family sale in that band does not qualify.

Announced change from 1 August 2026. The 2026-27 Budget announced that, for transactions entered into from 1 August 2026, buyers must be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or specified foreign retiree (a self-funded retiree on certain older retirement visas, subclass 405 or 410) to claim a transfer duty home concession. That includes the first home concessions. The measure is subject to legislation. Buyers who are not citizens or permanent residents should check with QRO before signing.

Other Queensland-Specific Schemes

The First Home Vacant Land Concession applies to first home buyers purchasing residential vacant land on which they will build their first home. For contracts dated on or after 1 May 2025 it is a full duty concession with no value cap. You must build one home on the land and move in within 2 years of settlement. Failure to build and occupy within that window means duty is reassessed. The concession applies to residential land only; standard duty applies to any additional non-residential land.

Buyers planning a house-and-land purchase or a land-then-build should think about which concession they claim, since the land concession and the home concession serve the same first home.

The Queensland Housing Finance Loan, administered by the Queensland Department of Housing, offers low-deposit home loans to eligible buyers who cannot access mainstream lending. Income limits and property value caps apply. Check the current limits with the Department of Housing.

Stacking With Federal Schemes: First Home Guarantee and Help to Buy

The First Home Guarantee works alongside the Queensland schemes. Eligible first home buyers can settle with a 5% deposit and avoid lenders mortgage insurance. Since 1 October 2025 there is no limit on places and no income cap. The property price cap is $1,000,000 in Brisbane and Queensland's regional centres and $700,000 in the rest of the state.

Help to Buy is the federal shared equity scheme. The Commonwealth contributes up to 40% of the price of a new home or up to 30% of an existing home, and the buyer needs a deposit of at least 2%. From 1 July 2026 the income limits are $103,000 for a single applicant and $165,000 for joint applicants or a single parent, and about 10,000 places are available each year. The home must be at or below the Help to Buy price cap for its location, which you can check with Housing Australia's postcode tool. The Government's share is repaid later, for example when the home is sold.

A typical Queensland first home buyer in 2026-27 stacks:

• the First Home Owner Grant ($30,000) for a new home under $750,000
• the First Home Concession ($0 duty on a new home at any price, or on an established home up to $700,000, sliding to $800,000)
• the First Home Guarantee (5% deposit, no lenders mortgage insurance) or Help to Buy (2% deposit, shared equity)

Stacking example: $700,000 new home. The buyer receives the $30,000 grant. Home concession duty would be $17,350, and the first home (new home) concession removes it in full. With the First Home Guarantee, the buyer can settle with a 5% deposit of $35,000 and pay no lenders mortgage insurance.

How to Apply and What You'll Need

Most Queensland first home buyer applications run through the buyer's conveyancer or solicitor. The conveyancer lodges the transfer duty paperwork with the concession applied through QRO's lodgement system. The First Home Owner Grant application can be lodged with QRO directly or through the buyer's lender if the lender is an approved agent.

Applicants should expect to provide:

• proof of identity (driver's licence, passport)
• proof of Australian citizenship or permanent residency
• the contract of sale or building contract
• evidence of consideration paid (deposit receipts)
• a statutory declaration confirming first home buyer status
• for new-home grants, a certificate of classification or occupancy

First Home Guarantee and Help to Buy applications run separately through participating lenders.

The grant turns on the contract date, not the settlement date. With the $30,000 amount kept from 1 July 2026, there is no longer a 30 June deadline to beat. If you are not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, the contract date matters for the announced 1 August 2026 duty change.

Common Disqualifications to Watch For

Prior property ownership is the most common disqualifier. For the duty concession, the QRO rule is worldwide: any earlier interest in a residence anywhere in Australia or overseas rules you out. The same applies to a spouse or de facto partner for the grant.

The owner-occupier requirement refers to living in the home on a daily basis, and QRO interprets it strictly. Buyers who spend most of their time at a second address (a work posting or a fly-in fly-out roster) risk a finding that the home is not their principal place of residence.

Exceeding the $750,000 grant cap, or the $800,000 cap on the established-home concession, removes eligibility entirely. Buyers near a cap should watch contract variations and upgrades that push the total over it.

For the grant, the home must be genuinely new or substantially renovated. Cosmetic renovations do not qualify.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the $30,000 grant still available after 30 June 2026? Yes. The 2026-27 Queensland Budget kept the $30,000 First Home Owner Grant for eligible contracts signed from 1 July 2026. No end date has been announced. The amount turns on the contract date, not the settlement date.

Can I claim both the First Home Owner Grant and the First Home Concession? Yes, for an eligible new home under the $750,000 grant cap. The grant pays $30,000 and the first home (new home) concession removes the transfer duty in full.

How much duty does a first home buyer pay on a $750,000 established home? Home concession duty is $19,600. The first home concession for that value band is $8,675, so duty payable is $10,925.

What is the difference between the First Home Concession and the First Home Vacant Land Concession? The First Home Concession applies when you buy a home, new or established. The First Home Vacant Land Concession applies when you buy vacant land to build your first home on. Both are full concessions with no value cap for new homes and land under contracts dated on or after 1 May 2025.

Do I have to be an Australian citizen to get the duty concession? For contracts entered into before 1 August 2026, no citizenship test applies to the duty concession. The 2026-27 Budget announced that, from 1 August 2026, buyers must be Australian citizens, permanent residents or specified foreign retirees, subject to legislation. The grant already requires at least one applicant to be a citizen or permanent resident.

Related Resources

• AgentBridge: Queensland Transfer Duty Explained: Rates, Concessions and How to Calculate It
• AgentBridge: How to Buy Property in Queensland
• AgentBridge: Buyers Agents in Queensland
• Queensland Revenue Office: First Home Concession
• Queensland Revenue Office: First Home Owner Grant eligibility

About AgentBridge

AgentBridge gets your property in front of the people who represent serious buyers. One brief, matched to the right agents from 80+ across Australia.

This article is general information only and is not personal financial product advice. Speak to a licensed adviser before making decisions that affect your financial position.

Previous editions: Queensland First Home Concession and Grants for 2026 (2025-26 rules)