WA first home buyers
WA First Home Owner Grant
The First Home Owner Grant is a Western Australian government payment for people buying or building their first home. It offers up to $10,000 as a one-off payment towards a new or substantially renovated home, subject to eligibility rules set by the state.
This page is written for buyers looking around Hillarys and Perth's northern beaches. Your Mortgage Broker Hillarys(https://g.page/) is a mortgage broking business based in the suburb, and this guide covers what the grant pays, who qualifies, which properties it covers, how it interacts with duty relief and where the eligible stock actually sits locally.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The grant pays up to $10,000 once per eligible transaction, or the consideration paid if that is less. What surprises most first buyers is not the amount but the shape of the restriction attached to it: since contracts dated on or after 3 October 2015, established homes have been excluded entirely. The payment exists to support new housing supply, which means a buyer purchasing an existing character home gets nothing from this scheme at any price. That single rule changes the whole search strategy, because the buyers who benefit are those willing to build, buy off the plan or purchase a substantially renovated property. On top of the grant, a separate duty concession can be worth far more in cash terms than the grant itself, which we cover further down the page.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility runs on a fixed set of criteria published by RevenueWA, and every one of them gets tested at application:
Applicants and age
Citizenship status
Occupancy requirement
Prior ownership
Property value
No means test
Application deadline
Which Properties It Covers
The grant and the duty concession cover different property types, which is the single most confusing part of the two schemes. This table lays out the split:
| Property type | Grant available | Duty relief available |
|---|---|---|
| New home, bought or built | Yes, up to the $800,000 cap south of the 26th parallel | Yes, no duty up to $600,000, concessional band to $800,000 |
| Substantially renovated home | Yes, treated as a new home under the grant rules | Yes, under the first home owner rate |
| Established home | No, excluded for contracts on or after 3 October 2015 | Yes, up to $800,000 dutiable value under the first home owner rate |
| Vacant land | No, the grant attaches to the completed home | Yes, no duty up to $450,000, concessional band to $550,000 |
The practical takeaway from the table is that established homes still attract meaningful duty relief even though the grant is off the table, and vacant land buyers get a concession of their own while they prepare to build.
Why The Rule Bites Here
Hillarys is an established coastal suburb, and the grant's new-build rule collides with that reality in specific ways. This is where the state policy meets the local housing stock.
Where The Stock Sits
Hillarys holds around 3,941 dwellings, and 89.4 per cent of them are separate houses with only 2.1 per cent flats or apartments. This is established, low-density coastal housing stock, which means the great majority of homes listed for sale here fall outside the grant because they are not new builds.
The Supply Pipeline
Dwelling approvals in the suburb totalled 191 across the last five years, and just 19 of those landed in 2021-22. Grant-eligible homes therefore appear slowly and unevenly, arriving as knockdown rebuilds, second-storey additions or the occasional subdivision rather than a steady stream of new listings.
Eligible Versus Desirable
The homes that qualify for the grant and the homes buyers actually want here rarely overlap. The established family houses within walking distance of the marina and the beachfront are exactly the properties the scheme excludes, while eligible new stock tends to sit on infill sites or behind knockdowns, often at prices where the $800,000 cap becomes the binding constraint.
What It Means For Your Search
Buyers face a genuine fork. Choose Hillarys established housing and the grant is gone, but duty relief up to $800,000 still applies. Choose a new build to capture the $10,000 and you may need to widen the search to suburbs with more new supply. A median household income of about $2,465 a week locally gives first buyers real borrowing strength, so the decision is usually about property type and location rather than capacity. Our first home buyer loans page walks through how lenders assess either path.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The transfer duty concession is a separate scheme run under the first home owner rate of duty, and treating the two as one causes costly mistakes. The key differences:
Separate thresholds
Vacant land covered
Established homes included
The cap link is gone
One grant, one concession
A word of caution on older research: pages still quoting a $750,000 grant cap or a $500,000 duty threshold are out of date. Both changed for transactions on or after 7 May 2026, and basing a budget on the old figures distorts the search from the start.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The application process runs through RevenueWA, and the mechanics are straightforward once the eligibility questions are settled.
- 1
Lodging The Application
Applications are lodged online with RevenueWA or through an approved agent, and the paperwork centres on proof of identity, the contract of sale and evidence supporting each eligibility criterion you are claiming.
- 2
Using An Approved Agent
Most buyers nominate their lender as the approved agent when arranging finance, which folds the grant application into the loan process. This suits buyers building or buying new, because the lender handles lodgement as part of settlement rather than as a separate task afterwards.
- 3
When Payment Lands
The published pages do not state a payment timeframe, so treat any specific date promise with suspicion. What RevenueWA does state is that the payment is made once the eligible transaction completes, which for a construction loan means the timing follows the build rather than the contract date.
- 4
The Deadline
The application must reach RevenueWA within twelve months of the completion date, and the occupancy rule runs on its own clock, with residence starting within twelve months of completion. Diarise both dates when you sign, because missing either one forfeits the money.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
RevenueWA declines applications for reasons that are entirely avoidable with preparation. Watch for these:
- Wrong property type Buying an established home and expecting the grant is the most common disappointment, because the exclusion has applied since October 2015 and many older articles still imply otherwise.
- Over the cap A contract above the $800,000 cap south of the 26th parallel fails the value test, and buyers sometimes discover this after signing when it is too late to renegotiate.
- Broken occupancy Failing to live in the home for six continuous months, or starting occupation later than twelve months after completion, triggers repayment of the grant.
- Prior ownership A previous grant in any Australian jurisdiction, ownership before 1 July 2000, or a home owned and occupied for six months or more after 1 July 2004 disqualifies an applicant.
- Missed deadline Applications lodged more than twelve months after completion are refused, with no discretion for buyers who simply forgot the date.
- Scheme confusion Assuming the grant cap and the duty thresholds are one scheme with one set of figures leads buyers to reject properties that would actually have qualified for meaningful duty relief.
If a decline does land, check which criterion failed before assuming the matter is closed, because sometimes the issue is documentation rather than genuine ineligibility. Buyers with thin deposits exploring a family guarantee should read our guarantor and low deposit home loans page, and anyone building should see how construction loans handle progress payments alongside the grant.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Hillarys is based in Hillarys and works with first home buyers across Perth's northern beaches, including Kallaroo, Craigie, Padbury, Duncraig and Sorrento. Each suburb has its own housing mix, so the grant and duty relief stack differently depending on where you search, and we map the two schemes against your shortlist. You can also read more about the business on our About page.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the WA First Home Owner Grant worth?
The grant pays up to $10,000 as a one-off payment, or the purchase price if that is lower. It applies once per eligible transaction, so co-buyers share the single payment between them.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. Contracts for established homes dated on or after 3 October 2015 are excluded. The grant covers new homes and substantially renovated homes only, whether you buy one or build one.
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 the transaction completing.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes with different figures. The first home owner rate of duty applies to established homes and vacant land too, and its no-duty threshold is $600,000.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
The RevenueWA pages do not publish payment timeframes. Payment is made once the eligible transaction completes, and applications lodged through an approved agent such as a lender are processed as part of settlement.
Mortgage broker for Hillarys 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 position worked through properly, call (08) 6311 4000 for a no-obligation conversation with a broker based in your area. Your Mortgage Broker Hillarys offers a published fee structure, a clear process with real timelines and worked examples with real numbers, so you can see exactly what you are dealing with before you commit to anything.