First Home Buyer Grants & Stamp Duty in NSW

Stamp duty (transfer duty) is usually one of the biggest upfront costs of buying. Under the NSW First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, eligible first home buyers pay no stamp duty at all on a new or existing home valued up to $800,000.

Between $800,000 and $1,000,000 you pay a concessional (reduced) rate that phases in gradually, so a home around $900,000 attracts roughly half the normal duty. Above $1,000,000 the standard rate applies.

If you are buying vacant land to build on, you pay no duty up to $350,000, with a concession between $350,000 and $450,000.

To qualify you (or at least one of the buyers) must move in within 12 months of settlement and live there for at least 6 continuous months, and you must not have owned property in Australia before. On an $800,000 purchase, the exemption alone is worth roughly $31,000 that stays in your pocket.

On top of the stamp duty saving, NSW offers a $10,000 First Home Owner Grant, but only for new homes. You can claim it when you buy a newly built house, townhouse, apartment or unit valued up to $600,000, or when you buy land and sign a building contract where the combined value is up to $750,000.

The grant is not means tested, so your income does not affect it, and you do not pay tax on it. The same live-in rule applies: you need to live in the home for a continuous 12 month period, or you may have to repay it. If you are buying an established (existing) home rather than a new build, you will not get this grant, but you can still use the stamp duty exemption and the First Home Guarantee below.

Normally, if you borrow more than 80% of a property's value you have to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI), which can run to many thousands of dollars. The federal First Home Guarantee lets eligible first home buyers purchase with as little as a 5% deposit and pay no LMI, because the government guarantees the gap.

This scheme was expanded substantially from 1 October 2025. The old income test (previously $125,000 for singles and $200,000 for couples) has been removed, so there is no income cap. The annual limit on places has also been scrapped, so every eligible first home buyer can access it.

There is a property price cap. In NSW the cap is $1,500,000 for Sydney and the major regional centres (Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Illawarra), with lower caps for the rest of regional NSW. You generally need 5% in genuine savings. Because you can combine this with the stamp duty exemption, a first home buyer can get into the market with a genuinely small deposit and very low upfront costs.

The smartest first step is to find out precisely what you qualify for and what you can borrow, before you fall in love with a property. I will check your eligibility for all three programs, confirm the current price cap for your specific suburb, and get you pre-approved so you can buy with confidence.

My service is free to you, and the whole process can be done online. Book a free 20 minute chat and I will map out your fastest, cheapest path into your first home.