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 towards buying or building a new home. It does not apply to established homes, and the property value must sit under a set cap.
This page explains the current grant amount, the eligibility rules, the property caps and how the scheme interacts with Western Australia's separate first home buyer duty relief. Your Mortgage Broker Melville(/), a mortgage broking service based in Melville, keeps this page updated against RevenueWA's published figures.
The Grant Is Worth Less Than Most Buyers Assume
The headline number sounds generous until you see what it covers. The grant is a one-off payment of up to $10,000, or the consideration paid if that figure is lower, and it applies to a new residential home or a substantially renovated home, whether you buy one or build one. Established homes have been excluded since contracts dated 3 October 2015, which means the grant quietly does nothing for the majority of Perth's first home buyer market. One grant applies per eligible transaction, so two co-buyers splitting a purchase share a single payment rather than doubling it. There is no income or assets test, which surprises buyers who assume they might earn too much.
Who Qualifies For The Payment
Eligibility turns on your history as a property owner and your residency status, not your income: the rules below come from RevenueWA's published grant criteria.
Age and structure
Citizenship or residency
No prior grant
No early property ownership
Occupancy commitment
Application window
Which Properties The Grant Actually Covers
The property type and location decide both eligibility and the value cap, and the two caps changed on 7 May 2026:
| Property and location | Eligible? | Value cap |
|---|---|---|
| New home, south of the 26th parallel (all of Perth) | Yes, buy or build | $800,000 for transactions on or after 7 May 2026 |
| New home, south of the 26th parallel, on or before 6 May 2026 | Yes | $750,000 under the previous cap |
| New home, north of the 26th parallel | Yes | $1,000,000 |
| Substantially renovated home | Yes, under the same caps | Same as above |
| Established home | Not eligible for contracts on or after 3 October 2015 | Not applicable |
| Vacant land on its own | Not eligible for the grant | Duty relief applies separately, up to $450,000 |
The 7 May 2026 change matters because older articles, calculators and even some lender fact sheets still quote the $750,000 cap and a $500,000 duty threshold, both of which have since moved.
Why The Rule Bites Here
The cap interacts with local stock in ways a statewide article never explains, and in Melville the arithmetic is genuinely awkward:
The Median Sits Above What New Stock Costs Here
Melville is an established, high-value suburb: the median household income sits at the eightieth percentile within Western Australia, and nearly forty per cent of dwellings offer four or more bedrooms. Housing stock of that calibre rarely comes to market new and under an $800,000 cap, so buyers wanting the grant generally cannot buy the suburb's typical product.
New Stock Is Thin And Mostly Hidden In Small Projects
Building activity here runs in the eighty-ninth percentile for the state, with 570 dwelling approvals across the last five years, yet only 3.4 per cent of dwellings are flats or apartments. New eligible stock exists, but it arrives as single infill sites and smaller unit projects, so finding a genuinely new home under the cap takes persistence.
The Gap Between Eligible And Desirable Is Wide
A buyer searching for a new four-bedroom family home under $800,000 in Melville is searching for a property type that barely exists here. The grant pushes first home buyers toward smaller infill builds, neighbouring suburbs, or a longer search, and that trade-off deserves a deliberate decision rather than a default.
What This Means For Your Actual Search
Practically, a Melville first home buyer working with the grant should shortlist new builds or off-the-plan units in Willagee, O'Connor or Palmyra, verify the contract value sits under the cap, and confirm with the builder that the dwelling qualifies as substantially new rather than a renovation. RevenueWA's eligibility page sets out the test the contract must pass before you sign anything.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The two schemes are frequently confused, and the confusion costs real money, because they cover different property types with different thresholds and can apply together:
Separate schemes entirely
Duty relief covers more property
No duty under $600,000
A reduced band above that
Vacant land has its own tiers
The old cap link is gone
How it works
How To Apply And When The Money Arrives
The process itself is straightforward, and the main risk is timing rather than complexity:
- 1
Choose Your Lodgement Route Early
Applications go to RevenueWA online or through an approved agent, which in practice usually means your lender, so ask at application stage whether your lender lodges grant claims on your behalf, because the route affects the paperwork you gather.
- 2
Gather The Right Evidence
You will need identity documents, proof of citizenship or permanent residency for at least one applicant, the signed contract, and details of any prior property ownership, so assembling these before lodgement avoids the delays that push applications close to the deadline.
- 3
Mind The Twelve-Month Clock
The application must be lodged within twelve months of the completion date, and this deadline applies regardless of whether you lodged through RevenueWA or a lender, so diarising the completion date is a simple habit that prevents the most avoidable form of loss.
- 4
Expect Payment On Completion
RevenueWA's published pages do not promise a fixed processing timeline, and payment timing varies with the transaction type, so the accurate position is simply that the grant is paid once the eligible transaction completes, with no dates guaranteed on the government's own pages.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
Rejections cluster around the same handful of misunderstandings, and nearly all of them are avoidable at contract stage rather than after:
- Buying an established home The single most common rejection: buyers assume the grant applies to any first home, when it has excluded established dwellings since October 2015.
- Contract over the cap South of the 26th parallel, a contract above $800,000 fails, so the value test must be checked before the contract is signed, not at lodgement.
- Broken occupancy rule Failing to live in the home for six continuous months, or starting occupancy later than twelve months after completion, invites clawback of the full payment.
- Hidden ownership history A prior grant in another state, or property owned and occupied for six months or more after 1 July 2004, disqualifies an applicant who may not realise the rules reach back decades.
- Assuming the schemes are one Buyers who treat the grant cap and the duty thresholds as a single rule miss relief they actually qualify for, or claim relief they do not.
- Missing the deadline Twelve months from completion sounds generous, but completions slip, and an application lodged late is refused regardless of how strong the eligibility otherwise is.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Melville works with first home buyers across the City of Melville's riverside suburbs, and each suburb has its own page covering local lending conditions: Attadale, Alfred Cove, Myaree, Willagee, O'Connor and Palmyra. If you are weighing the grant against an established-home purchase in any of them, the suburb pages explain where new stock and duty relief actually overlap, and the first home buyer loans page covers the lending side, including guarantor and low deposit options if the deposit is the constraint rather than the grant.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the WA First Home Owner Grant worth?
The grant is a one-off payment of up to $10,000, or the purchase consideration if that is less. It applies per eligible transaction, so two co-buyers share a single grant rather than receiving two.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. Since 3 October 2015, contracts on established homes have been ineligible. The grant is limited to new homes or substantially renovated homes, whether you buy them or build them yourself.
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, up from $750,000. North of the parallel the cap 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, or the grant can be clawed back.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are entirely separate schemes. The first home owner rate of duty covers established homes and vacant land too, with its own thresholds, so you can qualify for one without the other.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
RevenueWA does not publish a fixed processing timeline. Payment is made once the eligible transaction completes, and applications must be lodged online or through an approved lender within twelve months of completion.
Mortgage broker for Melville and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
Before you sign a contract, spend an hour checking that the property qualifies, that the value sits under the cap, and that your duty relief position is correct, because none of it can be fixed after exchange. Call (08) 6311 4000 to talk it through with a broker who knows the local market, or read more about who we are. Every figure on this page links to RevenueWA's own publications, and we are happy to walk through the sources with you.