First home buyers in the ACT
From 1 July 2026, the ACT's Home Buyer Concession Scheme means no stamp duty (conveyance duty) for an eligible buyer, at any price, on a new home, an established home or vacant residential land. There's no income test and no property value limit any more. You don't have to be a first home buyer, but no buyer can have owned or held an interest in any other property in the last 5 years. The ACT doesn't pay a first home owner grant.
What ACT home buyers can claim
No stamp duty, from 1 July 2026. The Home Buyer Concession Scheme exempts eligible buyers from conveyance duty entirely. No income threshold and no property value limit, on homes and vacant residential land alike.
No first home owner grant. The ACT's help is the duty exemption, not a cash grant. Searches for "FHOG ACT" land here for that reason.
The 5% Deposit Scheme. Federal, not territory: buy with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance, up to $1,000,000 anywhere in the ACT.
Do you have to buy new?
No. In most states, the first home grant is for new homes only, which rules out most buyers. The ACT's exemption covers all residential property: new homes, established homes and vacant residential land. So the main ACT help is open to the established townhouse or unit most first buyers are actually looking at.
What changed on 1 July 2026
Before. For transactions from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, the full concession applied only to properties valued at $1,020,000 or less, and household income had to be under a threshold: $250,000 with no dependent children, rising to $273,000 with five or more.
From 1 July 2026. No property value limit and no income threshold. If you're eligible, the duty is nil. Older pages that quote a value cap or an income limit describe the scheme as it was.
The test that decides it: no property in the last 5 years
The scheme doesn't ask whether you've ever owned a home. It asks whether any buyer has owned or held an interest in any other property in the last 5 years. That's been the test since 1 July 2024; before then it was 2 years. So someone who sold a place six years ago can qualify, and someone who still holds a share in an investment property can't, even if they've never lived in it. The ACT Revenue Office lists limited exemptions.
Every buyer on the contract has to pass, so one partner's past purchase can rule out the couple.
Who qualifies for the ACT exemption
Buying as an individual, 18 or older.
No buyer has owned or held an interest in another property in the last 5 years, apart from the ACT Revenue Office's limited exemptions.
You live in it. Move in within a year of settlement, or of the certificate of occupancy for a new build, and live there continuously for at least a year.
It's an ACT residential property: a new home, an established home or vacant residential land.
The federal schemes you can use as well
The 5% Deposit Scheme. A 5% deposit with no lenders mortgage insurance, on a price up to $1,000,000 anywhere in the ACT. No income limit.
Help to Buy. The government takes a share of up to 30% of an existing home's price, or 40% of a new one, from a 2% deposit. Income limits of $103,000, or $165,000 for couples and single parents, and every buyer must be a citizen.
The First Home Super Saver Scheme. Save part of your deposit through your super, up to $15,000 a year and $50,000 in total.
What you can combine, and the three ownership tests
You can't use the 5% Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy together; you choose one. Help to Buy rules out other state and territory shared equity schemes, loans and guarantees, but the government says stamp duty concessions still apply, so the ACT exemption sits alongside it.
The catch is that each scheme tests past ownership differently. The ACT exemption looks back 5 years. The 5% Deposit Scheme looks back 10 years, and counts any interest in property, including land and commercial property. The super saver scheme asks that you've never owned property in Australia. A buyer who sold a home seven years ago passes the ACT's test but not the other two.
When to apply, and what it means at settlement
Check eligibility before you sign. The ACT Revenue Office has an eligibility checker, and each federal scheme has its own test.
Claim the concession through the ACT Revenue Office as part of the purchase, so no duty is charged at settlement.
Budget for everything else. No duty doesn't mean no costs: legal fees and lender costs still come from your savings.
Move in within a year, and live there continuously for at least a year.
ACT first home buyer questions
Not if they're eligible for the Home Buyer Concession Scheme. From 1 July 2026, eligible buyers pay no conveyance duty at any price, with no income threshold, on new homes, established homes and vacant residential land (ACT Revenue Office, read 2 October 2026).
Buying a home in the ACT?
Tell me roughly the price, whether you or anyone buying with you has owned property in the last 10 years, and what you've saved. I'll tell you which of the ACT exemption and the federal schemes you'd qualify for, and how much cash you'll need on settlement day.
You'll hear back within the hour in business hours, and by 9am the next business day after hours.
Sources
- 1
ACT Revenue Office, About the Home Buyer Concession Scheme (page modified 1 July 2026). Read 2 October 2026.
- 2
Housing Australia, 5% Deposit Scheme guide dated 1 July 2026. Checked 29 September 2026.
- 3
firsthomebuyers.gov.au, Help to Buy scheme and 2026-27 thresholds. Checked 2 October 2026.
- 4
Australian Taxation Office, First Home Super Saver Scheme (published 8 July 2026). Read 2 October 2026.
Updated 2 October 2026