First home buyers in New South Wales

New South Wales gives first home buyers two things. The First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme means no stamp duty on a new or established home up to $800,000, and reduced duty up to $1 million, which on an $800,000 home saves $30,187. The First Home Owner Grant is $10,000, but only for a new home costing up to $600,000, or $750,000 for land and a build together. For most NSW first home buyers, the duty exemption is worth three times the grant.

Work out what you'd get

Get your NSW total worked out on your purchase price 

Written by Darren Parker, mortgage broker, Hope Island QLD.

Revenue NSW pages read 2 October 2026.

What NSW first home buyers can claim

  • No stamp duty up to $800,000. The First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme removes transfer duty on a new or established home valued at $800,000 or less, and reduces it below $1 million. For vacant land: none up to $350,000, reduced below $450,000.

  • The $10,000 First Home Owner Grant. For a new home only: a purchase price up to $600,000, or land and a building contract up to $750,000 combined. Not for established homes.

  • The 5% Deposit Scheme. Federal, not state: buy with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance, up to $1,500,000 in Sydney and the named regional centres, and $800,000 in the rest of NSW.

Do you have to buy new?

For the grant, yes. It's for a newly built home, one bought off the plan, or one substantially renovated, that no one has lived in since the work was finished. Revenue NSW says plainly that the grant isn't available for established homes.

For the duty exemption, no. The First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme covers new and existing homes alike. In a market where most first homes are established units and houses, that's where most NSW first home buyers get their help.

What stamp duty costs a NSW first home buyer

NSW calls stamp duty "transfer duty". Here's the normal duty on a home at each price for contracts in 2026/2027, and what a first home buyer pays.

NSW transfer duty on a home, normal duty against the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme
PriceNormal dutyFirst home buyer paysYou save
$600,000 $21,187 Nil $21,187
$700,000 $25,687 Nil $25,687
$800,000 $30,187 Nil $30,187
$900,000 $34,687 Reduced Part of it
$1,000,000 and over $39,187 at $1m Normal duty Nil

Normal duty worked out from Revenue NSW's 2026/2027 rates. For a price above $800,000 and below $1 million, Revenue NSW's First Home Buyers Assistance calculator gives the reduced figure. Your conveyancer or solicitor confirms the duty on your contract.

Where the exemption runs out

The full saving is at $800,000: $30,187 of duty you don't pay. Above that, you pay a reduced amount, and from $1 million you pay normal duty, $39,187 at $1 million and more above it.

Revenue NSW publishes the thresholds but not the sliding scale between them on the pages we read, so we don't print a figure we can't trace. If your price is between $800,000 and $1 million, its calculator gives the exact amount, and it's worth running before you set your budget, because it's cash you need on settlement day.

Check whether you clear the $800,000 threshold 

If you're buying land to build on

Vacant land has its own thresholds. There's no duty on land valued at $350,000 or less, and reduced duty above that and below $450,000. From $450,000 you pay normal duty, which is $14,437 at that price. The home you then build can get the $10,000 grant if the land and the building contract together come to $750,000 or less.

Who counts as a first home buyer in NSW

  • Be 18 or older.

  • At least one buyer is an Australian citizen or permanent resident. You buy as individuals, not through a company or trust.

  • For the duty exemption, neither you nor your spouse has ever owned residential land in Australia, alone or with someone else. A spouse's past ownership counts even if they aren't on this contract, unless you've separated.

  • For the grant, neither you, your spouse, partner or co-buyer has had a first home owner grant before, and none of you owned a home before 1 July 2000.

  • Move in within 12 months and live there for at least 12 months in a row, for contracts from 1 July 2023. Both the grant and the duty exemption ask this.

Permanent members of the Australian Defence Force can be excused from the residence requirement for the duty exemption, if they meet Revenue NSW's conditions.

What happened to First Home Buyer Choice?

It closed. First Home Buyer Choice let buyers pay a yearly property tax instead of stamp duty, and it ended when the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme was expanded on 1 July 2023. Contracts had to be exchanged by 30 June 2023. Anyone who opted in before then keeps paying property tax and can't switch back to duty. If you're buying now, the exemption to $800,000 replaced it.

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 $1,500,000 in Sydney, the Central Coast, Illawarra, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, Coffs Harbour-Grafton, the Mid North Coast and Richmond-Tweed, or $800,000 elsewhere in NSW. 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 what you can't

You can't use the 5% Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy together; you choose one. Help to Buy also rules out state shared equity schemes and state loans or guarantees, but the government says stamp duty concessions and grants still apply. Neither Revenue NSW page we read says the grant and the duty exemption rule each other out, so on a new home up to $600,000 you may be able to get both; your conveyancer can confirm it for your contract.

One thing to see clearly: the 5% Deposit Scheme reaches $1.5 million in Sydney, but the duty help stops at $1 million. A first buyer at $1.2 million can still buy with 5% down and no lenders mortgage insurance, but pays normal duty, $48,187, on top.

Have the state and federal help added up together 

What the whole package is worth

An illustration, not a client file. A first buyer pays $800,000 for an established unit in Sydney. There's no grant, because it isn't new. There's no stamp duty, a saving of $30,187. Through the 5% Deposit Scheme, a $40,000 deposit is enough, with no lenders mortgage insurance; on one insurer's rate card we hold, that insurance would otherwise be about $34,300 on a 95% loan. That's roughly $64,500 of help, without a grant.

Buy a newly built home in Newcastle for $600,000 instead, and all three may apply: the $10,000 grant, $21,187 of duty saved, and the 5% Deposit Scheme on a $30,000 deposit, where the same insurance would be about $19,150. Roughly $50,300 in all.

When to apply, and when the money arrives

1

Check every condition before you sign. The grant, the duty exemption and the federal scheme each have their own test.

2

Apply for the duty exemption after you exchange contracts, through your solicitor or conveyancer, with Revenue NSW's application and declaration forms.

3

Apply for the grant within 12 months of settlement, or of the build being completed, through the lender providing your finance if it's an approved agent, or online with Revenue NSW.

4

Plan your deposit without the grant. Lodged through your lender, it's paid at settlement or at the first progress payment on a build, so it can't pay the deposit when you exchange.

5

Move in within 12 months, and live there for at least 12 months in a row.

NSW first home buyer questions

$10,000, for a new home with a purchase price up to $600,000, or land and a building contract up to $750,000 combined. It isn't available for established homes.

Buying your first home in New South Wales?

Tell me where you're buying, roughly the price, whether it's new or established, and what you've saved. I'll tell you what the grant, the duty exemption and the federal schemes would give you, and how much cash you'll need on settlement day.

Send me the details

You'll hear back within the hour in business hours, and by 9am the next business day after hours.

Sources

  1. 1

    Revenue NSW, First Home Owner (New Homes) Grant. Read 2 October 2026 (the page shows no updated date).

    https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/grants-schemes/first-home-owner-new-homes-grant

  2. 2

    Revenue NSW, First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme. Read 2 October 2026.

    https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/grants-schemes/assistance-scheme

  3. 3

    Revenue NSW, First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme guide, Eligibility criteria (updated 2 June 2026). Read 2 October 2026.

    https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/property-professionals-resource-centre/guides-rulings-cpns/topics/first-home-buyers-assistance-scheme-guide/eligibility-criteria

  4. 4

    Revenue NSW, How to calculate transfer duty, 2026/2027 rates (updated 19 August 2026). Read 2 October 2026.

    https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/taxes-duties-levies-royalties/transfer-duty/understanding-transfer-duty/calculate-transfer-duty

  5. 5

    Revenue NSW, First Home Buyer Choice (previous schemes). Read 2 October 2026.

    https://www.revenue.nsw.gov.au/grants-schemes/previous-schemes/first-home-buyer-choice

  6. 6

    Housing Australia, 5% Deposit Scheme guide dated 1 July 2026. Checked 29 September 2026.

  7. 7

    firsthomebuyers.gov.au, Help to Buy scheme and 2026-27 thresholds. Checked 2 October 2026.

  8. 8

    Australian Taxation Office, First Home Super Saver Scheme (published 8 July 2026). Read 2 October 2026.

  9. 9

    The duty table and illustrations: Money Brain's arithmetic on the rates above.

Updated 3 October 2026