First home buyers in the Northern Territory

The Northern Territory's HomeGrown Territory Grant gives first home buyers $50,000 to build or buy a new home, with no cap on the price. You need to sign the contract to buy or build by 30 September 2027. It's for a home no one has lived in before; the Territory's grant for established homes closed to contracts signed after 30 September 2025. Unlike in most states, you can ask your lender to release the grant early to help with your deposit.

Work out what you'd get

Get your NT total worked out on your purchase price 

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

Northern Territory government pages read 2 October 2026.

What NT first home buyers can claim

  • The HomeGrown Territory Grant. $50,000 to build or buy a new home, including off the plan or as an owner-builder. No cap on the price. It replaced the Territory's $10,000 First Home Owner Grant.

  • Stamp duty on a house and land package. If you buy a house and land package from a builder in one contract, signed by 30 June 2027, it can be exempt from stamp duty. This exemption isn't only for first home buyers, and has no price cap.

  • The 5% Deposit Scheme. Federal, not Territory: buy with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance, up to $750,000 in Darwin and $600,000 in the rest of the NT.

Do you have to buy new?

For the grant, yes. The home must never have been lived in or sold as a home before. You can build, buy off the plan, buy a new home, or build it yourself as an owner-builder. A new transportable home counts if it's permanently fixed and approved to be lived in.

An established home gets nothing from the Territory now. The $10,000 grant for established homes covered contracts signed between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025, and that window has closed. The federal 5% Deposit Scheme still works on an established home.

Who counts as a first home buyer in the NT

  • You've never owned a home anywhere in Australia.

  • Sign the contract between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2027, and it can't replace a contract you signed before 1 October 2024.

  • Buy as a person, not a company or trust, with at least one buyer over 18.

  • At least one buyer is an Australian citizen or permanent resident.

  • Live in the home for at least 12 months, from when you take possession, or from when the build is finished.

Every owner of the home has to meet these. And the HomeGrown Territory Grant can't be combined with the Territory's FreshStart New Home Grant, which is for people who already own a home.

Can the grant go towards your deposit?

In the Northern Territory, it can. The government says you can ask your lender to release the grant early to help with your deposit, subject to the lender's normal approval. That's unusual: in most states the grant arrives at settlement or the first progress payment, too late to help.

If you apply directly to the Territory Revenue Office instead of through your lender, the grant is paid after settlement when you buy, or once the foundations are laid when you build. For an owner-builder, it's paid when the certificate of occupancy is issued.

Check whether the grant can go towards your deposit 

What about stamp duty in the NT?

Stamp duty in the Territory is generally due within 60 days of signing, or at settlement if that comes first. The one exemption on the Territory's home-buyer page is for house and land packages: a single contract with a builder who bought the land from a developer and paid duty on it, signed by 30 June 2027. At least one buyer has to live there within 12 months of completion, for at least 6 months in a row.

For any other purchase, the Territory Revenue Office's own calculator gives the duty on your price. We don't print a figure we haven't read at the source.

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 $750,000 in Darwin or $600,000 elsewhere in the NT. No income limit. New and established homes.

Help to Buy. The government takes an equity 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 rules out other state and territory shared equity schemes, loans and guarantees, but the government says grants and stamp duty concessions still apply. The HomeGrown Territory Grant can sit alongside either federal scheme.

What the whole package is worth

An illustration, not a client file. A first buyer pays $600,000 for a newly built home in Darwin. The HomeGrown Territory Grant is $50,000. Through the 5% Deposit Scheme, a $30,000 deposit is enough, with no lenders mortgage insurance; on one insurer's rate card we hold, that insurance would otherwise be about $19,150 on a 95% loan. That's about $69,150 of help on a $600,000 home, before any stamp duty exemption.

Buy an established home for the same price and the Territory's grant falls away. The 5% Deposit Scheme still applies.

Have the Territory and federal help added up together 

When to apply, and when the money arrives

1

Sign by 30 September 2027. That's the last day for a contract to buy or build, or to start building as an owner-builder.

2

Apply within 12 months of settlement, and no later than 30 September 2028, through your lender or directly with the Territory Revenue Office.

3

Want it for your deposit? Apply through your lender and ask for early release.

4

Move in, and stay 12 months.

NT first home buyer questions

The Northern Territory's HomeGrown Territory Grant is $50,000 for first home buyers building or buying a new home, with no cap on the price, for contracts signed between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2027. It replaced the Territory's $10,000 First Home Owner Grant.

Buying your first home in the NT?

Tell me where you're buying, roughly the price, whether it's new, off the plan or a build, and what you've saved. I'll tell you what the grant, the stamp duty position and the federal schemes would give you, and whether the grant can go towards your deposit.

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

    NT Government, Home owner assistance. Read 2 October 2026.

    https://nt.gov.au/property/home-owner-assistance

  2. 2

    NT Government, Buying or building a new home – HomeGrown Territory. Read 2 October 2026.

    https://nt.gov.au/property/home-owner-assistance/buy-build-new-home

  3. 3

    NT Government, Stamp duty exemption (House and Land Package Exemption). Read 2 October 2026.

    https://nt.gov.au/property/home-owner-assistance/stamp-duty-exemption

  4. 4

    NT Government, Stamp duty: buying or selling a home. Read 2 October 2026.

    https://nt.gov.au/property/buying-and-selling-a-home/settle-the-sale/stamp-duty-buying-or-selling-a-home

  5. 5

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

  6. 6

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

  7. 7

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

  8. 8

    LMI premium: one insurer's published rate card, first home buyer rates. Checked 1 October 2026.

  9. 9

    The illustration: Money Brain's arithmetic on the figures above.

Updated 2 October 2026