First home buyers in Tasmania
Tasmania's First Home Owner Grant is $20,000 for a new home, for transactions from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, with no value cap. The stamp duty exemption for first buyers of established homes ended on 30 June 2026, so a first home buyer of an established home now pays normal duty: about $22,500 on a $600,000 home. The federal 5% Deposit Scheme still applies, up to $700,000 in Hobart.
What Tasmanian first home buyers can claim now
The $20,000 First Home Owner Grant. For building or buying a new home, where the transaction starts between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027. No value cap on the home.
No stamp duty help on an established home. The 100% duty exemption for established homes up to $750,000 ended for settlements after 30 June 2026.
The 5% Deposit Scheme. Federal, not state: buy with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance, up to $700,000 in Hobart and $550,000 in the rest of Tasmania.
Do you have to buy new?
For the grant, yes. It's for a contract to build, a home whose foundations are laid, or an off-the-plan home, and the building must be finished within 24 months. An established home gets no grant.
For duty help, there's none either way now. Until 30 June 2026, Tasmania was the one state that helped first buyers of established homes, with no duty up to $750,000. That exemption has ended, and the State Revenue Office's pages name no replacement.
Why you'll see $30,000 quoted
The grant has changed four times in five years. The amount depends on when your transaction started, not when you settle.
| Transaction started | Grant |
|---|---|
| 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 | $20,000 |
| 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026 | $30,000 |
| 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025 | $10,000 |
| 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2024 | $30,000 |
A contract to build signed, or foundations laid, by 30 June 2026 kept the $30,000. Anything starting now gets $20,000.
What stamp duty costs a Tasmanian first home buyer now
With the established-home exemption gone, first home buyers pay the general rates. Here's the duty at each price, and what a first buyer paid on the same home before 1 July 2026.
| Price | Duty now | Established home, settled by 30 June 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| $400,000 | about $14,000 | Nil |
| $500,000 | about $18,250 | Nil |
| $600,000 | about $22,500 | Nil |
| $700,000 | about $26,750 | Nil |
| $750,000 | about $28,950 | Nil |
Worked out from the State Revenue Office's published rates. Duty is charged on the greater of the price and the property's unencumbered value. Your conveyancer confirms the figure on your contract.
What the end of the exemption means for your budget
On a $600,000 established home, a first buyer who settled on 30 June 2026 paid no duty. One who settles now pays about $22,500. That's cash on settlement day, on top of your deposit, and a loan won't usually carry it as a separate amount.
So if you planned your savings around the old exemption, check the numbers again before you sign. The 5% Deposit Scheme can still help, because a smaller deposit leaves more of your savings for the duty.
Who qualifies for the Tasmanian grant
An individual, 18 or older, not a company or trust.
An Australian citizen or permanent resident.
Neither you nor your spouse owned a residential property in Australia before 1 July 2000, or owned and lived in one for more than six months after that date.
Neither of you has had a first home owner grant before.
Live in the home for at least 6 months in a row, starting within 12 months of it being completed.
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 $700,000 in Hobart or $550,000 elsewhere in Tasmania. 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 grants still apply, so the Tasmanian grant sits alongside it. On a new home, the $20,000 grant and the 5% Deposit Scheme can apply to the same purchase if the price is within the scheme's cap.
What the whole package is worth
An illustration, not a client file. A first buyer pays $600,000 for a newly built home in Hobart, a transaction that started after 1 July 2026. The grant is $20,000. Duty is about $22,500, with no first home relief. 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 $39,150 of help, against $22,500 of duty to find.
Buy an established home at the same price and the grant falls away. The 5% Deposit Scheme still saves the insurance, but the duty is the same $22,500.
When to apply, and when the money arrives
Check every condition before you sign. The grant and the federal schemes each have their own test, and the grant amount depends on when the transaction starts.
Apply for the grant through the State Revenue Office, or through your lender if it's an approved agent.
Plan your deposit and duty without the grant. It's usually paid at settlement, or at the first progress payment on a build, so it can't pay the deposit or duty up front.
Move in within 12 months of completion, and live there for at least 6 months in a row.
Tasmanian first home buyer questions
$20,000 for a new home, for transactions that start between 1 July 2026 and 30 June 2027. It was $30,000 for transactions from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026 (State Revenue Office of Tasmania, read 2 October 2026).
Buying your first home in Tasmania?
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 and the federal schemes would give you, what the duty will be, 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
State Revenue Office of Tasmania, First Home Owner Grant eligibility (updated 14 July 2026). Read 2 October 2026.
- 2
State Revenue Office of Tasmania, First home buyers of established homes duty relief (published 16 July 2026). Read 2 October 2026.
- 3
State Revenue Office of Tasmania, First home owner (updated 20 August 2026). Read 2 October 2026.
- 4
State Revenue Office of Tasmania, Rates of duty (updated 14 June 2022; rates from 21 October 2013). Read 2 October 2026.
https://
www.sro.tas.gov.au/ property-transfer-duties/ rates-of-duty - 5
Housing Australia, 5% Deposit Scheme guide dated 1 July 2026. Checked 29 September 2026.
- 6
firsthomebuyers.gov.au, Help to Buy scheme and 2026-27 thresholds. Checked 2 October 2026.
- 7
Australian Taxation Office, First Home Super Saver Scheme (published 8 July 2026). Read 2 October 2026.
- 8
The duty table and illustration: Money Brain's arithmetic on the rates above.
Updated 2 October 2026