First Home Owner Grant Perth, WA, The 2026 Guide
If you're building your first home in Perth, WA, or buying off the plan, there's $10,000 available from the WA Government that doesn't need to be repaid. The First Home Owner Grant has been running for years, but the eligibility rules and the price cap changed in May 2026, so a lot of the information floating around online is out of date.
The grant is straightforward in principle: $10,000 for eligible first home buyers purchasing or building a new home. In practice, the details matter. The cap applies to new homes only, established homes don't qualify, and how you structure your purchase affects whether the payment lands at settlement or during the build.
Our team helps first home buyers across Perth, WA navigate the grant alongside their deposit strategy, stamp duty position and choice of lender, comparing options across 60+ lenders to find what actually works for each situation.
Key takeaways
- WA's FHOG pays $10,000 for new homes only, capped at $800,000.
- The grant is separate from stamp duty concessions, which now extend to $800,000.
- New builds, off-the-plan and substantially renovated homes all qualify.
What is the First Home Owner Grant in Perth, WA?
The WA First Home Owner Grant is a $10,000 one-off payment from the State Government, available to eligible buyers who are purchasing or building a new home for the first time. It's not means-tested, it doesn't need to be repaid, and it can be combined with other first home buyer schemes including the federal 5% Deposit Scheme and WA stamp duty concessions.
The cap in Perth is $800,000 for homes south of the 26th parallel, which covers every suburb in the Greater Perth metropolitan area. This cap was lifted from $750,000 in May 2026 as part of the WA Government's 2026-27 Housing Taxation Package. The grant itself hasn't changed in amount, but the higher cap means more new builds and off-the-plan purchases now fall within reach of it.
Source: RevenueWA.
Who qualifies for the First Home Owner Grant in Western Australia?
Eligibility is set by RevenueWA and has several components. You need to meet all of them, not just most of them. The most common point where buyers get tripped up is the occupancy requirement and the new-home rule.
The main eligibility criteria:
- › First home buyer status: you or anyone on the application must not have previously owned residential property in Australia before 1 July 2000, or received a first home owner grant in any state or territory.
- › Citizenship or permanent residency: at least one applicant must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. Temporary visa holders are not eligible.
- › New home only: the property must be a newly built home, an off-the-plan purchase, a home you are building under a construction contract, or a substantially renovated home. Established homes do not qualify under any circumstances.
- › Price cap: the home's value must not exceed $800,000 in Perth (south of the 26th parallel). The cap applies to the total value of the home and land together.
- › Occupancy: you must move into the home as your principal place of residence. RevenueWA sets conditions on when and for how long, and failing to meet them can trigger repayment of the grant.
The buyers who lose the grant are almost never disqualified on income or purchase price. It's usually the occupancy condition they didn't know about, or a partner who owned property interstate years ago and forgot. We ask those questions early, because finding out at settlement is the worst possible time.
Joe Del Borrello · Director, Launch Finance · Chat to the Launch team →
What government schemes can first home buyers combine with the FHOG in Perth?
The FHOG sits alongside several other state and federal schemes, and understanding which ones stack together is where the real planning happens. The grant itself is a WA state entitlement; the schemes below are separate layers.
Schemes worth understanding alongside the FHOG:
- › WA first home owner rate of duty: separate from the FHOG, this concession applies to any home (new or established) up to $600,000 with nil duty, tapering to $800,000. From May 2026, the duty concession threshold is no longer tied to the FHOG cap, so you can claim the duty concession on an established home even though the FHOG itself is unavailable for it.
- › Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme (First Home Guarantee): allows eligible buyers to purchase with a 5% deposit and no LMI, up to a $850,000 cap in Perth. It can be used alongside the FHOG on a new home.
- › Keystart Urban Connect Shared Equity: WA Government shared-equity product for new apartments, townhouses, villas and units up to $800,000. Available across WA from a 1,000-loan allocation, so confirm places remain open before relying on it.
- › Help to Buy (federal shared equity): 2% minimum deposit with the federal government holding up to 40% of a new home's equity. Income caps apply ($103,000 single, $165,000 joint from 1 July 2026). Cannot be combined with a state shared-equity scheme.
- › WA Home Buyers Assistance Account: up to $2,000 towards incidental purchase costs for homes priced at $500,000 or below. Given most new builds in Perth exceed that threshold, this one is largely out of reach for buyers using the FHOG, but worth knowing about.
Source: RevenueWA and Housing Australia.
How much can first home buyers borrow alongside the FHOG in Perth?
The $10,000 grant goes toward your costs at settlement or during the build, but lenders don't treat it as a deposit in the traditional sense when they're calculating your borrowing position. What matters to a lender is your genuine savings, your income, and how your debt picture looks through their serviceability assessment.
REIWA data shows house medians in Perth's outer growth corridors running from $700,000 in Armadale to $857,000 in Aveley, which gives you a sense of where the $800,000 FHOG cap sits against actual new-build markets. The clearest match for the grant is suburbs like Ellenbrook, Byford, Butler, Maddington and Gosnells, where house medians are at or under the cap and new estates are active.
The 5% Deposit Scheme's $850,000 Perth cap covers a wider range of new builds. A buyer using both the FHOG and the First Home Guarantee needs a 5% genuine deposit, and the $10,000 grant typically lands around settlement to cover costs like stamp duty, legal fees and loan establishment charges rather than supplementing the deposit itself.
Source: REIWA (Landgate data, August 2026) and Housing Australia.
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When does the FHOG not make sense for Perth first home buyers?
The FHOG is a genuine benefit, but it's conditional on buying new, and that condition has real trade-offs. If the cheapest new home in the suburb you want is $850,000 and the established homes two streets over are $720,000, chasing the grant could mean spending more to receive $10,000. That's worth doing the arithmetic on before you set your strategy.
Building also introduces timing risk. A construction contract extends your settlement by six to eighteen months, during which your financial position and the market can both shift. If your savings timeline is tight or you need to move quickly, an established home without the grant may serve you better.
First home buyers buying an established property in Perth still have access to the first home owner rate of duty, the First Home Guarantee's 5% deposit pathway, and potentially Help to Buy. The FHOG is not the only lever available, and for some buyers in established suburbs it's not the right one at all.
How does the FHOG payment actually work, step by step?
The payment timing depends on your purchase type. For an off-the-plan or new home already complete, the grant is typically paid at settlement. For a construction contract, it's paid once a progress payment has been made and the slab has been poured, per RevenueWA's own timing rules.
Step 1: Talk to us
We work through your eligibility before anything is signed, checking the property type, the price cap, and whether any prior property ownership on the application affects your claim.
Step 2: Confirm your purchase structure and grant eligibility
We confirm whether your contract qualifies (new home, off the plan or construction), identify which other schemes stack with the FHOG for your situation, and document what the lender will need.
Step 3: Lodge the application through your lender
For most buyers, the FHOG application is lodged by your lender or settlement agent rather than directly. We coordinate that process so nothing gets missed and the timing aligns with your settlement or first progress payment.
Step 4: Receive the grant and settle
Once the lender confirms the application meets RevenueWA's requirements, the $10,000 is credited at settlement or paid directly on a construction contract. We stay in contact through to handover.
What challenges do first home buyers face when claiming the FHOG in Perth?
Where the process goes wrong:
- › Prior ownership by a co-applicant: if any person named on the application has ever owned residential property in Australia, the grant is unavailable to the whole application. An interstate property owned and sold a decade ago still disqualifies, so this check needs to happen before contracts are signed.
- › The property type test:"substantially renovated" has a specific legal definition under the FHOG Act that most buyers aren't aware of. A cosmetically updated established home doesn't qualify. If you're considering a heavily renovated property, confirm its status with RevenueWA before proceeding.
- › Price cap on combined house-and-land: the $800,000 cap covers the total value of land and construction together. If your block costs $450,000 and your build is priced at $400,000, you're over the cap even though neither figure alone exceeds it.
- › Occupancy failure: if you don't move in as your principal place of residence within the required period, RevenueWA can recover the grant. Buying new and immediately renting the property out is not permitted, and buyers who plan to rent briefly before moving in should confirm the conditions in writing.
If I were in a buyer's position today and my budget was right at the $800,000 mark, I'd want to know the total land-and-build figure locked into the contract before I factored the grant into my cost calculations. The cap applies to the combined value, and builders' base-price quotes don't always make that obvious.
Joe Del Borrello · Director, Launch Finance · Chat to the Launch team →
Frequently Asked Questions
Can first home buyers in Perth use the FHOG on an established home?
No. The WA First Home Owner Grant applies to new homes only, including off-the-plan purchases, construction contracts and substantially renovated properties. Established homes are not eligible regardless of purchase price.
Does the FHOG affect how much a first home buyer can borrow in Perth?
Not directly. Lenders don't treat the $10,000 grant as genuine savings toward a deposit, though it can cover settlement costs. Your borrowing capacity is assessed on income, debts and expenses.
Can the FHOG be combined with the 5% Deposit Scheme in Perth?
Yes. A new home purchase under $800,000 can attract both. The First Home Guarantee's Perth cap is $850,000, so there is a $50,000 overlap window where one scheme applies and the other doesn't.
What happens to the FHOG if the builder goes into liquidation before the home is completed?
This depends on timing and what stage the build reached. RevenueWA applies its own rules to construction contracts; confirm your specific position with a settlement agent and RevenueWA directly.
Do both applicants on a joint purchase need to be first home buyers?
Yes. If any person named on the application has previously owned residential property in Australia, the whole application is disqualified from the grant. There's no partial entitlement for a couple where one partner previously owned.
Should I use a mortgage broker or go directly to my bank for a first home loan in Perth?
A mortgage broker, every time. A broker compares across multiple lenders to find the most suitable structure for your deposit, grant timing and income, rather than presenting one lender's options.
Your Next Steps
Claiming the First Home Owner Grant correctly comes down to confirming eligibility before you sign anything, structuring the purchase so the cap and property type rules are met, and aligning the grant payment with your settlement or construction timeline.
Ready to find out which lenders will work best for your first home loan? Contact the Launch Finance team or call 08 9367 4222. We'll canvas our 60+ lender panel and find the most suitable options for your circumstances.
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External Resources
Launch Finance · Perth, WA · Launch Finance Pty Ltd (ABN 17 163 528 701), Corporate Credit Representative 454041 of BLSSA Pty Ltd (ABN 69 117 651 760), Australian Credit Licence 391237 · General information only - this article does not constitute financial advice. Please consider your own circumstances and seek professional advice before making any financial decisions.
