WA first home buyers
WA First Home Owner Grant: What Bullsbrook Buyers Can Claim
The First Home Owner Grant is a Western Australian government payment of up to $10,000 for first home buyers who buy or build a new residential home, or a substantially renovated one, within the state's value caps.
This page sets out what the grant is worth, who qualifies, which properties it covers and how it interacts with transfer duty relief for buyers in Bullsbrook and the surrounding Swan region. Figures link to the RevenueWA source pages throughout, because eligibility turns on contract dates and details that change.
The Grant Is Worth More Than Its Headline
The payment itself is a one-off up to $10,000, or the consideration paid if that is less, but treating it as the whole benefit understates the position badly. The grant sits alongside a separate transfer duty concession that can be worth considerably more on a typical purchase, because duty relief applies to dutiable values up to $600,000 with no duty payable at all for transactions on or after 7 May 2026.
What surprises most first home buyers is that the two schemes are entirely separate. They have different value caps, different property rules and different eligibility tests, and confusing them is one of the most common planning mistakes we see. A buyer who assumes the grant cap governs everything may rule out an established home that qualifies for substantial duty relief, or assume a duty concession guarantees a grant payment that was never available. Reading both schemes together, before you sign a contract, changes which properties are worth inspecting and how your deposit and borrowing plan should be built around them.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility is assessed per transaction, and every criterion below must be met by at least one applicant: source: RevenueWA.
Age and applicant structure
Citizenship or residency
A genuine first home
A new or substantially renovated home
Under the value cap
The occupancy commitment
No means test at all
If any single criterion is unclear against your own history, check it before signing, because most knock-backs trace back to one overlooked rule rather than the application itself.
Which Properties It Covers
The property type and the scheme both matter, and the differences are easiest to see side by side:
| Property situation | First Home Owner Grant | First home owner rate of duty |
|---|---|---|
| New home, value under $600,000 | Eligible, up to $10,000 | No duty payable |
| New home, $600,001 to $800,000 | Eligible under the cap | Reduced duty, at $16.15 per $100 over $600,000 |
| Established home, up to $800,000 | Not eligible | First home owner rate still applies |
| Vacant land up to $450,000 | Not eligible directly | No duty payable |
| Vacant land $450,001 to $550,000 | Not eligible directly | Reduced duty at $20.14 per $100 over $450,000 |
| Any property above $800,000 | Not eligible | No concession |
Sourced from the grant page and the duty fact sheet on wa.gov.au. The practical takeaway is that the duty scheme is broader than the grant: it reaches established homes and vacant land, which the grant never touches. One further change worth noting: from 7 May 2026 the duty concession no longer ties to the grant cap, so a buyer over the grant cap can still claim reduced duty.
Why The Rule Bites Here
Local conditions change how these caps play out in a real property search, and Bullsbrook illustrates the point better than most Perth fringe suburbs.
The cap and the local market
We cannot quote a local median house price because no sourced figure for it sits before us, and we will not estimate one. What the census facts table does show is a housing stock profile that pushes values upward: 99.2 per cent of dwellings are separate houses and 62.5 per cent have four or more bedrooms, the profile of family homes on substantial blocks rather than entry-level units, and entry-level units are what the grant was designed to catch.
Where eligible stock actually sits
The eligible stock is new construction, and this suburb builds: 345 dwelling approvals across the last five years, sitting in the top quintile of the state for building activity. House and land packages, new builds on family-titled blocks and substantially renovated homes are the transaction types the grant rewards, and they are exactly what the local pipeline produces. Buyers who restrict their search to established listings are filtering out nearly everything the grant pays for.
The gap between eligible and desirable
Here is the friction. The grant and the duty concession reward cheaper, newer stock, while the housing this suburb is known for, four-bedroom homes on semi-rural acreage, trades well above entry-level pricing and mostly as established stock. A buyer chasing the $10,000 payment may find the eligible properties are smaller, closer to major roads or on smaller lots than the established homes they actually want at the same budget.
What that means for your search
In practice, the grant should shape your search in one of three directions: a house and land package under the cap, where the grant and full duty relief stack together; a new build on land you already hold or are buying under the land thresholds; or an established purchase where you forgo the grant but still claim the first home owner rate of duty up to $800,000. Which route suits you depends on deposit, timeline and how you weigh the payment against location.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The interaction between the two schemes is where real money sits, and the stacking rules are not obvious:
Under $600,000, new home
$600,001 to $800,000, new home
An established home
Vacant land first
The cap unlink
Older articles still quote a $750,000 grant cap and a $500,000 duty threshold for Perth. Both figures changed for transactions on or after 7 May 2026, so treat any page without that date warily.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The application process runs through RevenueWA and turns on dates more than paperwork volume, so sequence matters.
- 1
Choose your lodgement route
You can lodge online with RevenueWA or through an approved agent, which in practice usually means your lender processing the application alongside your home loan. The agent route suits most buyers because the grant is handled inside the settlement workflow rather than as a separate task, but the direct route gives you control if your loan is with a lender that does not offer it.
- 2
Watch the completion date
The application must be lodged within 12 months of the completion date of the eligible transaction, and that clock runs whether or not you are ready. For a construction contract, completion means the build finishing, not the land settling, so diary the date when you sign.
- 3
Meet the occupancy test
Payment is tied to the eligible transaction completing, and RevenueWA does not publish fixed payment timelines on the sourced pages, so we will not promise dates. What we can say plainly is that the six-month occupancy requirement, started within 12 months of completion, is a condition of eligibility, and RevenueWA can review compliance after payment.
- 4
Keep your records
Contract dates, the transaction value, citizenship evidence and occupancy records all support the application and any later review. Buyers who build during the process, change co-owners or delay moving in should check how each change affects eligibility before it happens rather than after.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
RevenueWA's own guidance points to a short list of repeat failures, and each one is avoidable with a check before you sign:
- Buying an established home The single most common disappointment: a buyer assumes the grant applies to any first purchase, signs on an established property, and discovers the payment was never available for it.
- Crossing the value cap A contract over the $800,000 cap south of the 26th parallel fails on value, and because the cap applies to the total transaction value, inclusions and variations can push an apparently eligible contract over the line.
- Breaking the occupancy rule Failing to live in the home for six continuous months, or starting occupation later than 12 months after completion, puts the grant at risk even after the property has settled.
- Prior ownership or a prior grant A previous grant in any Australian jurisdiction, ownership before 1 July 2000, or a property owned and occupied for six months or more after 1 July 2004 ends eligibility.
- Missing the deadline Applications lodged after the 12-month window from completion are out of time, and there is no penalty-free grace period to fall back on.
- Conflating the two schemes Assuming the grant cap and the duty thresholds are one scheme leads buyers to miscalculate what they are entitled to on both, and to rule properties in or out on the wrong numbers.
The consistent theme is that eligibility is set at contract date and transaction structure, not at application time, so the moment to check is before signing, when there is still room to adjust the deal.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Bullsbrook is based in Bullsbrook and works with first home buyers across the Swan region and the adjacent shires, including Lower Chittering, Julimar, Gidgegannup, Upper Swan, Brigadoon and Melaleuca, where the same grant and duty rules apply but local stock, block sizes and price points shift the arithmetic.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the WA First Home Owner Grant worth?
The grant is a one-off payment of up to $10,000, or the purchase price if that is less. It applies to buying or building a new home, not an established one.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. Contracts on established homes dated on or after 3 October 2015 do not attract the grant. An established home can still qualify for the separate first home owner rate of duty.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
For transactions on or after 7 May 2026, the cap is $800,000 south of the 26th parallel, which covers all of Perth, and $1,000,000 north of it.
Do I have to live in the property to keep the grant?
Yes. At least one applicant must occupy the home as their principal place of residence for a continuous six months, starting within 12 months of completion.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes with different figures. The duty concession covers established homes and land, and since 7 May 2026 no longer links to the grant cap.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
RevenueWA does not publish fixed payment dates; the grant is paid once the eligible transaction completes. Applications must be lodged within 12 months of the completion date.
Mortgage broker for Bullsbrook and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing a house and land package against an established purchase, the grant and duty figures are only half the calculation, and borrowing structure is the other half. Talk to Your Mortgage Broker Bullsbrook on (08) 6311 4005. You will speak with a named broker, see a published process with real timelines, and get figures grounded in your actual deposit and income before anything is lodged.