Queensland’s $30,000 First Home Owner Grant Just Got Locked In for Four More Years

If you have been putting off building your first home because you heard the Queensland first home owner grant buyers rely on was about to disappear, here is some welcome news. Rather than winding back to $15,000 as originally scheduled, the Queensland Government has locked the boosted $30,000 grant into the 2026-27 Budget for the next four years. Combined with the stamp duty exemption already in place for new homes, first home buyers are looking at one of the strongest support packages Queensland has offered in a decade, and the timing could not be better for anyone who assumed the window had already closed. 

What Actually Changed in the 2026-27 Queensland Budget 

The grant was due to step down after 30 June 2026, and plenty of buyers rushed contracts through to beat that deadline. The Budget changed that plan. The $30,000 first home owner grant now continues for eligible contracts signed from 1 July 2026 onward, with funding set aside for four years rather than a single financial year. On top of that, the full transfer duty exemption on new homes, in place since May 2025, has no price cap and applies whether you are buying off the plan, building on land you already own, or going with a house and land package. For anyone who held off building because the grant looked like it was ending, that decision no longer costs you anything. 

It is worth remembering that state grant programs are reviewed and adjusted regularly, so while four years of locked in funding is a strong commitment, it is not a guarantee that the settings will never move again. Anyone seriously planning a build should treat the current rules as the ones to act on, rather than waiting for a better offer that may or may not arrive. 

How Much You Could Save With the Grant and Stamp Duty Exemption 

A first home buyer building a new home under $750,000 can combine the $30,000 grant with a full stamp duty exemption, taking total government support well past $50,000 in many cases, before genuine savings and other costs are even considered. On a typical $700,000 new build including land, that is a meaningful reduction in the amount you need to fund yourself, and it can be the difference between waiting another year to save a larger deposit and starting construction now. 

It helps to separate the two benefits in your own planning. The grant is a cash payment that reduces what you need upfront, while the stamp duty exemption reduces a cost you would otherwise pay at settlement or when your land transfer is registered. Lenders generally will not count the grant toward the genuine savings requirement most banks ask for, so you still need to show a track record of saving, but the grant itself can go straight toward your deposit or your construction costs once it lands. 

First Home Owner Grant Eligibility: Who Actually Qualifies 

The eligibility rules have not changed alongside the funding extension, so it still pays to check the detail before you get attached to a floor plan. To qualify, the home needs to be brand new, valued under $750,000 including land, and intended as your principal place of residence for at least six continuous months. You cannot have previously owned residential property anywhere in Australia, whether you lived in it or not, and you cannot have received a first home grant in another state. If you are building rather than buying off the plan, the grant is assessed against when construction reaches the relevant milestone, not just the contract date, so timing your build program matters. 

A few situations catch people out. Owning an investment property you never lived in still counts against you for the purposes of the grant. Co-purchasing with a partner or family member who has previously owned property can also affect your eligibility, depending on how the title is structured. If your circumstances are anything other than straightforward, it is worth confirming your position with the Queensland Revenue Office or your conveyancer before you sign a building contract, rather than assuming you qualify. 

Why a Fixed Price Contract Matters When You Are Relying on a Grant 

The $750,000 cap is a hard line, and variations, allowances that blow out, or a slow build dragging into a different funding period can all put a grant at risk. This is where the way a builder structures a contract starts to matter as much as the design itself. Leonard Homes builds every quote on a fixed price, no hidden costs basis, so the number you sign against is the number that determines whether you sit under the cap. Our construction spot guarantee also caps how many new builds our team takes on at once, which keeps timelines realistic rather than optimistic, something worth asking any builder about if a grant deadline is part of your planning. 

Getting Your Timeline Right 

Because the grant is tied to when your contract is signed and, for new builds, when construction reaches a defined milestone, your build timeline is not just a scheduling question, it is a financial one. Delays caused by slow approvals, site works you did not budget for, or a builder juggling too many jobs at once can push a project past the point where you expected the grant to apply. Our eight week on site construction start guarantee exists partly for this reason. Knowing your build will be underway within a set window makes it much easier to plan around grant timing rather than hoping everything lines up. 

Start the Conversation Before You Choose a Design 

Grants and exemptions are only useful if your build actually lands under the thresholds that unlock them. Our team can walk you through what a fixed price build looks like under $750,000, including land, so you know exactly where you stand before you fall in love with a floor plan. The sooner these numbers are confirmed, the more of the build you get to spend thinking about design rather than budget.