Calculator
First Home Owner Grant & First Home Guarantee Calculator
First Home Owner Grant & First Home Guarantee Calculator
Purchase Details
First Home Guarantee Eligibility
FHBG caps: $125,000 single, $200,000 couple.
Total Estimated Benefit
$44,020
Benefit Analysis
NSW's $10,000 grant is not available — it applies to new homes only under $600,000, first home buyer duty is fully exempt, saving the estimated $27,500, and the First Home Guarantee lets you borrow at 91% LVR without LMI, saving roughly $16,520 in premiums. Altogether that is an estimated $44,020 of benefit on a $650,000 purchase — money that effectively comes off your deposit requirement. All figures are indicative: grant amounts, thresholds and caps are set by state and federal legislation and change frequently, so verify eligibility before signing a contract.
Educational tool with indicative figures only. Grant amounts, duty thresholds and price caps are set by state and federal legislation and change frequently — the figures here reflect mid-2025 policy settings and are not a substitute for official State Revenue Office or Housing Australia eligibility checks. The LMI estimate is a tiered approximation that varies by lender. Not financial advice.
Government Support for First Home Buyers
Australian governments have layered three main schemes to help first home buyers bridge the deposit gap: the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG), first home buyer transfer duty concessions, and the Commonwealth First Home Guarantee (FHBG). The FHOG is a one-off state payment — generally $10,000 to $20,000 — paid when you buy or build a new home. Every state then discounts or waives transfer (stamp) duty for eligible first home buyers up to price thresholds, saving tens of thousands at settlement. The FHBG, administered nationally, lets eligible buyers purchase with as little as a 5% deposit without paying lenders mortgage insurance, because the government guarantees up to 15% of the loan. These schemes have reshaped the first home buyer calculus. In NSW, for example, an eligible buyer of an $800,000 home saves around $31,000 in duty alone, plus the $10,000 grant if the home is new. The FHBG then means that same buyer needs roughly $47,000 less cash at settlement than a traditional 20% deposit purchase. Combined, the benefits can shave several years off the saving timeline — though each comes with strict eligibility rules around income, property price caps, citizenship, occupancy and prior ownership. Because thresholds differ state by state and are indexed annually, working through the numbers before signing a contract is essential. This calculator bundles all three benefits into one indicative estimate.
How the Benefit Is Estimated
The calculator stacks three components. First, the FHOG: a fixed grant (per state) paid if the home qualifies — in most states only new homes, and only under a price cap where one exists. Second, the duty concession: the tool estimates standard transfer duty for a typical buyer using an Australia-wide progressive duty curve, then applies your state's first-home relief. Where a state fully exempts first home buyers up to a threshold, that share of the duty is removed; between the exemption threshold and the concession cap the relief tapers linearly, matching how most state concessions phase out; Tasmania has no general concession and the ACT and NT apply a flat percentage discount under their caps instead. Third, the LMI saving: if your deposit sits between 5% and 20% of the price, the estimate applies a tiered LMI premium approximation (around 0.8% at 85% LVR up to 3.5% at 95%+). The FHBG eligibility screen then checks the minimum 5% deposit, income caps ($125,000 single, $200,000 couple), and the property price cap for capital city versus regional purchases. When eligible, the entire LMI premium is treated as saved. The total benefit is simply the grant plus the duty concession plus the LMI saving — a realistic, conservative aggregation of what government support actually contributes toward your purchase.
Expert Insights
New vs Established Often Swings More Than the Grant
The FHOG usually requires a new or substantially renovated home, but the duty concessions in most states apply to established homes as well — and duty relief is often worth more than the grant itself. Before dismissing an established home, check your state's duty thresholds: in SA and NSW the duty saving on a well-priced established home can exceed the grant a new build would attract. The 'new home' restriction should not drive the purchase decision alone.
FHBG Is a Deposit Accelerator, Not Free Money
The First Home Guarantee doesn't hand you cash — it removes LMI from a high-LVR loan. That means you borrow more and repay more interest over the life of the loan. A 5% deposit buyer on a $600,000 home pays roughly $15,000 more interest a year than someone with 20% down. Use the guarantee to get in sooner when prices are rising faster than you can save, but plan extra repayments to reach 20% equity and remove the LVR risk as quickly as possible.
Stack Schemes Deliberately in Sequence
The strongest first home buyer strategy stacks the schemes deliberately: FHSSS contributions build the deposit inside super with tax advantages; the FHOG and duty concession reduce settlement costs; and the FHBG trims the deposit hurdle itself. Run each tool on this site in sequence, because the interaction matters — a larger FHSSS release may lift you to a 10% deposit, which halves your LMI estimate, and a duty exemption may free cash for furniture and legal costs that otherwise blow out your budget.
Actionable Tips
- 1
Verify Eligibility Before You Sign Anything
Every scheme requires a signed declaration that you are a genuine first home buyer who has never owned property and will live in the home (typically 12 months occupation within the first year). Breaching the conditions means repaying the grant plus penalties. Check your state revenue office's official eligibility tool — and the Housing Australia FHBG participant list — before signing a contract, not after.
- 2
Mind the Price Cap Cliffs
Many concessions disappear instantly once the price crosses the cap rather than phasing out. An $805,000 home in NSW attracts full duty where an $800,000 home attracts almost none — a swing of over $30,000. Negotiate hard near the thresholds, or understand the cliff before bidding. This calculator shows the taper inside concession zones, but hard caps are binary.
- 3
Budget the Benefit Into Your Borrowing, Not Just the Deposit
Lenders generally do not count the FHOG as genuine savings, and the FHBG does not reduce your loan size — it only removes LMI. Treat the grant and duty savings as reducing the cash you need at settlement, while your borrowing capacity stays driven by income, deposit and existing debts. Run the numbers in both directions so you don't bid up to a price that only works if every scheme pays out on time.
Real-World Examples
Tomas Buys Off-the-Plan in NSW
Tomas, 29, contracts on a $780,000 off-the-plan apartment in Sydney with a 10% deposit. As a new home under the cap it qualifies for the $10,000 FHOG, and at $780,000 he sits just inside NSW's $800,000 duty exemption — saving roughly $30,000 of stamp duty. His total benefit is about $40,000, meaning his real cash at settlement is close to just $38,000 plus legal costs. Without the schemes he would have needed over $78,000 in duty and deposit alone.
The Chandras Use the FHBG in Brisbane
Priya and Raj Chandraratne, a couple earning $150,000 combined, have only $31,000 saved. On a $620,000 new house-and-land in Brisbane the 5% deposit would attract around $24,000 of LMI — but as eligible first home buyers under the income and price caps, the FHBG removes it entirely. They also pick up the $20,000 QLD grant and about $15,000 of duty concession, stacking roughly $59,000 of benefit. That combination buys them in two years earlier than saving the full deposit would have allowed.
Erin Realises the Grant Doesn't Fit Her Established Home
Erin, 31, wanted a $550,000 three-bedder in Melbourne's west and assumed she'd get the $10,000 grant. The home was established, so the FHOG did not apply — but at $550,000 she still qualified for Victoria's duty concession, saving around $8,000, and her 8% deposit kept LMI modest. Her total benefit was roughly $21,000 rather than the $31,000 she'd expected, a gap she caught before adjusting her savings plan and bid strategy.
Glossary of Terms
- First Home Owner Grant (FHOG)
- A one-off state-government payment, typically $10,000–$20,000, for eligible first home buyers purchasing or building a new home.
- First Home Guarantee (FHBG)
- A federal scheme that lets eligible first home buyers purchase with a deposit as low as 5% without paying lenders mortgage insurance.
- Transfer Duty Concession
- A state discount or exemption on stamp/transfer duty for first home buyers up to qualifying price thresholds.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Ivy Sinclair-Wren
Financial Chaos Analyst
Ivy Sinclair-Wren is a Financial Chaos Analyst covering investing, AI, wealth psychology, and the emotional consequences of opening finance apps during market crashes. Based in Melbourne, she specializes in demystifying the Australian tax code and helping users navigate the intersection of spreadsheet logic and human irrationality.