WA first home buyers
WA First Home Owner Grant
The First Home Owner Grant is a one-off Western Australian government payment of up to $10,000 for eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new home, or buy a substantially renovated home, within the state's property value caps.
This page sets out the current grant amount, the caps, the eligibility rules and how the grant combines with the separate first home owner rate of duty, and it connects those rules to what is actually being built in Your Mortgage Broker Beaconsfield(/)'s home patch of Beaconsfield and the wider City of Fremantle. Figures throughout are sourced from RevenueWA and were current as at September 2026.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The grant is worth up to $10,000, paid once per eligible transaction, and it has been fixed at that amount for years. What does move is the property value cap, and the surprise for anyone reading older material is that the cap changed substantially in May 2026: for transactions on or after 7 May 2026 south of the 26th parallel, which takes in every Perth suburb including Beaconsfield, the cap rose to $800,000, up from $750,000. North of the parallel the cap is $1,000,000. Because an older cap or an older duty threshold is still quoted on plenty of comparison sites, check every figure you read against RevenueWA's own pages before you rely on it.
Who Qualifies
The eligibility rules are set by RevenueWA and apply statewide, so before you fall in love with a block or a floor plan, work through this list. Each item links to the official grant page so you can confirm the detail yourself:
Age and applicant structure
Citizenship or residency
New or substantially renovated property
Value cap
First-time test
Occupancy undertaking
No means test
Application window
Which Properties It Covers
The grant and the duty relief cover different property types, which trips up more first home buyers than any other single rule. This table shows the split at a glance:
| Property type | First Home Owner Grant | First home owner rate of duty |
|---|---|---|
| New home under $600,000 | Yes, $10,000 | No duty payable |
| New home $600,001 to $800,000 | Yes, under the $800,000 cap | Concessional duty applies |
| Established home | No, at any price | No duty under $600,000, concessional to $800,000 |
| Vacant land | No, unless building under a contract to build | No duty up to $450,000, concessional to $550,000 |
Why The Rule Bites Here
The cap is not an abstract statewide number. It decides which specific streets and stock types a Beaconsfield buyer can target, and the pattern of building in this suburb shapes that more than anything else.
Where Eligible Stock Actually Sits
Beaconsfield recorded 281 dwelling approvals over the last five years, a building-activity level in the 75th percentile statewide, so new stock genuinely exists here. Those approvals cluster in smaller lot developments and infill sites, which is precisely the price bracket the grant targets.
The Established Home Trap
Roughly 79 per cent of local dwellings are separate houses and the housing stock is predominantly established, which means most Beaconsfield listings you will inspect do not attract the grant at all. Buyers who assume every first purchase qualifies discover the exclusion after falling for an older charmer.
The Cap and the Search
No median sale price for Beaconsfield is published on the sources behind this page, so no figure is stated here. What matters practically is that the $800,000 cap now sits high enough, following the 7 May 2026 change, to cover a wider slice of new local stock than the previous $750,000 threshold did.
What That Means For Your Shortlist
Households here carry a median mortgage repayment of about $2,300 a month against a median weekly household income of roughly $1,837, so the grant and duty relief together materially change what is serviceable. Target new builds and off-the-plan house-and-land packages first, and shortlist established homes as duty-relief-only purchases. Our first home buyer loans page covers the finance side of that choice.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The single most valuable thing a first home buyer can understand is that the grant and the duty concession are separate schemes with separate thresholds, run separately by RevenueWA. Since 7 May 2026 they are not even linked: the duty scheme's tie to the grant cap was removed, so a buyer over the grant cap can still receive the duty concession. Stacking them looks like this:
New home under $600,000
New home between $600,001 and $800,000
Established home under $600,000
Vacant land
The earlier metro and regional split has ended
Full thresholds and worked calculations sit on the first home owner rate of duty fact sheet, which is the document your settlement agent will work from.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The application itself is straightforward; the timing and the paperwork are where buyers lose time. Four things are worth knowing before settlement day.
- 1
Who Lodges It
Most buyers lodge through an approved agent, which in practice means their lender processes the application alongside the home loan, or they lodge directly with RevenueWA online. Either route uses the same eligibility tests and the same supporting documents.
- 2
The Documents To Assemble
Expect to evidence identity, citizenship or residency status for at least one applicant, the contract of sale or building contract, and the occupancy undertaking. If two people are buying together, both applicants' documents are needed, so start collecting before the contract is signed.
- 3
When The Money Lands
RevenueWA does not publish fixed payment timeframes, and the sourced pages promise no dates, so treat any specific timeline you read elsewhere with caution. The payment is made once the eligible transaction completes, which for a construction contract means after the build finishes rather than at land settlement.
- 4
The Twelve Month Deadline
You have twelve months from the completion date to lodge, and the deadline is enforced strictly. Diarise it alongside your occupancy commitment, because the six-month residence requirement and the application window are the two conditions most commonly breached after settlement.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
Refusals cluster around a handful of predictable mistakes, and every one of them is avoidable with a careful read of the contract before you sign it:
- Expecting the grant on an established home The most common refusal of all: the buyer contracts on an existing dwelling, assumes the grant applies, and learns at application that established homes have been excluded since 3 October 2015.
- Contracting over the cap A purchase price or total build cost above $800,000 south of the 26th parallel disqualifies the transaction entirely, so the cap needs checking against the full contract figure, not the base price.
- Breaking the occupancy rule Living in the home for less than six continuous months, or not starting occupation within twelve months of completion, can trigger repayment of the grant.
- Prior ownership in the background A previous grant anywhere in Australia, property owned before 1 July 2000, or property owned and occupied for six months or more after 1 July 2004, disqualifies an applicant even if the other co-buyer is a genuine first timer.
- Missing the application deadline Lodging more than twelve months after completion is a refusal, with no discretion, so the date belongs in your calendar the day you sign.
- Confusing the two schemes Assuming the grant cap and the duty thresholds are one scheme leads buyers to budget wrongly, because the figures differ: $800,000 grant cap, $600,000 full duty exemption.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Beaconsfield(/) works with first home buyers across Beaconsfield and the surrounding City of Fremantle, including White Gum Valley, Hilton, Hamilton Hill, South Fremantle and Fremantle, where the same grant rules apply and the same established-versus-new stock question decides whether the payment lands. The construction loans side of the picture, where a land-and-build contract splits into two transactions, is covered on its own page.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the WA First Home Owner Grant worth?
The grant is a one-off payment of $10,000, or the purchase price if that is lower, for an eligible new or substantially renovated home in Western Australia. Two co-buyers on one eligible transaction share the single payment.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. Contracts dated on or after 3 October 2015 attract no grant on established homes, at any price. The grant covers new homes and substantially renovated homes only, though an established home can still qualify for the first home owner rate of duty.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
For transactions on or after 7 May 2026 south of the 26th parallel, including all of Perth and Beaconsfield, the cap is $800,000. North of the parallel it is $1,000,000. Older pages quoting $750,000 are out of date.
Do I have to live in the property to keep the grant?
Yes. You must occupy the home as your principal place of residence for a continuous period of at least six months, starting within twelve months of completion. Shorter or delayed occupancy can lead to the grant being repaid.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are two separate schemes. The grant is a $10,000 payment for new homes only. The first home owner rate of duty reduces or removes transfer duty on homes up to $800,000 and vacant land, including established homes.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
RevenueWA does not publish fixed payment dates, and the payment is made once the eligible transaction completes. You can lodge online with RevenueWA or through an approved agent such as your lender, and you have twelve months from completion to apply.
Mortgage broker for Beaconsfield and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are weighing a new build against an established purchase and want the grant and duty position factored into real borrowing numbers, Your Mortgage Broker Beaconsfield(/) can walk through it with you. Call (08) 6311 4005 for a free, no-obligation conversation with a broker working across a panel of lenders, or read more about us, our published process and how we are licensed before you decide.