VIC first home buyers
VIC First Home Owner Grant
The Victorian First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment of $10,000 from the Victorian Government to eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new home in Victoria, including the Swan Hill region, subject to value and residency rules set by the State Revenue Office.
This page sets out what the grant is worth, who qualifies, which properties it covers, how it interacts with separate duty relief, and how local buyers around Swan Hill can apply. It is written by Your Mortgage Broker Swan Hill(/about/), a mortgage broking service working with a panel of lenders across the Mallee, and it is updated as the rules change.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The figure surprises a lot of buyers who remember the old regional schemes: the current grant is a flat 10,000 dollars, paid once per eligible transaction, and it is the same in Swan Hill as it is in Melbourne. There is no regional top-up anymore. The separate regional Victoria first home owner grant was a closed scheme, and it does not apply to current contracts, so anyone quoting you a larger regional figure is working from outdated information. The State Revenue Office confirms the single statewide amount. Ten thousand dollars will not fund a build on its own, but against a local market where the median household mortgage repayment sits at about 1,300 dollars a month, it is meaningful money, and it stacks with duty relief that can be worth considerably more. The rest of this page covers who qualifies, what counts as a new home, and how the grant and duty schemes work together.
Who Qualifies
Eligibility sits with the applicants as much as the property, and the SRO tests each of these points before paying anything. Every one of them needs to be true at settlement or completion:
Natural persons only
Age requirement
Citizenship or residency
Genuine first timers
The prior ownership test
The residency commitment
The deadline
Which Properties It Covers
The property test is where most local confusion starts, so here is the SRO's position in one table:
| Property type | Grant eligible? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| New house, townhouse, apartment or unit, never sold or occupied | Yes | Must not have been leased out or used for short-term accommodation |
| Substantially renovated home | Yes | The renovation must create a new, as-new residence |
| Home built to replace a demolished one | Yes | Treated as a new home for grant purposes |
| Off-the-plan purchase | Yes | The 750,000 dollar cap applies to the contract price |
| Established home, any price | No | No grant at any value, though duty relief may still apply |
| Previously leased or holiday-let "new" home | No | Prior leasing or short-stay use disqualifies it |
Why The Rule Bites Here
The cap versus the local market
The 750,000 dollar cap is generous against Swan Hill values, and the great majority of local transactions sit comfortably under it, which is good news. The flip side is that buyers hunting a renovated established home on a large block often assume the cap means eligibility, when in fact the established-home exclusion bites at any price.
Where eligible stock actually sits
New stock here comes overwhelmingly from construction rather than new estates, with 244 dwellings approved across the local area over the last five years and 56 approvals in 2021-22 alone. That means most grant-eligible purchases in this region are contract builds on family land or lots in small subdivisions, not display-village style developments.
The gap between eligible and desirable
Buyers often find the gap is not price but preference: the established homes they want carry no grant, while the new builds that qualify sit on smaller blocks or out toward Tyntynder South, Pental Island or Castle Donnington, where zoning and services shape what a lender will finance and how a valuation lands.
What it means for your search
Practically, this means deciding early whether the grant changes your target. Around 83 per cent of local dwellings are separate houses, so most buyers here compare a new build against an established one, and the 10,000 dollar grant plus the duty position can shift that comparison more than people expect.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The duty exemption is a completely separate scheme run alongside the grant, with its own thresholds and its own eligibility tests, and it is where the bigger dollars usually are:
New or established, the duty scheme does not care
A full exemption up to 600,000 dollars
A concession band from 600,001 to 750,000 dollars
The same 12-month residency rule applies
The prior ownership bar mirrors the grant
One claim only
Stacked together, a new home up to 600,000 dollars attracts both the 10,000 dollar grant and zero duty, and between 600,001 and 750,000 dollars the grant combines with reduced duty. An established home gets no grant at any price but keeps full access to the duty relief below 750,000 dollars, which is exactly why the two schemes should be assessed together.
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
- 1
Choose your lodgement route
You can lodge through an approved agent, which in practice is your lender, or directly with the SRO. Most buyers lodging a loan application anyway use the lender route, because the forms travel with the credit paperwork and nothing gets lodged twice.
- 2
Gather the evidence early
Eligibility documents focus on identity, citizenship or residency status, and the contract itself. For a build, the fixed price contract and builder's details matter, and for off-the-plan purchases the contract price is what gets tested against the cap, so keep those documents consistent.
- 3
Mind the 12-month deadline
The application must reach the SRO or the approved agent within 12 months of settlement or completion of the build. Miss that window and the grant is gone regardless of eligibility, so diarise it the day you sign rather than trusting memory later.
- 4
Payment after completion
The SRO does not publish fixed payment timeframes, so this page will not promise one. The grant is paid once the eligible transaction completes, and your lender or the SRO will confirm timing on your specific file, which is the only answer worth having.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
Rejections cluster around a handful of predictable mistakes, and every one of them is avoidable with a contract read before signing rather than after:
- Buying established and assuming it qualifies The single most common error. No established home attracts the grant at any price, in any location, under any circumstance.
- A "new" home that has already been lived in commercially If the home was leased out or used for short-term accommodation before your purchase, it fails the grant test even though it has never been sold.
- Contract price over 750,000 dollars For off-the-plan purchases this is tested on the contract price, and a variation or upgrade package can push a deal over the line and out of eligibility.
- Breaking or bending the residency rule Not living there for the full 12 continuous months, or moving in later than 12 months after settlement or completion, puts the grant at risk of clawback.
- Prior ownership or a prior grant This catches applicants and their partners alike, and it is tested across all of Australia, not just Victoria.
- Applying as a company or trust The structure disqualifies the application outright, so buyers who need a trust for other reasons should not expect grant money on top.
- Missing the 12-month application deadline Eligibility means nothing once the lodgement window closes, and extensions are not a thing to rely on.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Swan Hill arranges finance for buyers claiming the grant across Swan Hill and the surrounding Rural City, including Tyntynder South, Murrawee, Murraydale, Pental Island, Castle Donnington and Goschen. Grant eligibility, duty relief and lender policy all interact differently depending on where the block sits and what you are building, and our first home buyer service handles that assessment as part of the loan process.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the VIC First Home Owner Grant worth?
The grant pays a one-off $10,000 per eligible transaction, at the same amount statewide. The old separate regional grant is closed and no longer applies to current contracts.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. The grant covers new homes, substantially renovated homes, homes built to replace a demolished one, and certain off-the-plan purchases. Established homes never qualify, at any price.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
The home must be valued at up to $750,000. For off-the-plan purchases, the cap applies to the contract price rather than the final completed value.
Do I have to live in the property to keep the grant?
Yes. At least one applicant must move in within 12 months of settlement or completion and live there as their principal place of residence for 12 continuous months.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes with separate thresholds. Duty relief applies to new and established homes, with a full exemption up to $600,000 and a concession to $750,000.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
The SRO does not publish fixed payment dates. The grant is paid once the eligible transaction completes, and you must apply within 12 months of settlement or completion.
Mortgage broker for Swan Hill 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 tested against your actual budget, ring (03) 9122 8521 for a no-cost conversation. Your Mortgage Broker Swan Hill works with a panel of lenders, publishes its fee and commission structure, and will tell you plainly where you stand before you sign a contract, with our construction loan process and guarantor and low deposit options there if the deposit is the sticking point.