WA First Home Owner Grant - $10,000 Cash for New Builds

What Is This Payment?

The WA First Home Owner Grant is a one-off cash grant tagged in the rule database as a monetary primary Group A benefit inside the WA First Home Buyer cluster. Its entitlement scope is individual over one_off, meaning the $10,000 is paid once in a person's lifetime - if you receive the grant on this purchase, you cannot claim it again on a later first-home transaction. The administering body is RevenueWA, which sits inside the WA Department of Treasury and Finance.

Applications are submitted online either directly through the RevenueWA portal or via your approved agent, which is typically your lender, conveyancer, or solicitor. When the grant is lodged through a financial institution it is paid at settlement and applied straight to your contribution; when lodged direct with RevenueWA it is paid after settlement is recorded and the funds are released to your nominated account. Most major banks operating in WA - CBA, NAB, ANZ, Westpac, Bankwest, Bendigo - are approved agents.

The rule's design intent is narrow. WA housing policy uses FHOG to stimulate new construction supply, not to subsidise resale stock. That is why the cash is reserved for brand-new homes while the separate FHOR concession applies more broadly to any first-home purchase regardless of construction status. The two together form the WA First Home Buyer cluster: FHOG delivers the cash, FHOR delivers the duty relief, and a buyer purchasing a new build under both caps benefits from both. WA also runs higher value caps in remote regions (north of the 26th parallel) to recognise that house prices in mining and pastoral regions sit above the metro average.

How Much Can You Get?

The amount block is fixed at $10,000 with no formula, no taper, and no income test. The display period is one_time, meaning the figure is paid as a single grant per eligible purchase rather than spread across instalments.

Three numeric facts drive the dollar outcome:

• $10,000 grant amount - the legislated cash grant for every eligible new-home transaction. Per YAML, the figure is the same whether the home is a $300,000 unit in Mandurah or a $720,000 townhouse in Subiaco.
• $750,000 metro/south cap - the contract-value ceiling for homes south of the 26th parallel (Perth metro, South West, Great Southern, Wheatbelt, parts of the Mid West to Geraldton). The cap is binary - a $751,000 home receives nothing, a $750,000 home receives the full $10,000.
• $1,000,000 north-of-26 cap - the higher contract-value ceiling for homes north of the 26th parallel, covering the Pilbara, Kimberley, and parts of the Gascoyne and northern Mid West. The boundary line crosses through the Carnarvon area, so address-by-address checking via the RevenueWA mapping tool is essential when the home is near the line.

An audit recipe to verify your figure: first confirm state = WA and the home address is inside Western Australia; second confirm first_home_buyer = true at the couple level (neither you nor your spouse has previously held an interest in residential property in Australia); third confirm purchasing_new_home = true, meaning the home has never been lived in or sold as a place of residence; fourth confirm the home address is south or north of the 26th parallel and apply the right cap; fifth confirm at least one applicant is an Australian citizen or permanent resident; finally confirm the occupancy plan (move in within 12 months, stay 6 months continuously). If all six hold, the payable amount is the flat $10,000.

Worked example: Pawel signs a contract for a brand-new 3-bedroom townhouse in Joondalup at $620,000 on 14 March 2026. He is a permanent resident from Poland, single, and a first-home buyer with no prior property history. RevenueWA approves $10,000 because the price sits comfortably under the $750,000 south-of-26 cap. His bank applies the grant as a credit at settlement, reducing his cash contribution by $10,000. He also stacks FHOR on the same purchase but receives only a partial duty concession because $620,000 sits in the FHOR taper band ($530,000 full exemption to $600,000 fully phased out). Total RevenueWA relief on his transaction: $10,000 cash plus around $1,000 of partial duty concession, taking combined relief to about $11,000.

Eligibility Conditions

The eligibility block is an all set, so every item must pass. The excludes.any block is empty, but several implicit gates flow from the rule notes and the underlying First Home Owner Grant Act 2000 (WA).

1. WA location: state = WA. The home must be in Western Australia. Interstate purchases route to that state's own grant scheme - NSW FHOG, VIC FHOG ($10,000 metro / $20,000 regional), QLD FHOG ($30,000 enhanced rate), and so on.
2. First-home buyer status: first_home_buyer = true. Neither you nor your spouse can have previously owned a residential property in Australia, whether as a home or an investment, after 1 July 2000. The test runs at the couple level even if only one partner is on the new contract.
3. New home purchase: purchasing_new_home = true. This includes brand-new homes never previously occupied, off-the-plan apartments, completed but unoccupied house-and-land packages, comprehensive home building contracts where you are the owner-builder, and substantially renovated homes where the seller has rebuilt enough of the structure to qualify under the RevenueWA definition. Established resale homes do not qualify under FHOG.

Required fields for assessment: state, first_home_buyer, purchasing_new_home. Income, assets, and concession-card status are not tested - FHOG is universal across income bands as long as the structural conditions are met.

Two practical gates sit on top of the YAML conditions. First, every applicant must be at least 18 years old at the contract date. Second, at least one applicant on the application must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident at the time of the transaction; partners in a couple do not both have to satisfy the test, but at least one must. The grant is paid per transaction, not per applicant, so a couple buying together still receives a single $10,000 amount.

How To Apply

Application metadata defines a single channel: online. The portal sits under the RevenueWA website at wa.gov.au, and most buyers lodge through their bank, conveyancer, or solicitor as an approved agent so that the grant flows directly into the settlement funds pool. Direct lodgement with RevenueWA (post-settlement) is the fallback path for buyers who pay cash, whose lender is not on the approved-agent list, or who are owner-builders without a traditional settlement.

Evidence requirements are explicitly listed in the rule and should be prepared in advance:

• Contract of sale, off-the-plan contract, or comprehensive home building contract - signed and dated, showing the purchase or build price and the new-home representation
• Identity documents - proof of name, date of birth, citizenship or permanent residency status (passport, visa grant notice, citizenship certificate), and current residential address for every applicant on the application

Two practical tips help. First, lodge through your lender wherever possible. The bank can apply the $10,000 grant as a credit at settlement and reduce the cash you need to bring to the table; lodging direct with RevenueWA means the funds arrive after settlement and you have to find the cash up-front. Second, line up the FHOR application at the same time. Your conveyancer can lodge both schemes through RevenueWA on the same transaction file; doing them separately doubles the paperwork and risks one being processed without the other.

Apply on the official RevenueWA First Home Owner Grant page

Rule-Based Scenarios

Scenario 1: Pawel - new $620,000 Joondalup townhouse, full grant + partial FHOR

Pawel, 31, signs a contract on 14 March 2026 for a brand-new 3-bedroom townhouse in Joondalup at $620,000. He is a permanent resident from Poland and a first-home buyer with no prior property history. state = WA passes, first_home_buyer = true passes, and purchasing_new_home = true passes. The price sits under the $750,000 south-of-26 cap, so RevenueWA approves the full $10,000 FHOG. His bank applies it as a settlement credit. He also lodges FHOR on the same transaction, but $620,000 sits past the $600,000 FHOR phase-out point, so he receives only a small partial duty concession. Combined RevenueWA relief: roughly $11,000 on a $620,000 purchase.

Scenario 2: Zofia - $880,000 new-build in Bunbury, FHOG cap binds

Zofia, 28, contracts for a brand-new 4-bedroom house in Bunbury at $880,000 on 22 February 2026. She is single, an Australian citizen, and has never owned property. Two of the three structured conditions pass, but Bunbury is south of the 26th parallel and $880,000 exceeds the $750,000 cap. The cap is binary - RevenueWA rejects the FHOG application entirely. Zofia loses the $10,000 cash. She does, however, qualify for the FHOR transfer-duty concession on the established/dutiable side, but her $880,000 price also exceeds the FHOR $600,000 phase-out so she receives no duty relief either. Lesson: a $130,000 price reduction would have unlocked $10,000 cash. Buyers near the cap should negotiate hard.

Scenario 3: Eszter - $920,000 new house in Karratha, north-of-26 cap saves the deal

Eszter, 35, takes a mining job in Karratha and contracts for a brand-new 4-bedroom house at $920,000 on 8 January 2026. She is a permanent resident, single, and a first-home buyer. Karratha sits well north of the 26th parallel, so the $1,000,000 ceiling applies instead of the $750,000 metro cap. state = WA passes, first_home_buyer = true passes, purchasing_new_home = true passes, and $920,000 is comfortably under the $1M Pilbara cap. RevenueWA approves the full $10,000. The geographic boundary is the single most valuable structural feature of the WA scheme for remote workers - the same $920,000 transaction in Geraldton (south of 26) would have failed entirely.

Common Mistakes

• Claiming FHOG on an established home above $750,000 metro: only newbuilds qualify, and the value cap binds. An established 1990s house at $720,000 in Como is not eligible for FHOG (must be new) and would also be over the $600,000 FHOR phase-out, so first-home buyers get nothing. The purchasing_new_home = true condition is the hard gate, and the binary $750,000 metro cap removes any partial relief.
• Treating FHOG and FHOR as either/or when they actually stack: they are separate concessions with different gates. FHOG is $10,000 cash on new homes only. FHOR is a stamp-duty concession on any first home up to $530,000 (full exemption) or $600,000 (full phase-out). A $480,000 new-build in Perth wins both: $10,000 cash plus full FHOR exemption worth around $15,000. Treating them as a single benefit halves the relief.
• Confusing the Bond Assistance Loan with FHOG/FHOR cash: the WA Bond Assistance Loan is an interest-free loan repayable to the Housing Authority, not a grant. It pays bond + 2 weeks rent for renters who cannot afford tenancy setup costs. It is not part of the FHOG/FHOR home-purchase package and serves a different lifecycle stage.
• Crossing the 26th parallel without checking the address: the line that separates the $750k and $1M caps runs through the Gascoyne region, not along an obvious local-government boundary. A house in Carnarvon may be just south of 26 and stuck on the $750k cap, while one in Coral Bay is north and gets the $1M cap. Use the RevenueWA address-checking tool when the home is anywhere between Geraldton and Karratha.
• Forgetting the 12-month move-in and 6-month residence rule: these are two separate clocks. You have up to 12 months from completion or settlement to move in, and once moved in at least one applicant must remain in continuous occupation for at least 6 months. Selling or renting out the home in month four after moving in triggers a clawback of the full $10,000 plus possible interest.
• Couple-level first-home test missed: the first-home test runs at the couple level. If your spouse or de facto partner has previously held an interest in residential property in Australia after 1 July 2000, neither of you can claim the grant, even if you are the only name on the new contract. Couples often miss this when one partner had a prior investment-property interest from a previous relationship.

Related Benefits

The conflicts and affects lists in the YAML are empty, meaning FHOG can stack with most other WA and federal first-home incentives. Use these links to navigate the surrounding rules in the typical home-purchase journey.

• WA First Home Owner Rate of Duty (FHOR) - companion stamp-duty concession for the same buyer profile, but covers both new and established homes. Full exemption to $530,000, sliding concession to $600,000. Stacks with FHOG on the same new-home purchase when the buyer hits both caps.
• WA Bond Assistance Loan - interest-free bond + 2 weeks rent loan for renters who cannot afford tenancy setup costs. The pre-purchase savings-phase product before a first-home transaction; not a grant, repayable to the Housing Authority.
• WA KidSport - $300/yr per child - $300 sports voucher for 5-18 year olds in PCC/HCC families. Relevant once the new home is occupied and children join local sports clubs in the new neighbourhood.
• WA Water Service Charges Rebate - up to $775/yr off Water Corporation service charges for PCC/CSHC holders once the buyer becomes the new water account holder at the home address.
• WA Energy Assistance Payment - Synergy customers - $342.66/yr energy bill credit for PCC/HCC holders on Synergy supply, available once the buyer becomes the new electricity account holder at the home.
• Commonwealth Rent Assistance - the federal fortnightly rent supplement applicable while the buyer is still renting in the savings phase before settlement; ends once the buyer occupies the new home as principal place of residence.

Frequently Asked Questions