First home buyers in Queensland have several distinct forms of help available, and they're often confused with each other. Here's what each one actually is.
Transfer duty concessions
The biggest saving for most first home buyers is the transfer duty concession — reduced or zero stamp duty below certain price thresholds, phasing out above them. Because this scales with your purchase price, it can be worth tens of thousands of dollars, and it applies to established homes as well as new ones within the rules.
The First Home Owner Grant
The grant is a cash payment for first home buyers building or buying a brand-new home — it has never applied to established properties. The amount and eligibility criteria are set by the Queensland Government and have changed over time, so verify the current figure before you count on it.
Home guarantee schemes
Separately from the state measures, Commonwealth guarantee schemes allow eligible first home buyers to purchase with a small deposit without paying lenders mortgage insurance — the government guarantees part of the loan instead. Places, price caps and eligibility rules are set federally and administered through participating lenders.
How the pieces stack
These measures can often be combined: a duty concession plus a guarantee scheme place, for example. The practical effect is that a first home buyer's real budget can be meaningfully higher than their savings alone suggest — which is also worth understanding as a seller, because entry-level properties priced within concession thresholds see deeper buyer pools.
Where to verify the current rules
Every figure in this space — thresholds, grant amounts, scheme places — changes with budgets and policy cycles. Treat any specific number you read online (including here) as a prompt to check the Queensland Revenue Office and Housing Australia's current published rules, or ask your conveyancer or broker to confirm what applies to you.