Stamp Duty Exemption

One of the benefits offered through the Federal Government's First Home Owners Grant through the various State Governments Office of State Revenue is the exemption from Stamp Duties for those people or couples whom meet the criteria for purchasing their first home. This can mean literally thousands and thousands of dollars in stamp duty normally payable under different circumstances, being waived. The fact these stamp duty costs are waived in these instances makes it possible for many people who considered the possibility of owning their own home a fruitless hopeless exercise, now a reality. Many potential home owners just did not have the extra cash on top of a deposit to pay these government charges. There are however some conditions.

These are basically as follows;

• Purchase price of the property must not exceed $499,999.00 (Metropolitan Areas)
• Must never have owned a residential property in their own name (vacant residential block of land is exempt)
• Their married partner (if applicable) must never previously owned a residential property in their own name individually or with a former partner and resided in it for more than six months.
• Must be the intention of the parties to live and reside in the proposed home for at least twelve months.

Each State Government has essentially the same criteria, however there maybe some minor differences in the criteria and the conditions that applicants will have to meet. To put all the information into this web-site would simply take up too much space, so we have provided links to each of the State's Office of State Revenue (or their equivalent named department) which sets out the guidelines for each of the States. Please select which state you live in and click the link. If you are still not sure, and require assistance with any questions, please by all means by clicking the Contact Us link and call us or the Enquiry form link and send us your enquiry to which we will respond promptly. We will be delighted to assist you. The links below also take you to the section which deals with the grants which is briefly explained in the FHOG - Grants section.

SPECIAL OFFER - KEVIN RUDD'S GIFT TO FIRST HOMEBUYERS

Until June 30th 2009 (or 150,000 approved applications are received whichever the 1st) the First Home Owners Grant has been temporarily increased on the following basis;

$7,000.00 FHOG has been increased to $14,000.00

The New Home/Construction Incentive has been reintroduced and valued at $7,000.00. This also applies not only homes being constructed, but also to new homes that have already been built by developers, which have NEVER been lived in, where this will be passed onto the New Home Buyer.

This means a total of $21,000.00 First Home Owner's Grant is possible to be claimed under this temporary arrangement. However, this offer ceases June 30th 2009 or when 150,000 FHOG applications have been approved which ever occurs first (this last one has not been generally publicized).

In some States, such as New South Wales, the NSW State Government has added an additional $3,000.00 to the grant as an extra incentive (taking the total grant in NSW to $24,000.00) for first Home Buyers to take advantage of the offer, and as a way to kick start the NSW building industry. This additional grant also has the same sunset clause in that it expires June 30th 2009.

Other States such as Victoria are offering a similar incentive, however a check with your State's Office of State Revenue will confirm whether your State is participating in a similar arrangement.

New South Wales (NSW)

Victoria (Vic)

Queensland (Qld)

Tasmania (Tas)

South Australia (SA)

Western Australia (WA)

Northern Territory (NT)

Australian Capital Territory (ACT)