Queensland doubles first home owner grant to $30,000

Queensland first-home buyers have another reason to celebrate this Christmas with the state government recently doubling the first home owner grant to $30,000.

The grant has increased from $15,000 to $30,000 for first-home buyers purchasing or building a new home valued at less than $750,000. The grant is now expected to help about 12,000 buyers purchase their first home by mid-2025, when the grant boost ends and returns to $15,000.

To qualify for the grant, first-home buyers must be 18 years or older and it must be their first residential property owned in Australia. The home can be a house, unit, duplex or townhouse, or a granny flat built on a relative's land or modular home. It can be a new home, an off-the-plan purchase, a substantial renovation, a contract to build or an owner-builder transaction.

Demand for property in Queensland has been surging over the past few years, with an influx of people relocating from Sydney and Melbourne during COVID as well as a high level of overseas immigration. An extra 104,410 people moved to Queensland in 2021–22, more than twice the population gain in 2020–21.

Brisbane home prices have grown 7.36% to a median value of $773,000, according to the latest PropTrack Home Price Index, while home prices across the rest of Queensland were up 6.51% to $622,000.

Real Estate Institute of Queensland chief operating officer Dean Milton said the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) welcomed the expanded grant but said the state still needs more new homes to keep up with the surging population numbers.

"We’re facing some significant challenges in the real estate and housing sector at the moment that can’t be solved by providing a cash boost to some buyers," Mr Milton said. "We’ve seen in recent times, especially in response to COVID-19, an array of new grants at both a federal and state level.

"While that’s great in theory from construction perspective, it’s brought forward high demand and put pressure on the cost of building supplies and the ability to access tradespeople. 

"We generally support initiatives that give first-home buyers a leg up towards home ownership, however at a time when the RBA is doing its best to tame inflation, we question whether now is the right time for more demand side stimulus.”

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