WA first home buyers
WA First Home Owner Grant
The Western Australian First Home Owner Grant is a one-off payment of up to $10,000 from the state government to eligible first home buyers who buy or build a new residential home in WA. It does not apply to established homes.
Your Mortgage Broker Coogee works with first home buyers across Coogee and Perth's southern corridor, and the grant interacts closely with how a loan is structured. This page covers what the grant is worth, who qualifies, which properties it covers, how it stacks with transfer duty relief and how to apply.
What It Is Worth Right Now
The figure most buyers expect is out of date. Many older articles still quote a $750,000 cap south of the 26th parallel, but for transactions on or after 7 May 2026 the cap is $800,000, as part of the state's 2026-27 Housing Taxation Package. The grant itself remains a one-off payment of up to $10,000, or the consideration paid if that is less, paid once per eligible transaction. Two co-buyers share a single grant rather than each receiving one. The 7 May 2026 changes also reworked the duty side: the first home owner rate of duty now has a $600,000 no-duty threshold for homes, and the earlier split between metropolitan and regional thresholds ended. If you have been reading material published before May 2026, check the dates on it, because both headline figures moved.
Who Qualifies
The eligibility criteria are consistent across Australia with a few WA-specific details, and each of these matters at application time:
Age and applicant structure
Citizenship or residency
A new or substantially renovated home
The value cap
First-timer status
The occupancy commitment
No means test
Which Properties It Covers
The grant and the duty concession cover different property types, which trips up a lot of first purchases. This table compares the two schemes side by side:
| Property type | First Home Owner Grant | First home owner rate of duty |
|---|---|---|
| New home | Eligible, up to the $800,000 cap south of the 26th parallel | Eligible, no duty to $600,000, concessional band to $800,000 |
| Established home | Not eligible for contracts on or after 3 October 2015 | Eligible, same thresholds as above |
| Vacant land | Eligible only if you build on it | Eligible, no duty to $450,000, concessional band to $550,000 |
| Substantially renovated home | Eligible | Eligible |
| Investment property | Not eligible, occupancy rule applies | Not eligible, first home criteria apply |
Source: RevenueWA and the duty fact sheet.
Why The Rule Bites Here
Coogee is where the grant's limits become concrete rather than abstract. The suburb's housing stock and prices interact with the $800,000 cap in ways that change what a realistic first purchase looks like here, and the picture is more nuanced than "Perth is affordable" suggests.
The Cap Meets Local Prices
Coogee is an established, high-demand coastal suburb: 1,924 dwellings, 86.1 per cent of them separate houses, with only 0.4 per cent flats or apartments, and a SEIFA advantage decile of 9. That profile pushes prices towards the upper end of the range, and a large share of established housing here sits above what the grant will support, even after the cap rose to $800,000.
Where Eligible Stock Actually Is
The grant only pays on new or substantially renovated homes, and this suburb built just 298 dwellings in the last five years, with 55 approvals in 2021-22. The genuinely new stock in the area clusters in the newer estates around Lake Coogee, North Coogee and Henderson, where land releases and house-and-land packages sit inside the cap far more often than renovated coastal homes do.
The Gap Between Eligible And Desirable
Most buyers picture a walk-to-the-beach cottage when they say Coogee. An established home like that gets no grant at any price, so buyers face a recurring trade-off: the $10,000 and the duty relief point towards a new build inland, while the location they actually want means forgoing the grant entirely and relying on the duty concession alone.
What That Means For Your Search
Before you fall in love with a property, work out which scheme it qualifies for. A purchase under $600,000 that is new or off the plan can attract the grant and pay no duty; between $600,001 and $800,000 the grant can still apply with reduced duty. If an established home is the goal, budget for duty at the concessional rate and treat the grant as money you never had. Our first home buyer loans page covers how the deposit and borrowing side works alongside these entitlements.
How It Stacks With Duty Relief
The most valuable thing a first home buyer can understand is that these are two separate schemes with different figures, different property rules and different caps. Getting the interaction right changes the total cash you need at settlement:
They are entirely separate schemes
Duty relief covers more property types
The no-duty threshold is $600,000
Vacant land has its own bands
The caps were untied in May 2026
The best case stacks both
How it works
How To Apply And When Money Arrives
The application itself is straightforward, but timing and paperwork decide whether it lands. These are the steps and the traps around payment:
- 1
Lodge Within Twelve Months
You must apply within twelve months of the completion date of the eligible transaction, so diarise it the day you settle. Lodgement runs online with RevenueWA or through an approved agent, which in practice usually means your lender handles it as part of the loan process.
- 2
Approved Agents Do The Running
If you apply through an approved agent, the paperwork rides alongside your loan application rather than becoming a separate project. This is worth raising early, because not every lender acts as an approved agent, and the alternative route means assembling identification, eligibility declarations and contract documents yourself.
- 3
Payment Follows Completion
The grant is paid once the eligible transaction completes, and RevenueWA does not publish fixed payment timeframes on the sourced pages, so we will not quote one. For a construction loan the completion date is the end of the build, not the land settlement, which affects when the money actually lands.
- 4
Build The Timing Into Your Budget
Because the payment follows completion rather than preceding it, the grant cannot serve as part of your deposit for a construction deposit stage in most structures. Plan your cash around what you hold today, and treat the grant as a post-settlement benefit that reduces the debt you carry, not money you can spend at the auction.
Worth knowing early
What Gets An Application Knocked Back
These are the failure modes RevenueWA sees most, and every one of them is avoidable with a bit of forethought:
- Expecting the grant on an established home Contracts dated on or after 3 October 2015 get nothing on established housing, yet buyers still apply on the assumption the grant covers all first purchases.
- Crossing the cap A contract over $800,000 south of the 26th parallel fails, and with the cap having only risen from $750,000 in May 2026, some older research still understates the ceiling.
- Breaking the occupancy rule Not living in the home for six continuous months, or starting occupation later than twelve months after completion, can cost you the grant after it has been paid.
- Prior ownership you forgot about A previous grant in any Australian jurisdiction, property owned before 1 July 2000, or a home owned and occupied for six months or more after 1 July 2004 all disqualify an applicant.
- Missing the deadline Twelve months from completion sounds generous, and it still catches people who assume someone else lodged the application.
- Confusing the two schemes Assuming the grant cap and the duty thresholds are one scheme leads to wrong budgeting; they have different figures and cover different property types.
Where we work
Areas We Service
Your Mortgage Broker Coogee arranges home loans across Perth's southern coastal corridor within the City of Cockburn, and we work with first home buyers wherever the eligible new stock actually sits: Spearwood, Lake Coogee, Henderson and North Coogee, alongside our home suburb of Coogee. If you are weighing a house-and-land package against an established purchase, we can walk through which entitlements each path attracts before you commit.
Questions answered
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the WA First Home Owner Grant worth?
The grant is a one-off payment of up to $10,000, or the purchase price if that is lower. It applies once per eligible transaction, shared if you buy with someone else.
Can I get the grant on an established home?
No. Contracts dated on or after 3 October 2015 only qualify for new or substantially renovated homes. An established home can still attract the first home owner rate of duty, though.
What is the property price cap for the grant?
South of the 26th parallel, including all of Perth, the cap is $800,000 for transactions on or after 7 May 2026. North of the parallel it is $1,000,000.
Do I have to live in the property to keep the grant?
Yes. You must occupy the home as your principal place of residence for at least six continuous months, starting within twelve months of completion, or the grant can be clawed back.
Is the grant different from stamp duty relief?
Yes, they are separate schemes with different figures. Duty relief covers established homes and vacant land as well as new builds, and its no-duty threshold sits at $600,000.
How long does the grant take to arrive?
RevenueWA does not publish fixed payment dates; the grant is paid once the eligible transaction completes. Apply online or through an approved agent within twelve months of completion.
Mortgage broker for Coogee and the suburbs around it
Get In Touch
If you are planning a first purchase anywhere in the corridor, a short conversation will map the grant, the duty concession and your borrowing onto the properties you are actually considering. Call (08) 6311 4005 to speak with Your Mortgage Broker Coogee, a broker operating under an Australian Credit Licence holder, with a published fee structure and no obligation to proceed.