Government assistance can make a significant difference to the amount of money a Queensland buyer needs to save, but the support available in 2026 is much easier to understand once it is separated into three categories. Some programs reduce the purchase costs themselves, some allow a home to be bought with a much smaller deposit, and others reduce the size of the mortgage by giving the government an equity interest in the property.
For first-home buyers, Queensland currently has several of these forms of assistance operating at the same time. The Queensland First Home Owner Grant is $30,000 for an eligible new home valued at less than $750,000. Eligible first-home buyers purchasing a new home or residential vacant land can receive a full transfer duty concession with no property value cap. Buyers of established first homes can pay no transfer duty up to $700,000, with a concession continuing through to $800,000.
Commonwealth assistance has also changed considerably. The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme now has no income caps, no waiting list and unlimited places for eligible buyers, while Help to Buy provides shared-equity assistance with a deposit starting at 2%. Queensland also operates its own Boost to Buy shared-equity scheme, although availability is currently restricted by the number and location of places released.
These programs can produce substantial savings, but they should not simply be added together as though every buyer receives one large pool of government money. A $30,000 grant is a payment. A transfer duty concession removes or reduces a tax. A government guarantee can remove the need for lenders mortgage insurance without giving the buyer cash. Shared equity can dramatically reduce the mortgage required, but it also means part of the property's future value belongs to the government.
The position below reflects the programs and settings applying to Queensland buyers as at September 2026.
The $30,000 Queensland First Home Owner Grant
The Queensland First Home Owner Grant is currently $30,000 for eligible buyers purchasing or building a new home. The increased amount was originally temporary, but the Queensland Government extended the $30,000 setting in the 2026-27 Budget, keeping one of the state's largest direct first-home buyer incentives in place.
The important limitation is the property itself. The grant is for a new home valued at less than $750,000, including the land and relevant contract variations. A property valued at $750,000 or more does not satisfy the value limit, so buyers looking close to the threshold need to pay attention to the complete transaction rather than simply the advertised base price of a house-and-land package.
An eligible home can include a newly completed house, unit, duplex or townhouse, an off-the-plan purchase, a home being constructed under a building contract, certain substantially renovated homes, some modular or relocated homes and eligible owner-builder projects. The central requirement is that the property qualifies as a new home under the grant rules. There is no Queensland First Home Owner Grant for an ordinary established home.
Previous property ownership is more nuanced than the expression "first-home buyer" can suggest. A person who has owned a residential investment property since 1 July 2000 but never lived in it may still be able to qualify, provided the other requirements are met and the required evidence can be produced. Property owned before 1 July 2000 is treated differently, and the ownership history of a spouse can also affect eligibility.
Applicants generally need to be at least 18 years old, and at least one applicant must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. The grant does not have an income test. That makes it quite different from some shared-equity programs, where household income is central to eligibility.
The home must become the applicant's principal place of residence. For a purchased new home, the buyer generally needs to move in within one year of the completed transaction and live there continuously for at least six months. Similar occupation requirements apply to homes that are built.
The timing of the grant also matters when preparing a deposit. Receiving a $30,000 grant does not necessarily mean that $30,000 is available to hand to the seller when the contract is signed. Payment arrangements differ according to whether the buyer is purchasing a completed property, building, buying off the plan or applying through an approved financial institution. The contract deposit and other early costs therefore need to be planned separately.
First-Home Buyers Can Pay No Transfer Duty On A New Home
One of the largest changes to Queensland first-home buyer assistance took effect on 1 May 2025. Eligible first-home buyers can receive a full transfer duty concession when purchasing a new home, reducing the transfer duty attributable to the home and its residential land to zero.
Unlike the First Home Owner Grant, the first home new-home transfer duty concession does not have a purchase-price cap. An eligible first-home buyer can therefore receive the full concession on a new residential home priced above the $750,000 grant threshold, even though the same property would be too expensive to receive the $30,000 grant.
That distinction is particularly important in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and other higher-priced markets. A new home worth $900,000, for example, cannot qualify for the current First Home Owner Grant because it exceeds the grant's value limit. It may nevertheless qualify for the full first-home new-home transfer duty concession if the buyer, property and transaction satisfy the concession requirements.
The concession can also apply to an eligible substantially renovated home, but "substantially renovated" has a specific meaning. A freshly refurbished established house does not automatically become a new home because a kitchen, bathrooms, flooring and landscaping have been replaced. Buyers relying on the new-home concession should have the property's status confirmed rather than relying on the language used in advertising.
Where a property contains land that is not attributable to the residence or is being used for non-residential purposes, the full concession may not extend to that portion. This can become relevant with larger rural or semi-rural properties, mixed-use holdings and properties where part of the land is being acquired for business purposes.
There Is Also No Transfer Duty On Eligible First-Home Vacant Land
An eligible first-home buyer purchasing residential vacant land on or after 1 May 2025 can also receive a full transfer duty concession. There is no general value cap on the residential vacant land for this concession, which can make buying land and building considerably different from the duty treatment that applied to earlier contracts.
The buyer must genuinely be acquiring vacant residential land on which their first home will be built. There cannot already be a building or part of a building on the relevant vacant land when it is acquired, and the concession applies to the residential component rather than land intended for a separate non-residential purpose.
The occupation deadline is also different from buying a completed home. The first home must generally be built and occupied within two years of settlement of the land. Buyers considering an unregistered block, lengthy design process, difficult site or construction contract with a long commencement period should therefore consider the duty conditions alongside the practical building timetable.
This concession should not be confused with the First Home Owner Grant. Buying the land may qualify for the transfer duty concession, while receiving the $30,000 grant will depend on the separate grant requirements applying to the completed home, building contract and total value of the eligible transaction.
Established First Homes Still Receive A Valuable Duty Concession
Buying an established home does not qualify for the $30,000 First Home Owner Grant, but it can still receive significant transfer duty relief. For eligible contracts, a first-home buyer purchasing an established Queensland home valued at $700,000 or less can have the first-home concession reduce the transfer duty to zero.
Between $700,000 and $800,000, the additional first-home concession progressively reduces as the property value increases. At $800,000 and above, the additional first-home concession no longer applies, although an eligible owner-occupier may still receive the ordinary home concession that applies more broadly to homes being purchased as a principal place of residence.
This creates an important price distinction for buyers comparing established properties. Crossing the $700,000 threshold does not immediately mean losing the entire first-home benefit, but the amount of duty begins to rise. Once the property reaches $800,000, the special first-home component is gone.
Buyers should calculate the duty against the actual property under consideration rather than applying a rough percentage to the purchase price. Queensland transfer duty is calculated using brackets and concession amounts, so two homes with relatively similar prices can have different upfront duty requirements if they fall on opposite sides of a concession threshold.
A New Residency Rule Now Applies To Queensland Home Concessions
A significant eligibility change took effect on 1 August 2026. For transactions entered into from that date, a person claiming the Queensland home concession, first home concession, first home new-home concession or first home vacant land concession generally needs to be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or specified foreign retiree.
Temporary residents who previously may have satisfied the other requirements will generally no longer qualify for these home concessions on new transactions. Foreign purchaser rules can also create additional duty beyond the ordinary transfer duty calculation, so residency and visa status should be checked early where they are relevant to a purchase.
The first-home concessions also have their own ownership and occupation rules. An eligible buyer of a completed home generally needs to move in with their belongings and live there on a daily basis within one year of settlement. Vacant-land buyers generally have two years to build and occupy their first home.
These conditions continue after the concession is claimed. Selling, transferring interests, granting certain occupation rights to other people or failing to establish the property as the required home can trigger reassessment. A concession that reduces duty at settlement therefore carries obligations that should still be understood after the keys have been handed over.
Owner-Occupiers Who Are Not First-Home Buyers Can Still Receive A Home Concession
Queensland's transfer duty assistance is not limited to people entering home ownership for the first time. A buyer purchasing a home that will become their principal place of residence may qualify for the ordinary home concession even if they have owned property before.
The home concession can save up to $7,175 compared with the ordinary transfer duty rates. It does not provide the additional relief reserved for qualifying first-home buyers, but it remains relevant to people upgrading, downsizing, returning to home ownership or moving from one principal residence to another.
For transactions entered into from 1 August 2026, the new citizenship and residency conditions also apply to this concession. The buyer generally needs to occupy the property as their home within one year of settlement and satisfy the continuing requirements attached to the concession.
The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme Is Now Much Broader
The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme is one of the most important options for buyers whose main obstacle is saving a large deposit. It was previously known through the Home Guarantee Scheme and First Home Guarantee arrangements, but its current settings are considerably broader than the earlier versions of those programs.
Since 1 October 2025, the scheme has had no income caps, unlimited eligible places and no waiting list. An eligible first-home buyer can purchase with a minimum 5% deposit, while eligible single parents and single legal guardians can use the scheme with a minimum 2% deposit.
The government does not contribute that deposit and does not acquire an ownership share in the property. Instead, it guarantees part of the home loan to the participating lender. That guarantee allows an eligible borrower to obtain a high loan-to-value mortgage without paying lenders mortgage insurance, subject to the lender approving the loan.
This distinction matters because a government guarantee does not reduce the amount borrowed in the way shared equity does. A buyer purchasing with a 5% deposit will ordinarily be financing a much larger proportion of the property's value than someone contributing a 20% deposit. Avoiding lenders mortgage insurance can save a substantial upfront cost, but repayments still need to be affordable on the resulting loan.
For the general first-home buyer stream, applicants must be at least 18 and be Australian citizens or permanent residents. The scheme is also available to some buyers who are not technically purchasing for the first time, provided they have not owned property or land in Australia during the previous 10 years.
The home must be owner-occupied and the loan must satisfy the scheme and participating lender requirements. Houses, townhouses, apartments, existing homes, newly built homes, off-the-plan properties and some house-and-land or building arrangements can qualify.
Queensland Property Price Caps For The 5% Deposit Scheme
The 5% Deposit Scheme has location-based property price caps even though it no longer has an income cap. In Queensland, the current cap for the capital city and designated regional centres is $1 million. The designated Queensland regional centres are the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, so Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast currently share the $1 million limit.
For other parts of Queensland, the current scheme cap is $700,000. That makes the postcode important. A buyer looking at a $790,000 property on the Sunshine Coast may be within the scheme's property cap, while an otherwise comparable property in another Queensland region could exceed the applicable $700,000 limit.
Both the purchase price and the property's value as assessed by the participating lender need to remain within the applicable scheme cap. Buyers should therefore confirm the postcode classification and property value with the lender before relying on the scheme when making an offer.
There is no separate allocation that can run out for an eligible applicant under the current 5% Deposit Scheme settings. Finance approval is still required, however, and the government's guarantee does not require a lender to approve a borrower who does not satisfy its credit, income, expenditure or serviceability requirements.
Help To Buy Can Reduce The Mortgage As Well As The Deposit
The Australian Government Help to Buy Scheme operates very differently from the 5% Deposit Scheme. Applications opened in December 2025, and Help to Buy is a shared-equity program rather than a loan guarantee.
An eligible buyer can purchase with a minimum 2% deposit while the Australian Government contributes up to 30% of the purchase price of an existing home or up to 40% for a newly built home. The remaining purchase price is generally covered by the buyer's deposit and a home loan from a participating lender.
That can substantially reduce the mortgage. On an eligible purchase, a government contribution of 30% or 40% means the buyer does not need to borrow that portion of the purchase price at settlement. It also avoids lenders mortgage insurance under the scheme.
The contribution is not free money. The Commonwealth retains an equity interest in the home, and the value of that interest moves with the value of the property. If the property rises in value, the amount represented by the Commonwealth's share can rise as well. If the home is eventually sold, the government shares proportionately in the gain or loss under the scheme rules.
Help to Buy is not limited strictly to lifetime first-home buyers. Previous homeowners can potentially participate, provided they meet the current ownership and other requirements. Applicants generally cannot own another property in Australia or overseas when entering the scheme, subject to specific exceptions that can apply in some circumstances.
Help To Buy Income And Property Limits In Queensland
Help to Buy does have an income test. For the 2026-27 financial year, the current taxable-income threshold is $103,000 for a single applicant and $165,000 for joint applicants or a single parent applicant. Income is assessed using the relevant Australian Taxation Office Notice of Assessment, and the thresholds are indexed.
The minimum deposit is 2%, but that does not necessarily mean a buyer with substantial savings can simply preserve all of them and ask the government to contribute the maximum amount. Help to Buy includes a financial capacity assessment and applicants are generally expected to contribute the maximum reasonable deposit they can afford while retaining an appropriate amount for costs and contingencies.
The Queensland property price cap is currently $1 million for Brisbane and the designated regional centres of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. The cap is $700,000 through the rest of Queensland. The buyer's actual purchasing limit may be lower because the participating lender still needs to approve a suitable loan and Housing Australia determines the contribution available under the scheme.
There are 10,000 Help to Buy places nationally each year. The property must become and remain the participant's principal place of residence, and ongoing requirements apply to insurance, maintenance, income reviews, property improvements and changes in personal circumstances.
Participants can progressively increase their ownership by buying back part of the Commonwealth's equity, refinance within the permitted scheme arrangements or repay the government's share when the home is sold. Shared equity can be powerful where borrowing capacity rather than the contract deposit is the main obstacle, but it changes the economics of owning, renovating and eventually selling the property.
Queensland Boost To Buy Is A Separate Shared-Equity Scheme
Queensland has its own shared-equity program called Boost to Buy. It should not be confused with the Commonwealth Help to Buy Scheme, despite the similar names and the fact that both can allow an eligible buyer to start with a 2% deposit.
Boost to Buy is specifically directed to eligible first-home buyers purchasing in Queensland. The Queensland Government can contribute up to 25% of the purchase price of an existing home or up to 30% of a new home, with the government receiving an equity interest in return.
The maximum property purchase price is $1 million throughout Queensland. For the 2026 income year, the current income limit is $155,000 for a single adult. Two adults applying together can have combined income of up to $232,000, and the $232,000 threshold also applies to a single applicant with one or more dependants.
The buyer must contribute at least 2% of the purchase price from demonstrated savings, and the First Home Owner Grant cannot be used to satisfy that minimum 2% savings requirement. Purchase costs such as conveyancing, inspections, registration expenses and any applicable transfer duty also need to be covered.
Unlike some of the Commonwealth options, Boost to Buy does not allow every residential purchase format. The property must be an existing home or a newly completed home with the necessary completion certification. Vacant land, off-the-plan purchases and properties bought at auction are not eligible.
Buyers also need provisional scheme approval before entering into the contract. Once provisionally approved, they generally have six months to find an eligible property. The scheme requires sufficient contractual time for finance and final approval, making it particularly important that a participating buyer does not sign first and investigate Boost to Buy afterwards.
Boost To Buy Availability Is Currently Limited By Region
Boost to Buy is funded for a limited number of participants rather than operating with unlimited places. Half of its allocations are reserved for South East Queensland and half for regional Queensland, with the classification based on the location of the property being purchased.
For the scheme, South East Queensland includes Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan-Beaudesert, Moreton Bay and the Sunshine Coast. Areas outside those regions are treated as regional Queensland for allocation purposes.
As at September 2026, the South East Queensland allocation of appointments for Round 2 has been exhausted. The participating lender, Unity Bank, is currently accepting Boost to Buy applications for regional Queensland places only. This is one of the parts of the government assistance landscape that buyers need to check immediately before making plans because another release of places could alter availability.
The Queensland Government's contribution does not attract ordinary interest, but it remains an equity interest. Its monetary value changes with the value of the property, so a 25% government interest in a home that later becomes substantially more valuable will also become more valuable.
There are continuing ownership rules as well. The property must remain the participant's principal place of residence, restrictions apply to acquiring other property and refinancing, and the government's share eventually needs to be repaid. Selling within the first two years generally requires government consent.
The Two Shared-Equity Schemes Are Not Interchangeable
A buyer comparing Help to Buy with Boost to Buy should look beyond the fact that both advertise a minimum 2% deposit. The Commonwealth scheme can contribute up to 30% for an established home and 40% for a new home, while Queensland's Boost to Buy provides up to 25% and 30% respectively. Their income thresholds, property caps, first-home requirements, eligible property types, lender panels and availability are also different.
The geographic difference is particularly relevant in Queensland. Help to Buy currently uses a $1 million cap for Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast and $700,000 elsewhere. Boost to Buy uses a $1 million property limit throughout Queensland, although its available places are split between South East Queensland and regional Queensland.
A buyer may therefore satisfy one program but not another. Someone buying in regional Queensland at $780,000, for example, would be above the current regional Queensland Help to Buy property cap but potentially within the Boost to Buy property limit, assuming places are available and all of the other eligibility requirements are met.
The First Home Super Saver Scheme Can Help Build The Deposit
The First Home Super Saver Scheme is another Commonwealth program, although it is neither a grant nor a government-backed home loan. It allows eligible first-home buyers to use certain voluntary superannuation contributions as a tax-effective way of building savings for a first home.
Up to $15,000 of eligible voluntary contributions from any one financial year can count towards the scheme, subject to an overall limit of $50,000 across multiple years. Associated earnings calculated under the scheme can also be released, so the final amount received can be more than the eligible contributions themselves.
Only qualifying voluntary contributions are included. The scheme does not allow someone to withdraw their ordinary compulsory employer superannuation balance simply because they have decided to buy a house.
Eligibility is assessed individually, which can be useful for couples or friends buying together. One eligible buyer can potentially use their First Home Super Saver amount even if the person purchasing with them does not qualify. A participant generally needs to have never owned property in Australia, including investment property, vacant land and certain other property interests, although a financial-hardship provision can apply in limited circumstances.
Timing deserves attention. Buyers should obtain the required First Home Super Saver determination before ownership of real property transfers to them. Under the current rules, a release request can be made before signing a contract or within the permitted period after signing, with a 90-day period applying to determinations made under the current post-September 2024 rules.
Once money has been released, the buyer generally needs to enter into an eligible purchase or construction contract within 12 months, although an additional period of up to 12 months can generally be allowed. A buyer using the scheme should therefore organise the ATO process well before settlement rather than treating superannuation as money that can be withdrawn instantly when a suitable property appears.
Which Government Programs Can Be Used Together?
The strongest assistance can sometimes come from combining programs that solve different parts of the purchase. An eligible first-home buyer purchasing a new home for less than $750,000 could potentially qualify for the $30,000 Queensland First Home Owner Grant as well as the full first-home new-home transfer duty concession.
The same buyer may also be able to use the First Home Super Saver Scheme and one suitable low-deposit or shared-equity pathway, subject to the individual rules and the lender's treatment of the buyer's funds. This can dramatically change the amount of cash and borrowing capacity required compared with buying without government assistance.
The financing schemes themselves cannot simply be stacked together. The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme cannot be used together with Help to Buy. Queensland Boost to Buy also excludes participants receiving relevant Commonwealth home-buyer guarantees or shared-equity assistance, which prevents it from being combined with programs such as the 5% Deposit Scheme or Help to Buy for the same purchase.
Queensland grants and transfer duty concessions are different. Boost to Buy participants can still separately qualify for the Queensland First Home Owner Grant and transfer duty concessions, provided all of the relevant conditions are satisfied. Help to Buy can likewise operate alongside eligible grants and transfer duty relief even though competing home-buyer guarantee and shared-equity programs cannot be added to it.
A New Home Under $750,000 Can Receive Several Different Benefits
A first-home buyer purchasing an eligible brand-new Queensland property below $750,000 sits within the part of the market where the widest combination of assistance may be available. The property can potentially qualify for the $30,000 First Home Owner Grant and a full transfer duty concession, while the buyer can investigate the 5% Deposit Scheme, Help to Buy or Boost to Buy as alternative ways of dealing with the deposit and loan.
Those options produce very different financial outcomes. Under the 5% Deposit Scheme, the buyer keeps full ownership but takes a comparatively large mortgage. Under Help to Buy or Boost to Buy, the government contributes part of the purchase price, reducing the mortgage but acquiring an equity interest in the property.
That makes the cheapest path into the property at settlement different from the cheapest or most suitable structure over many years. A smaller mortgage can improve monthly cash flow, while retaining 100% ownership means the buyer retains all future capital growth. The right comparison therefore needs to include future ownership as well as today's deposit.
An Established Home Can Still Attract Significant Assistance
Established-home buyers should not assume government assistance is only for new construction. An eligible first-home buyer purchasing an established property for $700,000 or less can currently receive a full first-home transfer duty concession, even though no First Home Owner Grant is available.
The 5% Deposit Scheme can be used for eligible established properties, as can Help to Buy. Boost to Buy also permits established homes where places are available, with the Queensland Government able to contribute up to 25% of the purchase price.
For many buyers, that means the choice between new and established property should not be made purely by comparing the $30,000 grant. An established property may have a different location, block size, renovation history, body corporate position or long-term suitability that outweighs the grant available on a new dwelling. Government assistance should improve a purchase that already makes sense rather than determine which home is bought.
Some Assistance Is Available To People Returning To Home Ownership
The expression "first-home buyer assistance" can also hide some useful exceptions. The 5% Deposit Scheme is available not only to first-home buyers but also to eligible people who have not owned property or land in Australia during the previous 10 years.
Help to Buy can also accommodate previous homeowners who no longer own property and satisfy its other eligibility requirements. This can be relevant to people who sold a home years earlier, have rebuilt their finances after a separation or other life change, or are trying to return to owner occupation after an extended period of renting.
Queensland's ordinary home concession is broader again because it is intended for eligible owner-occupiers rather than being restricted to first-time ownership. Someone purchasing their second, third or later principal residence can therefore still investigate whether concessional transfer duty applies.
The Minimum Deposit Is Not The Same As The Cash Needed To Buy
A scheme advertising a 2% or 5% minimum deposit can make the path to ownership appear straightforward, but the deposit is only one part of the cash required. A buyer may still need money for conveyancing, searches, registration fees, building and pest inspections, bank fees, insurance, moving expenses and settlement adjustments.
An apartment or townhouse may bring body corporate costs into the equation from the beginning. A house may require immediate maintenance, insurance or building work. A new home can involve landscaping, fencing, window coverings, floor coverings, retaining work, driveways, site variations and other items that sit outside an advertised base construction price.
Low-deposit purchases also leave less equity between the buyer and the property's market value. That is not necessarily a reason to avoid them, but it makes the quality of the property and the affordability of the loan particularly important. Government assistance can reduce an entry barrier without removing the financial consequences of the purchase itself.
Loan Approval Still Matters Under Every Deposit Scheme
A government guarantee, shared-equity contribution or grant does not override a lender's credit assessment. The participating lender still considers income, expenses, existing debts, credit conduct, employment, dependants, loan term and the security property when deciding whether it will approve the loan.
A buyer can therefore meet the published government eligibility rules and still be unable to borrow the amount needed for the proposed home. Conversely, a person may have strong borrowing capacity but fail a particular scheme because the property exceeds its price cap or their income exceeds a shared-equity threshold.
Pre-approval becomes particularly valuable when government assistance is part of the purchase. It allows the buyer to understand both borrowing capacity and scheme eligibility before negotiations begin, rather than finding a property first and trying to make the finance structure fit afterwards.
Government Assistance Should Be Checked Before Signing A Contract
The best time to work through government assistance is before entering into a binding contract. Some programs depend on the contract date, some require provisional approval before a contract is signed, and others have property requirements that cannot be repaired after the buyer has committed to an ineligible purchase.
Boost to Buy is a clear example because buyers need provisional approval before signing and cannot use the scheme for an auction purchase. The First Home Super Saver Scheme has its own determination and release timetable. The 5% Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy require a participating lender, while Queensland transfer duty concessions depend on the buyer, property and intended occupation.
New-build buyers should also establish exactly which definition of "new" the property satisfies. An attractive renovation, recently completed dwelling or property that has never been occupied by the current seller may not automatically satisfy every government program's definition.
The same care is worthwhile around price limits. The Queensland First Home Owner Grant requires the eligible new home and land to be worth less than $750,000, while the transfer duty concession for a qualifying new first home has no general value cap. The 5% Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy then impose their own location-based caps. Using one threshold as though it applies to every program can produce an expensive mistake.
Start With The Property You Intend To Buy
The simplest way to work through the available assistance is to begin with the property rather than the program. Establish whether the home is new, established, off the plan or vacant land, its likely purchase price and the Queensland location in which it sits. Those facts immediately remove some options and bring others into focus.
The buyer's circumstances come next. Previous property ownership, the period since any previous ownership, citizenship or residency, household income, whether dependants are involved, available savings and borrowing capacity all affect which pathways remain open.
Only then is it useful to compare the financing structure. A buyer who already has sufficient borrowing capacity but lacks a 20% deposit may find the 5% Deposit Scheme particularly relevant because it preserves full ownership while avoiding lenders mortgage insurance. Someone whose borrowing capacity remains too low even with a small deposit may find shared equity more useful because part of the purchase price is removed from the mortgage altogether.
For an eligible new-home buyer under $750,000, the Queensland grant and transfer duty concession can then sit alongside the chosen finance pathway. For an established-home buyer, transfer duty relief and the federal or state financing programs may still substantially reduce the initial barrier to ownership.
The Best Incentive Is The One That Improves A Good Purchase
Queensland buyers have access to more forms of home-purchase assistance in 2026 than a simple first-home grant suggests. There is the $30,000 Queensland First Home Owner Grant, full transfer duty relief for eligible first-home new builds and residential vacant land, established-home duty concessions, the broader owner-occupier home concession, the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme, Help to Buy, Queensland Boost to Buy and the First Home Super Saver Scheme.
Each addresses a different problem. Grants and concessions reduce acquisition costs. The 5% Deposit Scheme can shorten the time needed to save while preserving full ownership. First Home Super Saver can make the deposit-building process more tax effective. Help to Buy and Boost to Buy can reduce both the deposit barrier and mortgage size by introducing government equity.
The value of those programs is greatest when they support a property that already suits the buyer's finances, location needs and longer-term plans. A $30,000 grant should not make an unsuitable new build better than the right established home, and a 2% deposit should not turn an unaffordable mortgage into an affordable one. Shared equity should also be assessed with an understanding that some of the property's future value will continue to belong to the government until that interest is repaid.
Because the programs overlap without being identical, a Queensland buyer can benefit from checking eligibility before starting serious property negotiations. The Queensland Revenue Office can confirm grant and transfer duty settings, Housing Australia and participating lenders administer the Commonwealth home-buyer schemes, the Australian Taxation Office administers First Home Super Saver, and Queensland's Boost to Buy arrangements are administered through the state scheme and its approved lender.
Government grants, concessions, property limits, income thresholds, available places and lender participation can change. This information reflects settings current at the time of writing and is general information only. Buyers should confirm eligibility and current program availability with the relevant government authority and participating lender, and obtain appropriate legal, financial, taxation and credit advice before entering into a property contract or financial commitment.
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Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, but we make no guarantees regarding its completeness or reliability. The data is presented for general informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. We are not liable for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from its use. Users should verify details with relevant sources and seek professional advice where appropriate for the most accurate and up-to-date guidance.
