Continuing our look at the Home Loan Process, this week we are going to delve into the First Home Owners Grant or if you are in Queensland the Great Start Grant. To start off a bit of history about why the First Home Owners Grant came about.
From the governments website FHOG Online they provide this overview of why the grant commenced:
The First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) scheme was introduced on 1 July 2000 to offset the effect of the GST on home ownership. It is a national scheme funded by the states and territories and administered under their own legislation.
Under the scheme, a one-off grant is payable to first home owners that satisfy all the eligibility criteria.
One key point to note is that while this is a national scheme, it is administered by the states and territories under their own legislation. As a result each state is different, in the size of the grant and eligibility criteria. The FHOG Online website provides links to the relevant websites for each of the states.
For the remainder of this article I am going to look at Queenslands Great Start Grant, while the first home owners grants for the other states and territories are similar you need to refer to the relevant state or territory that you are in.
Queensland Great Start Grant
The Great Start Grant is a Queensland Government initiative to help first home owners to get their new first home sooner. You’ll get $20,000 towards buying or building your new house, unit or townhouse (valued at
less than $750,000). You can even buy off the plan or choose to build yourself. It’s a great opportunity to buy or build a new home in our great state.
Some key points are:
- Only applicable is you are buying or building a new home
- Property has to be valued at least than $750,000
- You or your spouse cannot have previously owned property in Australia
- At least one of the applicants has to be an Australian Citizen or Permenant Resident
- You have to be over 18 years of age.
While the Queensland Government provides assistance to First Home Owners, it is only to those who are building or buying a new property. This is a key point to keep in mind, if you have found your dream home and it was built 5 years ago, unfortunately you will not qualify for the grant even if you meet all the other criteria.
As I mentioned previously the First Home Owners Grant is different in each state and territory. Please check out FHOG Online website which will provide you to the relevant authority in your state or territory.
Next week we will have a look at some of the other costs that are assoicated with purchasing a property and which you should take into account when putting your budget together.