First Home Buyers Grant Victoria: Rules and Evidence

The first home buyers grant in Victoria is a $10,000 payment for eligible buyers purchasing or building a new home worth up to $750,000. Its official name is the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG). An established home doesn’t qualify, even when the buyer has never owned property.

For a broker, eligibility and payment timing are separate questions. Establish the client’s entitlement first, then record when the money will reach the transaction before counting it towards settlement funds.

Confirm the Victorian Grant Setting

Victoria’s State Revenue Office (SRO) administers the First Home Owner Grant and accepts new applications as at 3 October 2026. Its current grant guidance, updated 29 September 2026, sets the amount at $10,000. Melbourne and regional Victorian buyers use the same current grant.

The transaction’s commencement date determines which grant setting applies. For a purchase or building contract, record the contract date. For an owner-builder, record when laying the foundations began.

The current new-home setting applies from 1 July 2013.

Completion controls other tests and deadlines. Record settlement or the date construction is complete separately from commencement. For a purchased home, possession is usually at settlement.

For construction, completion means the home is ready to occupy and an occupancy certificate has been issued.

Historical amounts belong to their transaction period. The SRO’s historical rates record a $20,000 regional grant from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2021. Don’t carry that amount into a 2026 regional purchase.

The grant also differs from other first-home buyer assistance.

An eligible established-home buyer can receive first-home buyer duty relief, although the home doesn’t qualify for FHOG. The Victorian Homebuyer Fund is a separate shared-equity programme. For another state’s grant, use the first home owner grants guide.

Test Applicant History

Assess every applicant and their spouse or partner, including a partner who won’t appear on the title. The SRO application form asks about ownership and assistance across Australia.

Work through the client file in this order.

1. Identify everyone acquiring a relevant interest in the home. Include all title holders as applicants and record each spouse or partner.
2. Check previous grants. A grant received anywhere in Australia generally prevents another entitlement. A repaid grant can require a separate SRO decision.
3. Record earlier residential ownership. Ownership before 1 July 2000 prevents eligibility, even without occupation. For an interest acquired from that date, check whether the person lived there continuously for at least six months.
4. Confirm applicant age and status at completion. Applicants must be natural persons and at least 18. At least one must meet the citizenship or permanent-residence requirement.
5. Record the intended occupation date and continuous residence period. At least one applicant must live there for 12 months, starting within 12 months of settlement or construction completion.

Under the SRO’s September 2026 guidance, New Zealand citizens settling from 26 November 2025 qualify without needing a special category visa. Earlier settlements have a different visa and physical-presence test.

A previous investment property doesn’t automatically disqualify a client who acquired it after 1 July 2000 and never lived there. In a hypothetical file, a buyer purchased a rental unit in 2018 and always leased it to tenants. That history can pass the ownership test, but the remaining applicant and property tests still apply.

Refer unusual interests, trust arrangements or disputed occupation history to the SRO with the title and relevant documents. Companies and trusts fail the ordinary natural-person test. Family-violence relief and eligible Australian Defence Force residence exemptions require their own evidence and authority assessment.

If the residence requirement won’t be met, the recipient must notify the SRO in writing within 14 days and repay the grant unless relief applies.

Test the Victorian Property

The Victorian grant covers qualifying new homes, including recognised substantially renovated homes and homes replacing demolished premises. A home’s appearance or an agent’s description as “new” doesn’t establish its grant status. Previous residential occupation, sale or accommodation use can rule it out.

Keep each transaction route separate when gathering evidence.

Transaction	Property evidence to establish
Completed new-home purchase	Signed sale contract, building permit and/or domestic building insurance certificate, occupancy certificate and signed vendor confirmation of first residential sale and no previous occupation. Direct lodgement also needs a title search showing the applicants as registered proprietors.
Off-the-plan purchase	Signed contract and completion/title evidence appropriate to the lodgement route.
Contract to build	Signed comprehensive building contract, applicant’s land title and completion evidence for direct lodgement.
Owner-builder	Applicant’s title, foundation-start evidence and occupancy certificate. Direct lodgement also needs building-cost evidence excluding labour.

These routes and documents come from the SRO’s lodgement guide, updated 29 September 2026. Purchasing vacant land alone doesn’t complete a qualifying new-home transaction.

For an off-the-plan home, the $750,000 grant cap applies to the full contract price. A duty concession can reduce the value used to calculate duty without reducing the price tested for FHOG. The SRO explains this distinction in its off-the-plan concession guidance.

For example, a hypothetical $950,000 apartment fails the grant price test even if a duty concession produces a lower dutiable value. The current grant isn’t $50,000, and the property cap isn’t $950,000.

Keep lender approval separate. Grant eligibility doesn’t establish an acceptable valuation, construction contract or loan security.

A broker can use Bulma’s Policy Advisor to compare lender requirements and retain the quoted policy wording. The SRO decides grant entitlement, while the lender assesses the loan.

Record the Application Evidence

Apply through an SRO-approved agent if the grant is needed at settlement or the first progressive payment. The lender must be on the approved-agent list. Its agent role is separate from approving the mortgage.

For direct applications, the SRO’s application instructions require lodgement after completion and within 12 months. Applicants use the online application.

A broker or other third party applying for a client uses FHOG-Form-02, with supporting copies after completion.

For direct lodgement, collect three identity documents per applicant and spouse or partner, with one from each category.

Citizenship evidence can be an Australian passport. A driver licence can supply photo identity, and a Medicare card can supply evidence of living in Australia.

One document can’t fill two categories.

Include relationship and name-change evidence where relevant. Married applicants need marriage evidence.

A separated applicant needs a statutory declaration with the former partner’s details and relationship dates. Retain the property documents for the chosen route and all required applicant and partner declarations.

Track payment separately from the client’s eligibility answers.

File status	Evidence to retain	Treatment in the funds position
Prepared	Completed application and supporting documents	Show the grant as anticipated, with timing unresolved.
Lodged	Receipt, application number and lodgement date	Record the pending decision and any outstanding documents.
Approved	Written approval and agent payment confirmation	Record the confirmed amount, payment date and destination.
Paid	Account credit or settlement disbursement evidence	Reconcile the money to the transaction once.

For a hypothetical $10,000 grant, a post-settlement direct payment cannot fund a shortfall due at settlement. Arrange sufficient funds for that date or use the approved-agent route when available. Before finalising the settlement position, match the grant’s payment evidence to the settlement statement and keep the client’s residence deadline in the file.