On July 1, 2026, Queensland's $30,000 FHOG drops to $15,000, Tasmania loses both its $30,000 grant and stamp duty exemption, and the ACT introduces zero stamp duty for all first home buyers. Here is what each change means and what to do before the deadline.
Updated 1 October 2026
Eight days from now, on July 1, 2026, three significant first home buyer changes arrive at once across Queensland, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. Two of them remove government support that will not come back. One of them adds a new benefit that was not there before. If you are buying, planning to buy, or helping someone work through their options right now, this is the most concentrated single-date change to first home buyer conditions this year.
Queensland's First Home Owner Grant is currently worth $30,000 for eligible buyers purchasing or building a new home valued under $750,000. That amount drops to $15,000 for contracts signed from July 1, 2026 onward. The difference is $15,000 in a single calendar day.
The key date is the contract signing date, not the settlement date. If you sign a contract by June 30 and settle in September, you are still eligible for the $30,000 amount. The Queensland Revenue Office has confirmed this distinction clearly: what matters is when the contract becomes binding, not when you take possession of the property.
For buyers purchasing house-and-land packages, the process involves two separate contracts - one for the land and one for the build. Both need to reflect the contract date for grant purposes. If you are working through a developer or builder on this type of purchase, confirm the signing timeline with your conveyancer this week so the June 30 deadline is not missed on a technicality.
Queensland also continues to offer zero stamp duty for first home buyers purchasing new or established homes under certain thresholds. That concession is not affected by the July 1 date. But the FHOG reduction from $30,000 to $15,000 is permanent - the higher amount was a temporary extension introduced in November 2023 and has now reached its confirmed end date.
Tasmania is losing two separate first home buyer supports at the same deadline, making it the state with the largest combined value on the line this week.
First, Tasmania's First Home Owner Grant drops from $30,000 to $10,000 for contracts signed from July 1. That is a $20,000 reduction - larger than Queensland's change.
Second, Tasmania's full stamp duty exemption on established homes valued up to $750,000 also ends on June 30. Under the current exemption, eligible first home buyers pay no stamp duty on established home purchases in that price range. After July 1, standard stamp duty rates apply. At a purchase price of $750,000, the stamp duty a buyer now avoids is approximately $28,900. For purchases below that threshold, the savings are proportionally smaller but still meaningful - a $500,000 purchase currently saves approximately $18,000 in duty.
Unlike Queensland, Tasmania's FHOG eligibility for the $30,000 amount is determined by settlement date, not contract date - this is the critical distinction the State Revenue Office Tasmania has confirmed. Buyers must settle by June 30 to access the higher grant. A contract signed in June but settling in August gets the lower $10,000 amount.
For the stamp duty exemption, the determining date is also settlement. If your conveyancer has any flexibility in settlement timing on a current transaction, this is worth discussing directly given the scale of the saving at stake.
Not every change on July 1 is a reduction. In the Australian Capital Territory, the date marks the start of something significant for buyers: zero stamp duty for all first home buyers, with no price cap and no income test.
The ACT had previously offered stamp duty relief through the Home Buyer Concession Scheme, which exempted purchases up to approximately $1,020,000 subject to income thresholds. From July 1, those conditions are removed. Any first home buyer purchasing in the ACT - regardless of price paid or income earned - pays no stamp duty at all.
On a property valued at $800,000 in the ACT, the stamp duty saving is approximately $28,000. At $1,100,000, the saving rises to roughly $45,000 or more. For first home buyers who previously sat just above the income threshold and were paying full stamp duty despite saving for years, this change removes that barrier entirely.
Buyers currently negotiating ACT purchases may want to assess whether delaying exchange until after July 1 - if their transaction allows - could remove the stamp duty cost from their settlement requirements.
The July 1 date is creating genuinely different conditions depending on which state you are buying in. Here is how to read each situation:
Use these tools to understand how the July 1 changes affect your specific buying situation: