First Home Buyer Conveyancing

Buying your first home in NSW comes with a transfer duty scheme and a grant that can save you a meaningful amount, but the rules are specific and the two schemes are easy to confuse. Licensed conveyancers and solicitors assist first home buyers by explaining what you may be eligible for and manage the conveyancing through to settlement.

The first scheme is the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, which reduces or removes transfer duty. Eligible first home buyers pay no transfer duty on a new or existing home valued at $800,000 or under, with a concessional rate for a home valued over $800,000 and under $1,000,000. Vacant land has separate thresholds, with a full exemption up to $350,000 and a concession to $450,000. These thresholds have applied since 1 July 2023, and the scheme is administered by Revenue NSW. Eligibility includes moving into the home within 12 months and living there for at least 6 continuous months.

The second scheme is the First Home Owner (New Homes) Grant, a separate $10,000 payment. It is available when you buy a brand-new home that no one has lived in priced $600,000 or under, or build a home where the combined land and building value is $750,000 or under. It applies to new homes only, not established homes. It is important not to confuse the grant, which is for new homes, with the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, which covers both new and existing homes, because they are different schemes with different rules.

Your conveyancer or solicitor checks which scheme and grant may apply to your circumstances, helps you complete the right forms, reviews your contract and the prescribed disclosure documents, runs the searches, and manages settlement through PEXA, the online platform used to lodge documents and transfer ownership. Because eligibility is determined by Revenue NSW and depends on your individual situation, they advise you on your specific case rather than relying on general rules.

On cost, many independent conveyancers offer a fixed professional fee for a routine first-home purchase, with government charges, search fees and other disbursements confirmed separately in writing. We are a conveyancing network and never set or charge the fee ourselves.

If you are buying your first home in Sydney and want to understand what you may be eligible for, share a few details and a licensed conveyancer or solicitor will contact you, usually within one business day.