First Home Buyer/Owner Grant in South Australia

If you’re a first home buyer looking to enter the property market in South Australia, you may be looking at ways to finance your first home loan.

As per studies released by ABS earlier this year, the mean house price rose by 23.8% to $650,000 in Adelaide and 18.7% to 362,000 in regional South Australia.

These figures make it more challenging to break into the property market and buy a new home.

Fortunately, first home buyers in South Australia may be eligible for the First Home Owners Grant (FHOG).

This article takes you through the necessary details of the FHOG in South Australia so you can make the most of this scheme.

What Grants are Available for First Home Buyers in South Australia?

The South Australian Government offers grants to help first-home buyers enter the property market. These include:

The First Home Owner Grant: It enables first home buyers to purchase or construct a new residential home in South Australia.
The HomeBuilder Grant: It helps eligible owner-occupiers, including first home buyers, who have built a new home, conducted significant renovation to an existing home, or have purchased an off-the-plan/new home.

First Home Owner Grant SA

The First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) SA comprises a grant of up to $15,000 that the State Government pays to eligible first home owners.

Eligible home buyers intending to purchase or construct ‘new’ residential property (a house, unit, townhouse, flat or apartment), which meets local planning standards anywhere in South Australia, can access this grant.

The term ‘new’ home indicates that your home should not have been previously occupied or sold as a place of residence. It also includes a substantially renovated home. Notably, the First Home Owner Grant for established homes has been ineffective since 1st July 2014.

How it Works

This First Home Owners’ Grant money can be put as a deposit towards your loan amount for purchasing or building a new home in South Australia. If you’re an eligible first home buyer - an individual or a couple - you can apply for a single payment of $15,000 to help you enter your first home sooner.

To access the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) SA, you must intend for the home to be your principal place of residence. You cannot avail of the grant if the dwelling is used primarily as an investment property.

Furthermore, you will have to occupy the property as your principal place of residence for a continuous period of at least six months. This period commences within 12 months of the completion of your transaction.

This section provides an overview of how the grant works and what you need to know as a first home buyer in South Australia. It’ll help you understand the critical steps in the process and what you need to do to ensure everything goes smoothly.

Eligibility

To begin with, you have to lodge your applications for the First Home Owner Grant made within 12 months of completing the transaction.

In addition, you must meet the following requirements to be eligible for the grant.

1. Citizenship Status

You or at least one applicant (in case of a joint application) must be an Australian citizen. If you’re a permanent resident of Australia, you are eligible too. You can also apply if you’re a New Zealand citizen, permanently residing in Australia and holding a Special Category Visa.

2. Age

Each applicant must have completed at least 18 years when applying for the First Home Owners Grant SA.

3. Personal Circumstances

You can access the grant regardless of your income or wealth. However, you, your spouse/domestic partner, should not have previously owned a residential property anywhere in Australia prior to 1st July 2000.

Likewise, you, your spouse/domestic partner, should not have acquired Australian residential property on or after 1st July 2000 and continuously occupied that property as your place of residence for six months.

In addition, the grant cannot be accessed by a company or trust. You and the other applicants must be a person, except in the cases of legal disability.

4. Residency Requirements

Each applicant must occupy the new home purchased or built as the primary residence for at least six months. This period commences within 12 months after you complete the eligible transaction.

When meeting residency requirements, you must provide a:

Proof of residency: The responsibility to prove to the Commissioner that the residency requirements are met rests with the applicant(s). Therefore, you and your co-applicant may have to verify proof of occupancy with supporting documentation. For this purpose, your electricity and gas bills, bank statements, phone accounts, household content-related insurance policies, etc., will be helpful.
Non-compliance: It may happen that you and your co-applicants do not meet the residency requirements. In that case, you should contact RevenueSA in writing within 14 days of the date it first became apparent that you would not be able to meet the residency requirements and accordingly repay the grant. The Commissioner can exempt an applicant from the residence requirement where there are multiple applicants. However, at least one of the applicants must comply, and the other applicant(s) should be able to provide a practical reason for not complying with the residence requirement.

5. Property Value

The residential property’s market value should be $575,000 or less. More specifically, the market value in the following cases may be explained as follows:

Contract to buy a home: The market value in this scenario is the consideration for the purchase of the house. Furthermore, the property’s market value will be taken into account if the consideration is lower than the market value.
Comprehensive building contract: Here, the market value comprises the sum of the consideration for the building contract and the market value of the property on which the home will be built at the time of the contract. If the consideration for the building contract is lower than the actual costs, the sum of actual costs to construct and the value of the land at the time of making the building contract will be considered.
Owner builders: The market value is determined on the completion of the property construction and is ready to be occupied as a place of residence.

6. Property Type

You can access the First Home Owner’s Grant in South Australia for any fixed dwelling which is suitable as a residence. This includes single dwellings, duplexes, townhouses or flats.

You cannot use the First Home Owner Grant to renovate an existing building or purchase vacant land.

7. Minimum Price

While there’s no minimum, if your purchase price is lower than the maximum First Home Owner Grant, your payment will equal your house’s purchase price.

For example, the maximum First Home Owners Grant SA potentially payable is $15,000. However, if your house’s purchase price is only $12,000, you will only receive a grant of $12,000.

How to Apply

If you meet the eligibility requirements, the First Home Owners Grant SA could be a great opportunity to get ownership of your first home sooner than you imagined!

Firstly, you must lodge your First Home Owners Grant SA application directly through an approved agent or with RevenueSA on the RevenueSA website. Most importantly, this application form must be submitted within 12 months of completing your transaction.

When Will the Grant be Paid?

To begin with, the First Home Owner Grant is not split. Instead, it is paid per eligible transaction irrespective of the number of applicants.

In South Australia, First Home Owner Grants are paid to an Australian citizen or other eligible first home buyers as follows:

For Purchasing a New Home/Off-the-Plan Home

If you apply through an Approved Agent: Payment is made at the settlement date.
If you apply through RevenueSA: The payment will be made within five days once the approval of your application and evidence of settlement taking place has been provided. Notably, the land transfer should be registered with the Lands Titles Office before any payment can be made.

For a Contract to Build

If you apply through an Approved Agent: Your grant will be paid on the date of the first progress payment by your approved agent.
If you apply through RevenueSA: The grant will be paid within five days once the approval of your application and evidence indicating the foundations are laid. Also, before any payment is made, you’ll have to provide Revenue SA with the first progress invoice issued by your builder.

For Owner-Builder

If you apply through an Approved Agent: Your grant will be paid when you submit your application and the necessary supporting evidence to your approved agent. You’ll also have to provide a statutory declaration that your home is complete and ready to be occupied as a residence.
If you apply through RevenueSA: Payment will be made within five days of RevenueSA approving your application, and you have provided all the crucial evidence. Here too, you’ll also have to give a statutory declaration to Revenue SA that your home is complete and ready to be occupied as a place of residence.

Do First Home Owners Pay Stamp Duty in SA?

Yes, South Australian first home owners have to pay stamp duty even if they are eligible for the First Home Owners’ Grant. No stamp duty concessions are available for first home buyers in South Australia.

For this purpose, it’s critical to consider your objectives and financial situation when buying your first home.

Our Stamp Duty Calculator considers the policies of all the states and territories in Australia. Thus you can get an estimate of stamp duty costs whichever place your purchase property in the country.

What Other Grants Are Available for First Home Buyers in SA?

Aside from First Home Owner Grant FHOG, many national schemes and grants are available for ALL Australian first home buyers. For an overview of what's available, see our comprehensive first home buyer grants breakdown:

SEE ALL FIRST HOME BYER GRANTS HERE.

Regional Home Guarantee (RHG)

The RHG, announced by the Federal Government in the 2022-23 Federal Budget, aims to provide eligible home buyers more opportunities to buy homes beyond the major cities. This will help reduce population density in the capital cities.

From October 2022, up to 10,000 eligible borrowers can access the scheme to buy a home in a regional area with as low as a 5% deposit. In addition, you can borrow 95% of the property value without paying a hefty lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI).

Read about the Regional Home Guarantee and how it can help you buy your first home.

Family Home Guarantee (FHG)

The Family Home Guarantee is a scheme by the Australian Government to help eligible single parents having at least one dependent child purchase a family home so they can have a place to call their own.

If you’re an eligible single parent, you can leverage this scheme to build your new home or buy an existing home with a deposit amount as low as 2 per cent, irrespective of whether you’re a first home buyer or you have previously owned a home.

First Home Guarantee

The First Home Guarantee can help you purchase or build your first home with as low as a 5% deposit if you’re eligible. In addition, the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) will guarantee your lender up to 15% of the property value being financed by your loan.

The scheme has benefited many women and front-line workers. Notably, one in five guarantees were issued to essential workers, with nurses and teachers accounting for a significant proportion. To know more, read our article, Home Guarantee Scheme Break Down For 2022

First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSS)

First home buyers can use the FHSS scheme to save money inside their super fund for buying a new or existing home in Australia. In addition, couples, siblings, or even friends can access their eligible FHSS contributions to buy the same property.

Per the FHSS scheme, you can save up to $15,000 in any financial year and a maximum of $50,000 across all years. In addition, you’ll also receive an amount of deemed earnings related to those contributions.

Read our First Home Super Saver Scheme Guide to get ahead with your home ownership plans.

Help to Buy Scheme (HTB)

The HTB scheme enables aspiring home owners to own their dream homes by contributing up to 40% of the home’s amount. It was introduced by Australia’s Labour Party to help Australians navigate homeownership challenges. Each year, up to 10,000 places are open to eligible Australians.

Read all about the Help To Buy Scheme Australia (2022) and see if you’re eligible for this opportunity to get into your first home sooner.

FHOG in Other States and Territories

Not from South Australia? The First Home Owners Grant conditions and reliability requirements vary depending on the State or Territory Governments.

For more information, see our comprehensive breakdowns of the First Home Owners Grant in:

Make the Most of Joust

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First Home Buyer Grant SA