June 30, 2021 deadline for $20,000 first-home buyers grant in regional Victoria

First-home buyers in regional Victoria will cease receiving a $20,000 grant from July 1, 2021, when the First Home Owners Grant will halve to $10,000.

Victorian Treasury officials confirmed the regional grant will go back to matching the $10,000 grant on offer for metropolitan first-home buyers.

Victorians buying or building a new home valued up to $750,000 are eligible for a First Home Owner Grant (FHOG). 

It applies to buying an off-the-plan land and or a house and land building package.

The home must not have been previously sold or occupied to be eligible for the FHOG. 

More than one exemption, concession or reduction from stamp duty is available for property purchases in Victoria.

First-home buyer duty exemption or concession – a one-off duty exemption for a PPR valued up to $600,000, or a concession for a PPR with a dutiable value from $600,001 to $750,000. 

This duty exemption/concession is separate and distinct from the First Home Owner Grant. 

The grant is a payment made to you, whereas the first home buyer duty exemption/concession is a reduction in the amount of land transfer duty.

It has been a popular grant across the state.

“Seventy-seven per cent of all Victorian first-home buyer transactions since March 2020 were properties under $600,000 and therefore no land transfer [stamp] duty was payable,” the recent state budget papers said.