Grants and schemes in the ACT

The ACT is the one jurisdiction with no First Home Owner Grant at all. In its place sit four things. A duty exemption with no price cap or income test; shared equity for public housing tenants; an affordable purchase scheme on government land; and the two federal schemes. Every one of them has an eligibility test. This page summarises the tests; it cannot apply them.

First Home Owner Grant

First Home Owner Grant payments ceased in the ACT on 1 July 2019. The ACT Revenue Office says the Home Buyer Concession Scheme replaced it, working on duty rather than as a cash payment. There is no amount, new-home rule or price cap to describe.

State schemes

Home Buyer Concession Scheme. Open, and the ACT's main program. From 1 July 2026 an eligible buyer is exempt from conveyance duty on a home or residential land. The 2026-27 Budget removed the property price cap and the income threshold. The tests are on the stamp duty page and in the last section below. The Budget also widened exemptions for pensioners and eligible NDIS participants; the NDIS detail was not opened.

Shared Equity Scheme. Open, but only to public housing tenants buying their Housing ACT home. The tenant buys 70% of the home with a home loan and Housing ACT keeps the other 30% until it is repaid. Repayments to Housing ACT are a percentage of the home's market value at the time, so both sides share any rise or fall. At least two repayments are required, one at five years and one at 15.

Affordable Home Purchase Scheme. Run by the Suburban Land Agency on land sold to developers with affordable housing requirements. The locations named are the Belconnen, Woden and Gungahlin town centres and suburbs such as Whitlam. Its eligibility criteria and price points are still to be confirmed on the agency's own page.

Closed or not yet open. The First Home Owner Grant, ended 1 July 2019, is the only closed program found. The ACT Government also lists directions it is exploring, including build-to-rent with affordable components and demonstration housing; none takes applications yet.

Federal schemes in the ACT

The 5% Deposit Scheme is Housing Australia's Home Guarantee Scheme. An eligible buyer purchases with a 5% deposit and no LMI. Places are unlimited, there is no income cap, and higher price caps have applied since 1 October 2025. It supports new or existing homes at or below the price cap for the location. Housing Australia publishes a property price cap for the ACT; the figure is still to be confirmed against its property price caps page. Housing Australia's postcode search tool and the participating lender confirm the cap.

Help to Buy is the federal shared-equity scheme. The government contribution is up to 30% of the price for an existing home and 40% for a new one. Applications opened on 5 December 2025. It operates where the state or territory has passed enabling legislation. Whether the ACT has, and the caps that would apply, were not confirmed at the time of checking.

How they combine

Duty relief, a grant and a deposit scheme are separate tests run by separate agencies. A buyer eligible for the Home Buyer Concession Scheme pays no duty; the 5% Deposit Scheme is a separate assessment by a participating lender. Removing duty lowers the cash needed at settlement, which can lift a deposit across the 20% line or reduce an LMI premium.

The tests that catch people out

• Five years, not ever. The test is whether any buyer or their domestic partner has owned property in the last five years. A partner's former investment unit counts even if the partner is not going on the new title. One co-buyer who owned four years ago takes the whole purchase out.
• Moving in on time. One buyer has to live in the home for 12 months, starting within a year of settlement. A tenancy left running past that point breaks the condition.
• The transaction date. The scheme measures its dates from the date the agreement to buy is made, usually the day of exchange, not settlement.
• Individuals only. Every buyer must be an individual aged 18 or over, so a company or trust on the title is outside the scheme.
• Citizenship and residency. No citizenship or residency test appeared in the scheme pages checked.
• Federal caps. The federal schemes keep price caps and, for Help to Buy, an income test. A buyer can pass the Territory's test and fail the federal one.