House and land packages for first home buyers: what you can get in 2026
How a new house and land package can meet the price tests for the grant, a stamp duty concession and a 5% deposit at once, if you are eligible, with the figures for each state and a checklist for the quote.
Is a house and land package a good option for a first home buyer?
For many first home buyers in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, it can be. A house and land package is a new home, so an eligible buyer may get the First Home Owner Grant ($30,000 in Queensland, $10,000 in Victoria and WA). Where the land is bought on its own contract, an eligible buyer often pays little or no duty on it, and the federal 5% Deposit Scheme can be used if you are eligible and a participating lender approves the loan. An established home can't get the grant in any of the three states.
The trade-off is time. You buy the land, then wait for the build, and in most cases you keep paying rent until handover. Weigh that against the grant and duty savings, which on a typical first home can run to tens of thousands of dollars.
What is a house and land package?
It is a block of land, usually in a new estate, paired with a home design from a builder. Most are bought under two contracts: a contract for the land, and a separate building contract for the home. Some are sold as a single contract for a completed home.
The two-contract structure matters for first home buyers for two reasons:
- The home is new. That is the condition every state attaches to its First Home Owner Grant.
- Duty is assessed on the land. In Victoria, the dutiable value of vacant land excludes the building contract; Queensland has a separate first home vacant land concession. For an eligible buyer, that can bring the duty to nil under the concessions below.
What can a first home buyer get on a house and land package in each state?
| Benefit | Queensland | Victoria | Western Australia |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Home Owner Grant | $30,000 | $10,000 | $10,000 |
| Grant value cap (home and land) | Below $750,000 | $750,000 or less | $800,000 or less south of the 26th parallel (incl. Perth); $1,000,000 north |
| Stamp duty on the land (eligible buyers) | Nil on residential vacant land for agreements from 1 May 2025, no value cap; build and move in within 2 years of settlement | None to $600,000 dutiable value (vacant land excludes the building contract); concession to $750,000 | None to $450,000; concession to $550,000 (from 7 May 2026) |
| 5% Deposit Scheme price cap | $1,000,000 Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast; $700,000 rest of state | $950,000 Melbourne, Geelong; $650,000 rest of state | $850,000 Perth; $600,000 rest of state |
Figures verified against Queensland Revenue Office, State Revenue Office Victoria, RevenueWA and firsthomebuyers.gov.au; Queensland and Victorian figures rechecked on 27 October 2026. Each benefit also has personal eligibility criteria, so meeting a price test does not on its own make you eligible. For a house and land package, the 5% Deposit Scheme price cap is tested on the land and build together.
When is the grant paid on a build? In Queensland, if you apply through your lender, generally at the first drawdown of the loan; in Victoria, through an approved agent if you need it for the first progress payment. Don't count on it for your deposit or the land settlement. The full conditions are in the Queensland first home buyer grants guide and the Victorian first home buyer grants guide; buying in the west, see the WA guide.
How does buying a house and land package work?
- Check each scheme separately. Compare your circumstances, postcode and budget with each grant's and scheme's official criteria, and ask a licensed finance provider what you can borrow and afford to repay. Home loan assistance is provided separately by My Finance People or your chosen lender.
- Choose the land and the home. Match a block to a design that fits the grant and price caps once land and build are added together.
- Sign the land contract and the building contract, after independent contract advice. Use the checklist below so the total doesn't creep over a cap.
- Settle the land. This is usually where any stamp duty, or the first home concession, applies.
- Build. A construction loan usually pays the builder in stages as the build progresses. If you need the grant early, ask your lender when it can be paid.
- Handover and move in. Each grant and concession has a deadline for moving in and a minimum period you must live there, so plan around them.
What should you check before signing?
Ask for the total price in writing, then work through what it does and doesn't cover.
- The total against every cap. Add land and build together, then check the result against the grant cap and the 5% Deposit Scheme cap for that postcode.
- Site costs. Ask what the quote assumes about the block, which site costs are provisional, and whether the build price is fixed.
- Service connections. Check whether connecting water, sewer, stormwater, power and telecommunications is included or charged separately.
- Fencing, driveway and landscaping. These are often outside the base price; get them priced in writing.
- Rent during the build. Budget for rent until handover, alongside loan repayments once the loan starts to be drawn.
- A contingency. Keep money aside for variations and costs that come up during the build.
- Contract and title timing. Land in a new estate may not be registered (titled) yet, which affects when you settle, when the build can start and how long you keep renting. Check the expected title date and any sunset clause, and have both contracts reviewed before you sign.
- The builder's licence. Check it with the state building regulator.
- The move-in deadlines. In Queensland, for example, the vacant land concession requires you to build and move in within 2 years of settlement, and this cannot be extended.
Before relying on a grant for the land deposit or an early build payment, read can you use the First Home Owner Grant as a deposit?
To budget for duty, legal work and other costs alongside the package price, see upfront costs of buying your first home.
Where Your Property Pathway fits
We introduce first home buyers to our builder partners offering house and land packages in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, explain which grants and concessions may apply, and help coordinate the next steps. Your Property Pathway does not provide credit assistance and receives no commission or referral fee from finance providers. Home loan assistance is provided separately by My Finance People. See how our first home buyer pathway works.
Talk through which benefits a package may get you
Five minutes, no documents, no credit check. We talk through your options and what to check next. Eligibility is decided by each scheme's administrator and participating lenders, and borrowing is assessed by a licensed finance provider.
Prefer to talk now? Call 0418 252 432.
Questions first home buyers ask about house and land packages
Can I get the First Home Owner Grant on a house and land package?
Yes, if you are eligible. A house and land package is a new home, so it can meet the grant's new-home test in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia. The grant is $30,000 in Queensland (home and land below $750,000), $10,000 in Victoria ($750,000 or less) and $10,000 in WA ($800,000 or less south of the 26th parallel, including Perth). The cap is tested on the land and the build together.
Do first home buyers pay stamp duty on a house and land package?
Often little or none for an eligible buyer, when the land is bought on its own contract with a separate building contract. In Queensland an eligible first home buyer pays no duty on residential vacant land for agreements from 1 May 2025, provided they build and move in within 2 years of settlement. In Victoria the dutiable value of vacant land excludes the building contract, and an eligible buyer pays no duty up to $600,000. In WA an eligible buyer pays no duty on vacant land up to $450,000.
Can I use the 5% Deposit Scheme on a house and land package?
Yes, if you are eligible and a participating lender approves the loan. The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme can be used to buy a house and land package, provided the land and build together are at or below the price cap for the postcode: $1,000,000 in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast ($700,000 in the rest of Queensland), $950,000 in Melbourne and Geelong ($650,000 in the rest of Victoria), and $850,000 in Perth ($600,000 in the rest of WA). Income caps were removed from 1 October 2025.
What are the downsides of a house and land package for a first home buyer?
Mainly time and cost certainty. You usually keep paying rent while the home is built, the land may not have titled yet, and site costs or variations can push the total over a grant or price cap if they are not fixed in the contract. Check what the build price includes, when the land is expected to title, and the move-in deadlines for each grant and concession before signing.
What should a house and land quote include?
Ask for the total price in writing and check what it covers: site costs, service connections, fencing, driveway and landscaping are often extra. Budget for rent until handover and a contingency for variations, and check when the land is expected to title, because that sets when you settle and when the build can start.
Is a house and land package better than an established home for a first home buyer?
It depends on the budget and location, but the grant is a major difference: the First Home Owner Grant applies only to new homes in Queensland, Victoria and WA. Established homes can still qualify for stamp duty concessions and the 5% Deposit Scheme, but not the grant.
Official sources
Every figure on this page comes from the administering body. Check these before acting.
- Queensland Government — First Home Owner Grant (checked 27 October 2026)
- Queensland Revenue Office — First Home Owner Grant eligibility
- Queensland Revenue Office — First Home Owner Grant obligations, including payment timing (checked 27 October 2026)
- Queensland Revenue Office — first home vacant land concession (page last updated 31 July 2026; checked 27 October 2026)
- State Revenue Office Victoria — Understanding the First Home Owner Grant (checked 27 October 2026)
- State Revenue Office Victoria — Apply for the First Home Owner Grant, including payment timing (checked 27 October 2026)
- State Revenue Office Victoria — First home buyer duty exemption or concession (checked 27 October 2026)
- RevenueWA — First Home Owner Grant fact sheet and first home owner rate of duty fact sheet (as at 28 July 2026)
- Housing Australia — 5% Deposit Scheme property price caps, including the postcode search tool (Queensland and Victorian caps checked 27 October 2026)
Where to go from here
- Queensland first home buyer grants 2026 and Victorian first home buyer grants 2026 — the full conditions, grant timing and buying costs for each state. Buying in the west? See WA first home buyer grants 2026.
- First home buyer checklist — the steps in order, before you commit.
- House and land packages for investors — if the purchase is an investment rather than a home to live in.
- Talk to the team — on 0418 252 432.
This page is general information, not financial, credit, legal or taxation advice, and it does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. Eligibility for grants, schemes and finance varies by state, lender and individual circumstances and is subject to current government criteria.