The $20,000 regional First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) ended on 30 June 2021. For contracts entered into from that date, you can apply for the $10,000 FHOG.
What was the $20,000 regional FHOG?
The regional First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) was a $20,000 payment for first home buyers who signed a contract to buy or build their new home, where the contract price (or cost of construction for an owner builder) was $750,000 or less, in regional Victoria.
If the home was not in regional Victoria, or the contract was entered into from 1 July 2021, the grant is $10,000. The home must be less than five years old to be eligible for the FHOG.
What is a new home?
A new home includes:
- a newly built home
- an existing property being sold for the first time as a residence
- a land and building package
- a home that is substantially renovated
- a home built to replace demolished premises.
The property must not have been previously sold as a place of residence, occupied as a home, or used for the provision of short-term accommodation, such as Airbnb. This means the first sale of a property will not be a new home if the person who built it lived in it, or leased it out or used it for short-term accommodation.
All first home buyers must meet all FHOG eligibility criteria.
What is regional Victoria?
Regional Victoria means the regional councils listed below and the six alpine resorts of Mt Baw Baw, Mt Buller, Mt Hotham, Mt Stirling, Falls Creek and Lake Mountain.
- Alpine Shire Council
- Ararat Rural City Council
- Ballarat City Council
- Bass Coast Shire Council
- Baw Baw Shire Council
- Benalla Rural City Council
- Buloke Shire Council
- Campaspe Shire Council
- Central Goldfields Shire Council
- Colac Otway Shire Council
- Corangamite Shire Council
- East Gippsland Shire Council
- Gannawarra Shire Council
- Glenelg Shire Council
- Golden Plains Shire Council
- Greater Bendigo City Council
- Greater Geelong City Council
- Greater Shepparton City Council
- Hepburn Shire Council
- Hindmarsh Shire Council
- Horsham Rural City Council
- Indigo Shire Council
- Latrobe City Council
- Loddon Shire Council
- Macedon Ranges Shire Council
- Mansfield Shire Council
- Mildura Rural City Council
- Mitchell Shire Council
- Moira Shire Council
- Moorabool Shire Council
- Mount Alexander Shire Council
- Moyne Shire Council
- Murrindindi Shire Council
- Northern Grampians Shire Council
- Pyrenees Shire Council
- Borough of Queenscliffe
- South Gippsland Shire Council
- Southern Grampians Shire Council
- Strathbogie Shire Council
- Surf Coast Shire Council
- Swan Hill Rural City Council
- Towong Shire Council
- Wangaratta Rural City Council
- Warrnambool City Council
- Wellington Shire Council
- West Wimmera Shire Council
- Wodonga City Council
- Yarriambiack Shire Council
What were the key dates?
The date you sign the contract to buy or build your new home is the key date. Settlement date is irrelevant.
The $20,000 regional FHOG was applicable to:
- Contracts entered into on or after 1 July 2017 and no later than 30 June 2021 for the purchase of a new home in regional Victoria.
- Comprehensive home building contracts entered into on or after 1 July 2017 and no later than 30 June 2021 by the owner of land wholly in regional Victoria, or a person who on completion of the contract would be the owner of land wholly in regional Victoria, to have a home built on the land.
- The building of a home (by an owner builder) wholly in regional Victoria if the building work started on or after 1 July 2017 and no later than 30 June 2021.
If you were entitled to the FHOG but signed a contract for a first home in regional Victoria before 1 July 2017 you were not eligible for the $20,000 payment, even if you settled on or after 1 July 2017. This was also the case if your contract was signed before 1 July 2017 and you were subsequently nominated as a substitute purchaser. However, you would have still been eligible for the $10,000 FHOG.
What types of home/construction qualified?
The eligible transaction for the regional FHOG could have been a contract for:
- the purchase of a new residential premises, such as a newly built home or premises being sold as new residential premises for the first time
- a comprehensive home building contract
- the construction of a home by an owner builder.
Who qualified?
You qualified if:
- you purchased or built a new home wholly in regional Victoria
- your contract was signed on or after 1 July 2017 and no later than 30 June 2021
- you met all the other eligibility criteria.
Owner builders who start building their home wholly in regional Victoria on or after 1 July 2017 and no later than 30 June 2021 who met all other FHOG eligibility criteria also qualified.
