The Queensland Government is spending $62.5m to keep the First Home Owner Grant at $30,000 – but experts have warned it will not be enough.
For nearly three years, eligible buyers have been able to apply for a $30,000 boost on purchasing newly-built homes under $750,000.
But analysis of REA data found less than a third of Queensland suburbs (329 out of 1027) currently have a median house price below $750,000.
Queensland’s $30,000 First Home Owner Grant is being extended for the next four years – but experts are concerned most neighbourhoods are still too expensive to buy in.
In Greater Brisbane, only 22 out of 382 suburbs fit in this bracket, a staggering low of just 5.7 per cent.
Your Property Group co-founder Andy McMaster said the grant was only a Band-Aid solution to the real financial strain first-home buyers were facing.
“It eased the deposit gap,” he said. “It never closed the price gap … [buyers] are priced out by a median that has moved far faster than any grant could keep up with.”
The Crisafulli Government has spent $62.5m to extend the scheme, allowing first-home buyers a boost to buy a newly-built home for less than $750,000. Picture: Liam Kidston
Out of the 22 Brisbane suburbs with a median house price below $750,000, 16 of them are based in the Ipswich region, with the remaining six split evenly between Moreton Bay and Brisbane’s east.
Ray White Ripley agent Vanya Tockuss said newly-built homes in Ipswich under $750,000 had become incredibly rare.
“There are effectively none in our area anymore,” she said. “Certainly not stand-alone homes. Potentially a townhouse, but they are very rare.”
Less than a third of Queensland suburbs have a median house price below $750,000, and only 5.7 per cent of them are in Greater Brisbane. Picture: Rob Williams
Ms Tockuss said many first-home buyers she worked with were looking for newly-built homes for the sake of stamp duty concessions rather than any grants, and often had to compete with established owner-occupiers for homes they could afford.
“If there are multiple buyers and the first-home buyer needs to wait until Monday to confirm a decision with their broker, they are likely to miss out to more experienced buyers who know what they can spend,” she said.
Ray White Ripley agent Vanya Tockuss said first-home buyers often sought newly-built homes to avoid stamp duty in 2026, rather than for the First Home Owner Grant.
Housing Industry Association senior economist Tom Devitt said a $30,000 buffer from governments was often not enough to help first-home buyers in 2026.
“The ever-increasing level of home prices does diminish the effectiveness of grants like this,” he said.
“In the short term, it would require the grant actually matching the increasing price in Brisbane and Queensland, but obviously that can’t keep going on forever at historic rates of price growth.”
HIA Senior Economist Tom Devitt said while boosting the borrowing power of first-home buyers was good, the current scheme was not properly accounting for today’s market.
Mr Devitt said lending restrictions from banks were a major reason why first-home buyers struggled to enter the market today.
“[Banks are] assessing First-Home buyers at interest rates of 10 per cent or higher,” he said. “They’ve been systematically priced out of the market.
Housing supply remains in high demand across the state. Queensland’s population increased by 97,900 in the 2024-2025 financial year, and by 58,200 in Greater Brisbane alone.
Queensland’s population continues to grow, driving up demand for the few homes available.
Mr Devitt said while a dramatic increase to supply would ease the strain on home buyers, there was a severe lack of shovel-ready land to build new homes on.
“We still have such a significant skills shortage,” he said. “About five per cent of Australia’s population are construction workers, but less than one per cent of migrants are construction workers.”
Around 58 per cent of Greater Brisbane’s population increase came from net overseas migration, making up 33,900 people.
”We still have such a significant skills shortage … less than one per cent of migrants are construction workers.”
Mr Devitt said expanding the construction sector by seeking skilled migrants would ease construction costs, creating more builders who could combat low supply.
“The overall project costs for the builder will be lower without having to pay wages any less,” he said.
“That really needs to be doubled down on to fast-track the provision of greenfield land, and to prepare existing suburbs for higher-density development.”
Mr Devitt said construction costs would ease if more effort was spent on increasing the builders in Australia, both through education and targeted migration.
The First Home Owner Grant is a national scheme funded by each state and territory’s government, with different rules and grant amounts depending on where you live.
The new state budget was announced one week before the grant was scheduled to be cut back from $30,000 to $15,000.
“People who would otherwise have taken their time [had to compete] inside a six-week window and pay more in the scramble than the grant was ever worth,” Mr McMaster said.
“The deadline manufactures urgency, and urgency is the enemy of a good purchase.”
Each state’s First Home Owner Grant is different, with Queensland only providing funds for newly-built homes.
Mr McMaster said Queensland’s grant being geared towards newly-made homes meant the money was not going into artificially inflating prices at auction for buyers.
“It is not a free lunch though,” he said. “With builders stretched and land tight, a good slice of any grant still leaks into land values and builder margins before it reaches the buyer.”
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