The three Victorian entitlements to check first

Victoria offers three distinct first home buyer entitlements. They stack differently depending on your contract price, the home's age and whether it is your principal place of residence. Understanding which one applies before you start comparing builder quotes saves you the "I thought I had X" phone call after your loan is drawn.

The three are the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG), the first home buyer stamp duty concession, and the Homebuyer Fund shared-equity scheme. They are administered by two different Victorian Government bodies, and every dollar amount changes with each State Budget - so BuildPilot never prints figures on this page. Open the SRO before you sign a contract.

• FHOG applies to new builds and off-the-plan contracts up to the current state cap
• The stamp duty concession applies to any home, new or established, under a separate threshold
• Homebuyer Fund is a shared-equity scheme with capped intake slots each year
• None of the three is retroactive - eligibility is set at contract date

What a real Melbourne build costs a first home buyer in 2026

The most useful number for a Melbourne first home buyer is the all-in figure: land + build + statutory costs, not the "from" price a display village prints on a floor plan. In 2026 in Melbourne's growth corridors (Wyndham, Melton, Hume, Whittlesea, Casey) the all-in figure for a turn-key three or four bedroom H&L package sits meaningfully above the equivalent Adelaide number - land is more, site costs are usually more, and Victorian statutory levies (foreign purchaser, growth areas, planning contribution) add line items that South Australia does not have.

BuildPilot's live Victorian package feed carries the current listing across those five growth corridors plus Geelong and regional Victoria. Beds, baths and land at a glance; full price and floor plan inside the app.

Contract stage: what Consumer Affairs Victoria requires

A Victorian domestic building contract has to comply with the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995. Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) publishes the current rules on cooling-off periods, deposit caps, progress payment schedules and mandatory warranties. Before you sign, read their "Building contracts" and "Deposits and progress payments" pages - both linked below.

BuildPilot is not licensed to give legal or financial advice. If a clause looks off, our One on One Support will read it with you and flag what to raise with your solicitor; we do not replace one.