First Home Buyer Checklist: New South Wales

Buying your first home in New South Wales involves more moving parts than most people expect, from confirming your finance to understanding which grants or duty concessions you may be eligible for. This checklist walks through the process in order, so you know what to organise and when, whether you are buying in Sydney or a regional part of the state through a first home buyer conveyancing service. General guidance on the process across the state is also available through our New South Wales conveyancing overview.

Get Your Finances in Order First

Before you start looking seriously, speak to a lender or mortgage broker about how much you can borrow, and get pre-approval rather than relying on an informal estimate. Pre-approval strengthens your position with agents and gives you a realistic budget to search within. It is also worth checking your credit report at this stage, since errors are common and can affect your borrowing capacity if left unaddressed. MoneySmart's guide to saving for a house deposit is a useful starting point if you are still building up your savings.

Check Your Eligibility for Grants and Concessions

New South Wales offers assistance for eligible first home buyers, including duty concessions on properties under certain value thresholds, and in some circumstances a first home owner grant for new homes. Eligibility depends on factors such as whether the property will be your principal place of residence, the value of the property, and whether you or your co-buyer have owned property before. Because these settings change periodically, confirm current eligibility directly with Revenue NSW's transfer duty information for buyers rather than relying on general commentary, and speak with your conveyancer about how any concession is applied at settlement.

Understand the Cooling-Off Period

In New South Wales, a five business day cooling-off period generally applies after exchange for a private treaty purchase, though it can be waived or shortened by agreement. There is no cooling-off period if you buy at auction, which is why finance and inspections need to be sorted before you bid rather than after. Understanding this window matters because it is your main opportunity to withdraw from a contract if something significant comes up during that time, such as an issue found during a building inspection, though a small penalty may apply if you do withdraw.

Building and Pest Inspections

Arrange a building and pest inspection before you exchange contracts, or as early as possible within the cooling-off period if you are relying on it. A qualified inspector can identify structural issues, pest activity or safety concerns that are not obvious on a walk-through, and the report gives you a factual basis for renegotiating or withdrawing if something serious turns up. First home buyers sometimes skip this step to save money, which is a false economy given how much more expensive an undisclosed structural problem can be to fix after you have already committed to the purchase.

Understand What a Concession Might Mean for You

Duty concessions and grants for first home buyers in New South Wales come with conditions, such as occupying the property within a set period and for a minimum length of time, and thresholds based on the property's value. Because these settings are updated periodically and depend on your specific circumstances, this article is general information rather than tax or legal advice, and it is worth confirming your exact position with your conveyancer or an accountant before you rely on a particular concession applying to your purchase.

Review the Contract of Sale

• Check the title search for easements, covenants or caveats that could affect how you use the property.
• Confirm the schedule of inclusions matches what was advertised and what you inspected.
• Look for any special conditions the vendor has added, and ask your conveyancer to explain anything unclear.
• Check zoning and any planning restrictions if you intend to renovate or build in future.
• Confirm the deposit amount and settlement period specified in the contract.

Organise Building Insurance and Final Loan Documents

In New South Wales, risk in the property generally passes to the buyer from the date of exchange, so arrange building insurance to start from that date rather than waiting until settlement. Around the same time, your lender will issue formal loan documents that need to be reviewed and signed, often with a lead time of two to three weeks before settlement, so return them promptly to avoid delaying your residential purchase.

Prepare for Settlement, and What to Do Afterward

In the final weeks, your conveyancer coordinates with your lender, orders final searches, and prepares settlement figures including adjustments for rates and any grant or concession being applied. Most settlements in New South Wales now occur electronically through PEXA, which our guide to PEXA electronic settlement explains in more detail. Arrange a pre-settlement inspection in the days before settlement to confirm the property matches the contract, then plan your move around the settlement date confirmed by your conveyancer.

Once settlement is complete, keep copies of your contract, loan documents and any grant or concession paperwork somewhere safe, since you may need them for tax purposes down the track, including if you ever sell the property or later rent it out and need to establish when it stopped being your main residence. If your circumstances or the property's use change within the first year, check whether that affects your eligibility for any concession you received, since some are subject to occupancy requirements, and again this is a question worth putting to your conveyancer or accountant rather than assuming.