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If I buy an investment property first, do I lose my first home buyer benefits?
Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 1 September 2026 · 3 min read
The short answer
Yes, you do. You give them up, and that's part of your longer term plan. Going down the investment path first means you forgo the first home guarantee scheme, the 5% deposit, and the stamp duty waivers or discounts.
For a lot of people it still makes sense. Maybe they're living at home with parents on very low expenses and paying a mortgage or living alone is expensive. Maybe they can't afford to buy where they want to live. If paying some stamp duty means getting into the market three, four or five years sooner, the property's growth over that time may more than make up for it.
The 80 second version. The rest of this page is the detail underneath it.
What you're giving up
The first home buyer benefits are for a first home, and a first investment property isn't one. So going down the investment path first means you forgo the first home guarantee scheme, the 5% deposit, and your ability to get certain waivers or discounts off your stamp duty.
That's not small. On a typical purchase the stamp duty concession alone can be a serious amount of money. It has to be a deliberate trade, not an accident.
Why people make that trade anyway
For a lot of people it doesn't make sense to buy a property to live in yet. Maybe they're living at home with parents on very low expenses, and the idea of paying a mortgage or living on their own is very expensive. Or it doesn't make sense to buy where they want to live, simply because housing there is too expensive, so they buy an investment first somewhere they can afford.
It comes down to which path makes more sense for you: the benefits now on a home you can't afford or don't want yet, or a foothold in the market now and the benefits forgone.
The arithmetic that decides it
If paying a little bit on stamp duty means you can get into the market three, four or five years sooner, then maybe the property's growth over that time more than makes up for the stamp duty cost. Then you're not even sweating it, because you've owned property a lot sooner than if you'd waited to buy something to live in and use the benefits up front.
So yes, you lose your benefits when you buy an investment property first. However, it can make sense, and it can mean you get into the market a lot sooner. The number to compare is the concession you're forgoing against what the property might do in the years you'd otherwise spend waiting.
The honest bit: growth isn't promised, and the benefits don't come back
The case for investing first rests on the property growing enough to cover what you gave up. Nobody can guarantee that, including me. What I can tell you is the size of the concession you'd be forgoing, and what growth rate it implies over your timeframe. If the number needs a boom to work, that's a warning.
And once you've owned, the first home benefits are gone for good. Make the call with the actual concession figure in front of you, not a vibe.
Want the concession figure and the growth it'd need to beat?
A 30 minute call. What the first home benefits are worth in your state, what an investment purchase would look like on your numbers, and the break-even. Then it's your call, made with the figures.
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Next question
I live rent-free with family. Why does the bank add a rent expense?The bank's answer to living at home and buying an investment first.
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My partner owned a house before. Am I still eligible for first home buyer benefits? Can I rent out my First Home Guarantee property? Should I pay LMI or keep saving for 20%?Not your question? Book a call and ask it, or call 0437 189 939.