By Chaice Paterson, Founder, Low Deposit Homes
If you’re comparing house and land packages, here’s the short version before the detail: compare on total cost delivered (land + build + site costs + the upgrades you’ll actually want), not the advertised “from” price. Check exactly what’s included versus excluded — driveway, landscaping, fencing, flooring, blinds — because that’s where two “identical” packages differ by tens of thousands. Confirm there’s a fixed-price build contract, a single point of contact managing the build, a builder with a real track record, and a realistic title/registration timeline. Then stack your deposit and grants on top.
And here’s the number the big builders rarely lead with: in Queensland, getting into a $1,000,000 brand-new build needs about $54,500 in cash — 5% deposit, no LMI under the Federal 5% Deposit Scheme, $0 stamp duty on a new build, plus purchasing costs. Compare that to a pre-established home — an existing house — of the same $1,000,000 price, with no First Home Owner Grant applied: about $122,000 to get into, because you add LMI and stamp duty on top of the same 5% deposit. That roughly $67,500 gap is the LMI and stamp duty a new build avoids — not a bigger deposit. In Victoria, entry on a typical package is closer to $37,500. That difference is the real reason house and land packages exist, and it’s the first thing to understand before you compare anything else.
(Throughout this guide, the “$122,000” comparison is to a pre-established (existing) home of the same price with no grants applied — established homes don’t get the new-build stamp-duty saving or the First Home Owner Grant.)
What a house and land package actually is
A house and land package is two things bundled into one purchase: a block of land, and a home built on it by a builder. You’re buying the land from a developer and the build from a builder, usually coordinated so the whole thing feels like one transaction.
Two different things get muddled here, so keep them separate.
First, the contract structure. Almost every house and land package is two separate contracts — one for the land (with the developer) and one for the build (with the builder). That’s standard and completely normal, including for turnkey packages. Don’t read anything into “two contracts” — it’s simply how nearly all of these work, and on its own it tells you nothing about how finished the home will be.
Second — and this is what actually matters — the level of finish. This is where the word “turnkey” causes most of the confusion:
- Turnkey is meant to describe a home delivered move-in ready — flooring, blinds, landscaping, driveway, fencing and the rest all done, so you can turn the key and live there. But “turnkey” is not a regulated term, and one builder’s “turnkey” is not the same as another’s. Some builders call a package “turnkey” that still leaves out landscaping, fencing or floor coverings. So never buy on the word — buy on the inclusions list. Ask directly: “What exactly does your turnkey include, line by line?” And note: a turnkey package can absolutely be two contracts — turnkey describes how finished the home is, not how many contracts you sign.
- Base (or fixed-price base): the headline price covers the build itself, and the finishing items that make a house liveable are priced separately as upgrades. This is where a low advertised “from” price hides the real cost of moving in.
The other axis is fixed-price versus variable:
- Fixed-price build contract: the builder commits to a price, and the common cost blowouts (site costs, standard inclusions) are locked in. This is what you want.
- Variable / provisional: parts of the price are estimates that “true up” later. That’s where a $700,000 package quietly becomes a $740,000 package.
The honest take: a good package is one where the price you’re quoted is the price you pay. A risky one is where the headline number is engineered to look small and the real cost arrives in instalments.
How to compare house and land packages — the real checklist
Don’t compare the “from” prices. Compare the things below, side by side, for every package on your shortlist.
| What to compare | What to actually check | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Total cost delivered | Land + build + site costs + the upgrades you’ll genuinely want — not the base “from” price | Two packages can advertise the same number and land $40k+ apart once you make them liveable |
| Inclusions vs exclusions | Driveway, landscaping, fencing, flooring, blinds, letterbox, clothesline, air-con | These are the most common “extras.” A true turnkey includes them; many packages don’t |
| Fixed-price guarantee | Is the build contract genuinely fixed, or are site costs and provisional sums estimates? | A fixed price protects you from blowouts during the 6-month build |
| Site costs | Are they fixed in the contract, or “subject to soil test / engineering”? | Sloping or reactive (clay) blocks add cost. Estimated site costs are the #1 hidden blowout |
| Build management | Is there a single point of contact coordinating land, build and finance? | Without it, you’re project-managing a developer, a builder and a bank yourself |
| Builder reputation | Track record, reviews, how long they’ve operated, financial stability | The build is a 6-month commitment. A wobbly builder is a real risk to your money and timeline |
| Title timing / registration | When does the land actually register? Is the date firm or “estimated”? | You can’t settle or start building until the land titles. Delays of 6–12 months are common |
| Deposit + grant stack | The 5% Deposit Scheme, stamp duty position, FHOG eligibility for your price | This determines your real cash-to-enter — often a five-figure difference between packages |
Work top to bottom for each package. The winner is rarely the one with the lowest advertised price — it’s the one with the lowest total price, the firmest fixed price, and the cleanest title timeline.
The hidden costs buyers miss
This is where most first home buyers get caught. Budget for these from day one:
- Site costs. The cost of preparing the block — soil tests, slab engineering, retaining, connections. On a flat, stable block they’re modest. On a sloping or reactive (clay) block they can run into the tens of thousands. If they’re “estimated” rather than fixed, treat that as a risk, not a number.
- Variations. Every change you make after signing — moving a wall, upgrading a benchtop — is a variation, usually at a premium. They add up fast.
- Upgrades. Display homes are styled to make the base package look bare. The flooring, the stone, the higher ceilings, the better tapware — that’s the upgrade list, and it’s where the showroom margin lives.
- Holding costs during the build. You’re typically paying rent (or a mortgage elsewhere) while the home is being built over ~6 months, plus the early interest on staged construction drawdowns. Build this into your budget — it’s real money that doesn’t show up in any package price.
A genuinely good turnkey package folds most of the first three into a fixed price. Ask the question directly: “What’s the total drive-away price, fully fixed, with nothing provisional?” The quality of the answer tells you a lot about the package.
The deposit truth the builders don’t lead with
Here’s the part the big project-home brands tend to bury, because it doesn’t fit a glossy display-home ad.
For a $1,000,000 new build in Queensland, the cash you need to get in is about $54,500. That’s made up of:
- a 5% deposit (~$50,000),
- no LMI, because the Federal 5% Deposit Scheme waives lenders mortgage insurance,
- $0 stamp duty, because Queensland charges no stamp duty on a new build (no price cap on that concession),
- plus standard purchasing costs (conveyancing, inspections, sundries).
Now the same-priced pre-established home — an existing house — at $1,000,000, with no grants applied: you need about $122,000. That’s the same 5% deposit, but with LMI added (because you’re not using the scheme) and stamp duty added on top, with no new-build grants — established homes don’t qualify for the new-build stamp-duty saving or the First Home Owner Grant.
So the gap — roughly $67,500 — is not a bigger deposit. The deposit is 5% on both sides. The gap is the LMI and the stamp duty that a new build avoids. That’s the whole game.
Let me be precise about that, because it’s the single most misunderstood number in this market: $122,000 is not a 20% deposit. It’s a 5% deposit plus LMI plus stamp duty plus costs. Anyone telling you that you need 20% to buy is describing a world that the 5% Deposit Scheme changed.
In Victoria, the maths is friendlier on entry — a typical package lands around $37,500 to get into, helped by the stamp duty exemption up to $600,000 and a concession up to $750,000.
The grant and scheme stack (current as at June 2026)
- 5% Deposit Scheme (Federal): no income cap since 1 October 2025. Price caps are about $1M for metro Brisbane / Gold Coast / Sunshine Coast, $700k for regional QLD, about $950k for Melbourne / Geelong, and $1.5M for Sydney. Open to Australian citizens and permanent residents. No LMI. This is the backbone of low-deposit entry.
- QLD First Home Owner Grant: $30,000, but with a $750,000 price cap — and most new house and land packages exceed that cap, so many QLD buyers don’t capture it. Important timing: it is locked in at $30,000 until mid-2030.
- QLD stamp duty: $0 on new builds, with no price cap on that — this is a bigger lever than the grant for most package buyers.
- VIC First Home Owner Grant: $10,000, and usable on typical Victorian packages.
- VIC stamp duty: exempt up to $600,000, concession up to $750,000.
- Help to Buy (Federal shared equity): as little as a 2% deposit, but citizens only, with income caps of $100k single / $160k couple, and you can’t combine it with the 5% Deposit Scheme — it’s one path or the other.
- First Home Super Saver Scheme: lets you withdraw up to $50,000 of voluntary super contributions toward a deposit, capped at $15,000 per financial year — useful for topping up your cash, but it needs planning ahead.
The right stack depends on your state, your price, your residency and your income. Two buyers looking at the same package can have very different cash-to-enter numbers. That’s exactly why “how much deposit do I need?” doesn’t have one answer — it has your answer.
Is a house and land package “too good to be true”?
If you’ve searched Reddit or first-home-buyer forums, you’ve seen the warnings. Some are fair. Some aren’t. Here’s the honest split.
What’s real and worth being cautious about:
– Estimated site costs that blow out. Real risk — fix it by demanding a fixed-price contract with site costs locked in.
– “From” prices that aren’t liveable. Real — the base price often excludes the things that make a house a home. Compare total delivered cost.
– Title delays. Real — land can take 6–12 months to register, and you can’t start building until it does. Ask for the registration timeline in writing.
– Pressure to upgrade in the display home. Real — that’s where margin lives. Walk in knowing your number.
What’s genuinely good and not a catch:
– The deposit and stamp-duty savings are real. The ~$54,500-versus-$122,000 difference in QLD is not a gimmick — it’s the legitimate result of the 5% Deposit Scheme waiving LMI and Queensland charging no stamp duty on new builds. That’s policy, not a sales trick.
– A new home means no immediate maintenance, builder warranties, and energy efficiency an established home rarely matches.
So: not too good to be true — but only if the price is fixed, the inclusions are honest, and you understand the timeline. The package isn’t the risk. A vague package is the risk.
New build (package) vs DIY / established — why a package reduces stress
You can buy land and build a home yourself: find a block, negotiate it, arrange your own build contract, line up finance for both, and coordinate the developer, the builder, the bank and the conveyancer in sequence. People do it. It’s a lot.
A house and land package — done properly, with someone coordinating it — collapses that complexity:
- Finance is structured for the build, including staged construction drawdowns, rather than you bolting two loans together.
- Conveyancing and contracts for both land and build are handled in a coordinated way.
- Build coordination runs through a single point of contact instead of you chasing three parties.
- The grant and scheme stack is applied correctly, so you don’t accidentally forfeit a stamp-duty concession or miss a price cap.
That’s the real argument for a package: not that it’s cheaper than DIY in every line item, but that it’s far less likely to go wrong — and for a first home buyer, “less likely to go wrong” is worth a great deal.
Frequently asked questions
How do I compare house and land packages?
Compare total delivered cost (land + build + site costs + the upgrades you’ll actually want), not the advertised “from” price. Then check inclusions versus exclusions (driveway, landscaping, fencing, flooring), whether the build contract is genuinely fixed-price, whether site costs are locked in, the builder’s track record, the land’s title/registration timeline, and the deposit-and-grant stack that applies to your price and state. The cheapest advertised package is rarely the cheapest real package.
Are house and land packages worth it?
For most first home buyers in QLD and VIC, yes — primarily because of the entry cost. A $1,000,000 new build in QLD needs about $54,500 to get into, versus about $122,000 for a pre-established (existing) home of the same price with no grants applied, because a new build avoids LMI (via the 5% Deposit Scheme) and stamp duty. You also get a new home with warranties, no immediate maintenance, and better energy efficiency. The catch is making sure the price is fixed and the inclusions are honest.
What hidden costs are in a house and land package?
The four that catch people are: site costs (block preparation — can blow out if “estimated” rather than fixed), variations (changes after signing, charged at a premium), upgrades (the flooring, stone and finishes the base price excludes), and holding costs during the ~6-month build (rent plus early construction-loan interest). Ask for a fully fixed total price with nothing provisional, and budget for holding costs separately.
How much deposit do I need for a house and land package?
In Queensland, about $54,500 cash gets you into a $1,000,000 new build — that’s a 5% deposit, with no LMI under the 5% Deposit Scheme, $0 stamp duty on the new build, plus purchasing costs. In Victoria, a typical package is closer to $37,500 to enter. The exact figure depends on your price, state, residency and income, and which grants and schemes you qualify for.
Why is a new build cheaper to get into than an established home?
The deposit is the same — 5% on both. The difference is everything stacked on top. A pre-established (existing) home at $1,000,000, with no grants applied, needs about $122,000 because you add LMI and stamp duty to that 5% deposit — and established homes don’t get the new-build stamp-duty saving or First Home Owner Grant. A new build at the same price needs about $54,500 because the 5% Deposit Scheme waives the LMI and Queensland charges no stamp duty on new builds. The roughly $67,500 gap is the LMI and stamp duty a new build avoids — not a larger deposit.
Are house and land packages too good to be true?
No — but only if you do three things: insist on a fixed-price build contract (so site costs and provisional sums can’t blow out), compare total delivered cost rather than the “from” price (so the base package isn’t hiding the cost of making it liveable), and get the land’s title/registration timeline in writing (since delays of 6–12 months are common). The deposit and stamp-duty savings are real policy benefits, not gimmicks. The risk isn’t the package itself — it’s a vague one.
What does “turnkey” actually mean in a house and land package?
Turnkey is meant to mean the home is delivered move-in ready — flooring, blinds, landscaping, driveway and fencing all included, so you can turn the key and live there. But it isn’t a regulated term, so one builder’s “turnkey” differs from another’s, and some leave items out — always check the line-by-line inclusions list rather than relying on the word. Turnkey also has nothing to do with the number of contracts: almost all packages (turnkey or not) are two separate contracts, one for the land and one for the build. The practical opposite of turnkey is a “base” package, where the build price excludes the finishing items and you add them as upgrades.
Do I get the First Home Owner Grant on a house and land package?
It depends on the price and your state. In QLD the grant is $30,000 but capped at a $750,000 purchase price — and most new packages exceed that cap, so many QLD buyers don’t capture it (and for QLD package buyers, the $0 stamp duty on new builds is usually the bigger saving anyway). The $30,000 QLD grant is locked in until mid-2030. In VIC the $10,000 grant is usable on typical packages. Your eligibility should always be confirmed against your specific contract and price.
This guide is general information only and is not financial, legal or tax advice. Grant, scheme and stamp-duty figures are current as at June 2026 and are subject to change — always confirm your eligibility against your specific circumstances, state and purchase price. Low Deposit Homes is not a lender or mortgage broker, and is free to buyers.