First home buyer guide for Tasmania Police
grants, duty, MyHome and what you can borrow

Tasmania has no first home scheme reserved for police. Officers get the same help as any other Tasmanian buyer, and that help shifted on 1 July 2026: the grant for new homes dropped from $30,000 to $20,000, and the stamp duty exemption for established homes ended. What's left still matters, and Tasmania's own shared equity program fits police pay well.

The police-specific advantage is with lenders: how they treat the shift and penalty allowance that can lift a constable's pay by more than a quarter. Your exact rate is on the Tasmania Police salary page, and if you're still applying, our guide to becoming a Tasmania Police officer covers the recruit course.

From 18 February 2024, first home buyers of established homes valued at $750,000 or less paid no transfer duty. SRO Tasmania now says that 100% exemption is not available for transactions settling after 30 June 2026. The 50% off-the-plan apartment concession also ended for agreements signed after that date. If you settle now, you pay duty at the general rates.

New homes are no different on duty: there's no first home duty concession for them either. Their advantage is the $20,000 grant, which on a modest home roughly matches the duty bill.

SRO Tasmania pays the grant to eligible buyers who purchase or build a new home: one that hasn't been occupied or sold as a residence, including kit homes. The amount is set by the date the eligible transaction commenced, such as the contract date for a purchase.

The amount after 30 June 2027 isn't published. If you're building, the commencement date is usually when you sign the building contract, so the timing of your contract can decide the amount. Check the grant guideline before you sign, and ask your lender whether it can apply the grant at settlement or the first progress payment.

Under MyHome you need a 2% deposit. Homes Tasmania contributes up to 40% of the price (maximum $300,000) for new homes and house-and-land packages, or up to 30% (maximum $150,000) for existing homes. You co-own the home and must buy out Homes Tasmania's share, or sell, within 30 years. Price caps are $800,000 for new homes from 1 November 2025 and $750,000 for existing homes.

Here's why it suits a single officer. A first-year constable on a 24-hour roster earns about $94,103 (our calculation: Level 1 plus 28%), under both single limits. If a lender counts the allowance, our method gives a loan of about $340,000. With MyHome's 30% share and a 2% deposit, that loan supports an existing home of about $499,000. For a new home with a 40% share, about $586,000.

Couples hit the limits sooner. A first-year constable plus a partner on $70,000 earns about $164,103 together, over both couple limits. MyHome is applied for through Bank of us, which Homes Tasmania names as its current accredited lending provider. Income "from all sources" counts, so overtime matters. Ask Bank of us how your roster allowance is counted for both the income test and the loan.

The 5% Deposit Scheme lets you buy with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), with no income cap. You must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident aged 18 or over, a first home buyer (or not have owned property in Australia for 10 years) and buying a home to live in under the price cap.

Use the government's postcode tool to see which cap applies. Help to Buy is the federal shared equity scheme, with the government owning up to 30% of an existing home or 40% of a new one. A first-year constable's $94,103 on a 24-hour roster is under its $103,000 single limit, which is based on last year's taxable income. MyHome and Help to Buy are separate programs with different rules, so compare them side by side.

Tasmania Police has one constable scale. Base pay starts at $73,518 at Level 1 and climbs to $107,420 at Level 13(ii). On top sits the shift and penalty allowance, a flat percentage of salary paid instead of every shift, weekend and public holiday penalty. Because it's flat and fortnightly, it reads cleanly on a payslip.

A pay rise is already locked in: 3% from the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2026, taking Level 1 to $75,724, then 2.75% from December 2027. Lenders assess what you're paid today, so a pre-approval in November may come out a little lower than one in December.

The 28% allowance is the difference between a first-year Tasmanian constable who can buy and one who can't.

These use 2026-27 tax rates, an illustrative 6% rate plus APRA's 3 percentage point buffer, $3,200 a month of living costs for a single applicant and a $5,000 card limit. They show how the rules move the figure, not what a lender would offer.

At Level 13(ii), on $107,420, the method gives about $433,000 on base pay and about $643,000 with the 28% allowance. A constable at a designated country station is paid at least Level 6 ($85,780) plus the 37% allowance: about $505,000 while that allowance is paid. Real repayments on $340,000 at 6% are about $2,038 a month.

Trainee constables are paid $61,801 during the recruit course, about $1,984 a fortnight after tax. Lenders rarely lend on trainee pay, so plan to buy after you graduate. Recruits serve their first year on probation, which the Police Service Act 2003 allows the Commissioner to set at up to 12 months, and extend.

Graduates are posted to a 24/7 station for at least two years: Hobart, Glenorchy, Bridgewater, Bellerive, Launceston, Devonport or Burnie. That's useful certainty. If you buy near your station, you can meet the residence rules for the grant, MyHome and the 5% Deposit Scheme. Buying in Hobart while posted to Burnie is harder to square with those rules.

Your super won't help with the deposit directly. The employer contribution isn't stated in the award (our data says it's probably the 12% Superannuation Guarantee, unconfirmed). The ATO's first home super saver scheme only releases voluntary contributions, up to $15,000 a year and $50,000 in total, never your employer's SG. Our Tasmania Police super guide has the detail.

None of these lenders is the MyHome provider: MyHome runs through Bank of us. So if MyHome is your route, a police LMI waiver doesn't come into it, because the 2% deposit structure replaces the need for one. If you've saved 10% and are buying over the MyHome income limits, a police waiver or the 5% Deposit Scheme is the comparison to make. Our guide to LMI waivers for police covers each condition.

A designated country station (examples in the award include Nubeena, Dunalley, Orford, Triabunna, Swansea and Bicheno) pays 37% of salary instead of overtime, shift pay and on-call, and comes with a rent-free departmental residence. A constable there is paid at least Constable Level 6. Isolated postings add an expense allowance on permanent transfer.

Rent-free housing makes these some of the best places in Tasmania to save a deposit. The catch is the residence rules: the grant, MyHome and the 5% Deposit Scheme all expect you to live in the home you buy. Our data also notes the Community Assistance Expense Allowance is tied to living in the sub-division in a police residence, so ask your district how owning a home locally affects it.

If you're later transferred, the award covers removal costs up to $2,904.09, a displacement allowance up to $3,749.86 and some property sale and purchase costs (cl 11). Our remote and rural incentives guide compares Tasmania with other forces.

1. 1

   Graduate and get payslips

   First months

   Lenders want constable pay and a few fortnights showing the shift and penalty allowance.

2. 2

   Save the deposit and duty

   Year 1 to 2

   Take-home pay on a 24-hour roster is about $2,826 a fortnight. Saving 20% of it reaches a $17,850 deposit in about 15 months, but duty needs more.

3. 3

   Choose your route

   Before you search

   MyHome if you're under the limits; the 5% Deposit Scheme otherwise; a new home if the $20,000 grant matters.

4. 4

   Get pre-approval

   Before you bid

   Ask how much of the 28% counts, and time it around the 1 December pay rise.