What Is HPAS? How ADF Members Get Thousands Towards a Home
The Defence Force offers a powerful benefit called HPAS, giving eligible members a one-off grant to support their first home purchase.
Video Summary
Buying your first home as a Defence Force member comes with unique advantages, and one of the most valuable is the Home Purchase Assistance Scheme (HPAS). This one-off grant of nearly $17,000 is designed to help with the purchase of your own home in your current posting location, whether you choose an established property or a land and build package. With payment usually received within 16 weeks, HPAS can go directly towards deposits and upfront costs, easing the financial burden of getting into the property market.
However, timing is everything. HPAS is only payable once, and you must have at least 12 months of tenure remaining at your current posting on the day you sign the contract. For couples where both partners are in the military, only one can use the benefit at a time, though the other may access it for a subsequent property. With the right strategy and planning, HPAS becomes a significant boost to your property journey, providing a smarter path to home ownership.
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Video Transcript
Robbie:
Hey, did you know the Defence Force has got its own version of the first-time managed grant? It’s called HPAS — the Home Purchase Assistance Scheme. This is how it all works.
It’s the better part of $17,000 as a one-off payment that comes your way. Now, it’s for your own home purchase, not for an investment property, and only in your current posting location. It can be an established dwelling or you can go through the land and build process.
It’s only payable once, so you’ve got to be really careful about when you use it — don’t pull the trigger too early. If you’ve got a spouse who is also in the military, they can use it on a subsequent property, but only one of you can use it at the same time.
Now, it’s normally paid within about 16 weeks of when you apply. So if you do a land and build, you can identify the block, put your house on it, sign the house contracts — and if your land doesn’t register for another couple of months, you should have been paid it by then. That way, you can use it for your deposit and costs.
But here’s the real kicker, and you need to be super careful about this: you’ve got to have 12 months tenure remaining in your current posting location on the day of contract signing. If you’re about to be posted out, it’s no good trying to forecast or backcast — you’ve got to time it properly.
That’s why putting a strategy together is going to give you the best outcome. One-off grant of 17,000 bucks. Happy days.