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How to buy your public housing home

If you’re a public housing tenant, you may be able to buy your public housing home from us—if it’s for sale.

To find out if your public housing home is for sale, you’ll need to apply to purchase it.

Some public housing homes cannot be sold.

Homes generally not for sale

Public housing homes that are generally not for sale include:

  • those that are less than 10 years old
  • properties on sites that could be redeveloped in the future
  • those that have been modified or adapted to meet the needs of people with a disability
  • townhouses, units, duplexes, and cluster houses.

Who can apply

To buy your public housing home, you (and any other person making the application), must:

  • be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
  • be the tenant of the home
  • have lived in the home for at least 3 months
  • have a good rent payment history, with no ongoing record of late payments or arrears
  • not own any other property in Queensland or elsewhere
  • intend to live in the home and not use it for any other purpose.

How it works

1. Contact us

You contact us on (07) 3007 4241.

If your public housing home may be for sale, we explain the home-buying process to you and send you an application form.

2. Find out how much you can borrow

You need to decide how to finance the purchase of your public housing home in a way that’s best for you. The financial package you choose should suit your circumstances.

If you intend to apply for a loan from a bank or other financial institution, you can ask them to calculate your ‘borrowing capacity’.

This is the estimated maximum amount the bank would be willing to lend you, based on your financial situation and their lending criteria.

Most banks will be happy to tell you your borrowing capacity in writing.

If you can’t get a bank loan

If you can’t get a loan from a bank or other financial institution, you may be able to get a Queensland Government home loan.

3. You apply

You fill in and sign the application form we sent you and return it to us at:

When lodging your application, you pay us an administration fee of $150. The payment instructions are in the application paperwork.

4. Application review

We review your application to determine if your public housing home is for sale and if you’re eligible to buy it.

This step can take up to 21 business days.

If your public housing home is not for sale or you’re not eligible to buy it, we notify you in writing and refund your administration fee.

5. Property valuation

If your public housing home is for sale and you’re eligible to buy it, we call to let you know.

We then arrange an independent valuation of the property.

6. Sale price letter

After we receive the valuation, we send you a letter offering to sell your public housing home to you for its market value.

You have up to 1 month to decide whether to accept or decline our offer.

7. Contract of sale

If you accept the sale price, we will prepare a contract of sale and provide it to you.

We recommend you obtain independent legal advice to review the contract before you sign it. You’ll need to pay for this advice.

8. Approval and settlement

The contract of sale will then be subject to the approval of the department.

If approved, we will advise you and your solicitor. The contract will then be ready to proceed to settlement.

At settlement of the property, you pay any rental arrears, council rates or water charges we’ve pre-paid on the home as well as the sale price.

Sale price

We can’t tell you your public housing home’s sale price until after you’ve applied to purchase it (and assuming it’s for sale).

The price will be based on an independent valuation of the property.

The amount of rent you’ve been paying during your tenancy does not affect the sale price.

Property improvements

If you buy your public housing home, we may consider any improvements you’ve made to the home when determining the sale price.

In other words, we may subtract the value added by the improvements from the property’s sale price.

Not all improvements increase a property’s value. The independent valuer will consider improvements when determining the sale price.

Finance options

You need to decide how to finance your purchase in a way that’s best for you. The financial package you choose should suit your circumstances and not cause you financial hardship. This information does not constitute financial or legal advice.

You can buy your public housing home using:

Upfront costs you must pay

Be aware that, when buying your public housing home, you’ll also need to pay third-party costs such as:

  • building and pest inspection
  • legal/conveyancing fees
  • transfer (stamp) duty, transfer and mortgage registration fees
  • home insurance.

Some of these costs vary depending on the price of your public housing home, location and other factors.

Your solicitor can give you an estimate of these costs based on your circumstances.

Ongoing costs you must pay

As well as the upfront costs of buying a home, you’ll need to pay ongoing homeownership costs. These include:

  • home and contents insurance
  • council rates and utility charges
  • repairs and maintenance.

These ongoing costs could be more than your current rent.

If you decide to continue renting

After looking into buying your public housing home, you may decide you’d be better off financially or you may decide to continue to rent.

That’s fine—you’re not obliged to buy your public housing home after making an application to purchase and can choose not to enter into a sale contract and continue living in your public housing home under your rental agreement with us.

More information

Last updated:
22 May 2025
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