The number of Queenslanders scoring $20,000 to go towards their first home is on track to double those who took advantage of the scheme when they would only receive $15,000.
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In the first seven months of 2016-17, $46.8 million was dished out to 2340 people - who received $20,000 each - to buy a new house, unit or apartment worth up to $750,000.
Under the previous grant scheme in 2015-16 - which handed out $15,000 to each buyer - 2372 people received $35.6 million over 12 months.
But there are still far fewer grants handed out than there were under different rules back in 2012.
The current $20,000 grant is only available to people buying a new property, after the program which involved existing homes was scrapped in 2012.
More than 5400 first home owner grants were paid out in Queensland in the June quarter in 2012 compared with 4000 in the same period in 2011.
In 2012, while in opposition, Labor frontbencher Curtis Pitt criticised the removal of the $7000 grant available to first home buyers purchasing established properties.
"Labor's scheme was flexible enough to recognise that not every first home buyer wants to build a new home and that for many the purchase of an existing dwelling was the best and quickest way to enter the market," Mr Pitt said at the time.
Labor's scheme, which applied from August 2011 to April 2012, was open to first home owners and existing home owners.
Combined with the $7000 first home owner grant, Labor's $10,000 building boost grant for anyone building a home or buying a newly constructed home, meant buyers could access $17,000 when building a new home.
However, on Friday, Treasurer Curtis Pitt will urge first home buyers to sign up for the $20,000 boost, before it is decreased again to $15,000 on July 1, 2017.
A series of ads will be rolled out next week, encouraging people to take advantage of the scheme, which only covers new homes.
"I want to make sure first home buyers know that this fund exists for them so that they grab this boosted $20,000 offer - an increase on the $15,000 previously available - while it's on the table until the end of June and stimulate new construction and new jobs," Mr Pitt said.
"These grants are helping Queenslanders achieve what otherwise they may not have been able to - the great Australian dream of owning your own home - while also generating jobs in the building industry and related sectors."
Mr Pitt said in regional areas, $20,000 could be more than half of the 10 per cent deposit required, on the basis of the median house prices.
The REIQ has previously called for the program to be extended to existing properties.
But Mr Pitt said no state in Australia offered a first home owners' grant for established housing.
"The strategic purpose of our $20,000 initiative is as much about getting Queenslanders into the property market as it is getting Queensland tradies back on the tools," he said.
"Anyone who is waiting to buy in the hope that this offer will be extended to include established homes is on the receiving end of bad advice and they risk missing out on the $20,000 boost altogether."
HIA Queensland executive director Warwick Temby described calls to make established homes eligible for the grant as misplaced.
"It would be an expensive and poorly targeted government spend," Mr Temby said.
"Providing the buyers of established homes would have the effect of making new home building less attractive for first home buyers, so the net effect would be to reduce employment and activity in the new home building industry."
