The federal government's shared equity scheme
Help to Buy scheme: buy with 2% down while the government shares the price
Many people looking at Help to Buy have a steady income and a small deposit, and the 20% a bank wants feels years away. Help to Buy lets you buy with at least 2% while the Australian Government puts in up to 30% of an existing home's price, or up to 40% of a newly built one, so your loan is much smaller. In return you share some of the home's value with the government, within income limits, price caps and a fixed number of places. Whether that trade suits you comes down to your numbers, and this guide sets out every rule we've checked.
2% the smallest deposit the scheme takes [1]
Up to 40% of a newly built home's price put in by the government; up to 30% of an existing home [1]
10,000 places a year, so unlike the 5% Deposit Scheme it is capped [1][3]
The Help to Buy guide
Twenty-five questions people ask before they use Help to Buy, answered from the government's own scheme pages, with the date we checked each one.
What is the Help to Buy scheme?
The Help to Buy scheme is the Australian Government's shared equity scheme: the government contributes towards the purchase price of your home, so you need a smaller deposit and a smaller loan [1]. You buy with a deposit of at least 2%, and the government puts in up to 30% of the price of an existing home, or up to 40% of a newly built one [1].
Shared equity means you own the home, but you share some of its value with the government [1]. That's different from the 5% Deposit Scheme, where you own all of your home and the government guarantees part of the loan instead (part 15).
How does Help to Buy work?
Help to Buy works by splitting the price three ways: your deposit, the government's share, and a home loan from a lender for the rest. The government's own worked example has it holding a 30% equity share in the home [1].
Because the government puts in part of the price, your home loan is smaller, and so are your repayments. The trade is that the government's stake is tied to the home's value, which is why the questions in part 12 matter before you sign.
How much deposit do you need for Help to Buy?
Help to Buy needs a deposit of at least 2% of the price [1]. On a $600,000 home that's $12,000. On $450,000 it's $9,000, and on $750,000 it's $15,000.
That 2% is the deposit only. You'll still need money for buying costs such as stamp duty (or a concession, part 13), legal fees and the lender's fees. Our stamp duty calculator shows the duty side.
What Help to Buy looks like on a real price
Here's what the scheme's limits mean in dollars, at three prices, if you put in the 2% minimum and the government takes its full share. Each figure is simple arithmetic on the scheme's own percentages [1].
| Home price | Your deposit (2%) | Existing home: government 30%, your loan | Newly built: government 40%, your loan |
|---|---|---|---|
| $450,000 | $9,000 | $135,000; loan $306,000 | $180,000; loan $261,000 |
| $600,000 | $12,000 | $180,000; loan $408,000 | $240,000; loan $348,000 |
| $750,000 | $15,000 | $225,000; loan $510,000 | $300,000; loan $435,000 |
What this means for you: on an existing home your own loan is 68% of the price; on a newly built one it's 58%. Without the scheme, a 2% deposit would leave you needing to borrow 98%, far above the 80% where LMI normally starts [8]. That smaller loan is also what you have to pass a lender's assessment on (part 20).
These are illustrations of the scheme's limits, before buying costs, and only where the price is within the cap for the area (part 8). They're not a quote.
Help to Buy eligibility: who can apply?
Help to Buy eligibility comes down to five tests, set out on the government's own scheme page:
Citizens only: every applicant must be an Australian citizen [1].
Income: your income has to be at or below the scheme's limit for the year (part 7) [2].
Price: the home has to be at or below the price cap for its location (part 8) [1].
Places: there are 10,000 places a year (part 9) [1].
No other scheme help on the same purchase: no state shared equity scheme, loan or guarantee, and not the 5% Deposit Scheme (part 13) [1][3].
This guide lists only the conditions on the government pages we hold. Check the full list on the government's Help to Buy eligibility tool before you count on it.
What are the Help to Buy income limits?
The Help to Buy income limits this financial year are $103,000 for a single applicant, and $165,000 for joint applicants or a single parent [2]. Your income is measured on your notice of assessment for the last financial year [2].
| Who is applying | This financial year | Last financial year |
|---|---|---|
| Single applicant | $103,000 | $100,000 |
| Single parent | $165,000 | $160,000 |
| Joint applicants | $165,000 | $160,000 |
The limits are wage indexed every year [2], so they move up over time. Last financial year they were $100,000 and $160,000 [2].
What this means for you: the test is on your assessed income, not on what you'll earn after a pay rise next month. If you're close to the limit, the timing of your application against your notice of assessment is worth working through first.
What are the Help to Buy price caps?
Help to Buy price caps are set for each location, and the home has to be at or below the cap where you're buying [1]. The government's Help to Buy eligibility tool shows the cap for your area [1].
Unlike the income limits, the price caps aren't indexed each year. The government sets and updates them through separate policy decisions [2].
We haven't printed the cap figures here, because we haven't read them at the government's source yet, and a cap quoted from another site is exactly the figure that goes wrong. Don't assume the 5% Deposit Scheme's caps apply: they belong to a different scheme. Its caps are on our 5% Deposit Scheme page.
How many Help to Buy places are there?
Help to Buy has 10,000 places a year [1]. The 5% Deposit Scheme, by contrast, has no limit on places and no waiting list [3].
What this means for you: a capped scheme rewards being ready. If Help to Buy is your plan, have your income documents, savings and loan assessment lined up before you need a place, rather than finding a home first and the paperwork after.
Can permanent residents or visa holders use Help to Buy?
No. Help to Buy needs every applicant to be an Australian citizen [1]. A permanent resident can't use it, and neither can a joint application where one person isn't a citizen.
| Scheme | Who can use it |
|---|---|
| Help to Buy | Every applicant an Australian citizen [1] |
| 5% Deposit Scheme | Citizen or permanent resident [3] |
| First Home Super Saver | No citizenship test on its eligibility list [4] |
Other help has different tests. The 5% Deposit Scheme accepts citizens and permanent residents [3], and the First Home Super Saver Scheme's eligibility list has no citizenship test [4]. See home loans for visa holders.
Is Help to Buy a trap?
Help to Buy isn't a trap, but it is a trade, and it's worth seeing both sides before you sign. You get a much smaller deposit and loan. In return, you share some of your home's value with the government [1].
Because the government holds an equity share, a share of the value rather than a set dollar amount [1], what its share is worth moves with the home's value. It's a fair thing to ask about: if your home's value rises, the government's share of that value rises with it.
The other limits are plain: 10,000 places a year, income limits, price caps by location, citizens only, and no stacking with the 5% Deposit Scheme or a state shared equity scheme [1][3].
What this means for you: the question isn't whether Help to Buy is good or bad, it's whether the smaller loan is worth the shared value for you. For someone whose income can carry a 5% deposit loan, the 5% Deposit Scheme may keep all the value in their hands. For someone whose income can't, Help to Buy may be the way in. That's a numbers question (part 16).
What happens when you sell, or when your income rises?
These are the right questions, and the honest answer is that the two government pages this guide is built from don't set them out. We'd rather say so than print an answer we haven't checked at the source. Get each one answered in writing before you sign:
Selling: how the government's share is settled when you sell.
Buying it back: whether, when and how you can buy some or all of the government's share, and on what valuation.
Your income rising: what happens if your income later goes above the limit.
Costs on the share: whether any fee or charge applies to the government's share while you hold it.
Renovating or refinancing: what you need approval for while the government holds its share.
We work through each of these with you against the scheme's own documents, and we'll add the answers here once we've read them at the source.
Can you use Help to Buy with the 5% Deposit Scheme, a grant or a stamp duty concession?
Help to Buy can't be used with the 5% Deposit Scheme: the 5% Deposit Scheme's own guide says the two cannot be used together [3]. Help to Buy also rules out any other help with the purchase, including shared equity schemes, loans or guarantees provided by states or territories [1].
| Combination | Allowed? |
|---|---|
| Help to Buy + a state first home grant | Yes; grants still apply [1] |
| Help to Buy + a stamp duty concession | Yes; duty concessions and exemptions still apply [1] |
| Help to Buy + the 5% Deposit Scheme | No [3] |
| Help to Buy + a state shared equity scheme, loan or guarantee | No [1] |
| Help to Buy + the First Home Super Saver Scheme | Not stated on the scheme page; confirm first [1] |
Stamp duty concessions, grants and other exemptions still apply [1], so a state first home grant or duty concession can sit alongside Help to Buy.
The First Home Super Saver Scheme isn't named either way on the Help to Buy page we hold [1]. It's your own savings released from super, not a state scheme, loan or guarantee, but confirm it on your file before you rely on it (part 18).
Buying a newly built home with Help to Buy and a state grant
A newly built home is where Help to Buy works hardest: the government's share can go up to 40% instead of 30% [1]. It's also the kind of home state first home owner grants are paid on: in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria the grant is for new homes only [5][6][7].
| State | Grant | Price limit | Homes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queensland | $30,000 | The new home's value must be less than $750,000 [5] | New only [5] |
| New South Wales | $10,000 | $600,000 for a new home; $750,000 for house and land [6] | New only [6] |
| Victoria | $10,000 | Valued at up to $750,000 [7] | New only [7] |
What this means for you: on a new home, the grant and the larger government share can both apply to the same purchase [1], so a new build can need noticeably less of your own money than an existing home at the same price. The grant has its own price limit, separate from Help to Buy's.
Each state's rules are on its own page: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory. All of them are on first home buyer grants.
Help to Buy or the 5% Deposit Scheme: which suits you?
Help to Buy and the 5% Deposit Scheme solve the same problem, a small deposit, in opposite ways, and you can use only one of them on a purchase [3]. Help to Buy shrinks the loan by sharing the home's value. The 5% Deposit Scheme keeps the home all yours and lets you borrow up to 95% without paying LMI (lenders mortgage insurance, the cost a lender usually charges you when you borrow more than 80% of the price) [3].
| Help to Buy | 5% Deposit Scheme | |
|---|---|---|
| Smallest deposit | 2% [1] | 5%; 2% for single parents [3] |
| What the government does | Puts in up to 30% (existing) or 40% (new) of the price [1] | Guarantees part of the loan in place of LMI [3] |
| Who owns the home | You, sharing some of its value with the government [1] | You, all of it [3] |
| Your loan | Smaller, with the government's share taken out | Up to 95% of the price; 98% for single parents |
| Income limit | $103,000 single; $165,000 joint or single parent [2] | None [3] |
| Places | 10,000 a year [1] | No limit, no waiting list [3] |
| Citizenship | Every applicant a citizen [1] | Citizen or permanent resident [3] |
| Price cap | Set by location [1] | Set by area [3] |
The 5% Deposit Scheme has its own rules that matter here: your deposit must be at least 5% and less than 20% of the property's value after buying costs, and you can't rent the home out while the guarantee is in place [3]. The full rules are on the 5% Deposit Scheme, and the comparison with a family guarantee is on 5% Deposit Scheme vs guarantor.
Help to Buy, the 5% Deposit Scheme or paying LMI: the numbers on $600,000
On a $600,000 existing home, the ways in with less than 20% compare like this. The LMI figures come from one insurer's published first home buyer rate card [8]; they're illustrations, not quotes, and premiums vary by insurer and lender. Both schemes apply only where the price is within the cap for the area.
| Way in | Your deposit | Your loan | LMI, about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Help to Buy | $12,000 (2%) | $408,000 (68%), the government puts in $180,000 | Not normally at 68%; confirmed with the lender |
| 5% Deposit Scheme | $30,000 (5%) | $570,000 (95%) | None, as the government guarantees part of the loan |
| Pay LMI, 5% deposit | $30,000 (5%) | $570,000 (95%) | $19,152 |
| Pay LMI, 10% deposit | $60,000 (10%) | $540,000 (90%) | $11,178 |
| 20% deposit | $120,000 (20%) | $480,000 (80%) | None |
What this means for you: Help to Buy needs the least cash and the smallest loan, but it's the only one of these where you share the home's value. Paying LMI costs real money up front and keeps all the value with you. The 5% Deposit Scheme removes the LMI without sharing the value, if your income can carry the bigger loan. Which comes out ahead is worked out on your income and plans, not picked from a table.
Help to Buy's loan is 68% of the price, under the 80% where LMI normally starts [8]. Whether a lender charges LMI on a Help to Buy loan isn't stated on the government pages we hold, so we confirm it with the lender.
Help to Buy or a family guarantee?
A family guarantee is the other common way in with a small deposit: a parent puts up part of the equity in their own home as extra security for your loan, so you can borrow more of the price. You own all of your home, and nothing is shared with the government.
It's a real commitment for the person who signs, and it's a family decision as much as a lending one. It isn't a government scheme, so Help to Buy's limits don't apply to it, but the lender still assesses whether you can repay the larger loan. See guarantor home loans.
Can you use the First Home Super Saver Scheme with Help to Buy?
The Help to Buy page we hold doesn't say either way [1]. What it rules out is other shared equity schemes, loans and guarantees [1], and the First Home Super Saver Scheme is none of those: it's your own savings, built up inside your super.
Under the First Home Super Saver Scheme you can make voluntary contributions of up to $15,000 a financial year, and up to $50,000 in total, then ask the Australian Taxation Office to release them toward your first home [4]. Voluntary concessional contributions are taxed at 15% in super, which is usually less than your marginal tax rate [4]. You must have never owned property in Australia, including an investment property or vacant land, with an exception for financial hardship [4].
Treat the combination as something to confirm on your file, not assume. See First Home Super Saver.
Which lenders offer Help to Buy?
The government's Help to Buy pages we hold don't list the lenders that offer it [1], so this page doesn't either. A list copied from anywhere but the government's own source is the kind of fact that goes quietly out of date, and on a capped scheme the wrong lender costs you time.
What we can say is that the home loan part of Help to Buy is still a home loan. The lender you use still decides whether to lend you the rest of the price, on its own rules (part 20). We'll add the lender list here once we've read it at the source.
Will a lender approve your loan alongside Help to Buy?
Help to Buy shrinks the loan, but it doesn't skip the lender's assessment: you still have to show you can repay the part you borrow. Banks check you could still make the repayments if rates were 3 percentage points higher, the buffer APRA has set [9].
The scheme is only half the assessment. A HECS-HELP debt's compulsory repayment comes off the income a lender counts. Casual income often needs a minimum time in the job, and each lender sets its own. Self-employed income is usually assessed from your tax returns, and lenders differ on how many years they want. See how much can I borrow and self-employed home loans.
There's a tension built into the scheme worth seeing: the income limits keep it for people on modest incomes, and the lender still has to be satisfied that income carries the loan. A smaller loan is what makes those two meet.
Help to Buy for single parents
For a single parent, the Help to Buy income limit is $165,000, the same as for joint applicants [2], with the usual 2% deposit [1].
Single parents have a second option at 2%: the 5% Deposit Scheme lets single parents and legal guardians buy with a deposit from 2%, on their own, with no income limit [3]. Both start at 2%; the difference is that Help to Buy shares the home's value and shrinks the loan, while the 5% Deposit Scheme keeps the home all yours with a bigger loan. See home loans for single mothers.
How do you apply for Help to Buy?
The order matters on a capped scheme. Do the checks that can rule you out before you fall for a home:
Check the caps first: use the government's Help to Buy eligibility tool for the price cap where you're buying [1].
Check your income: find your notice of assessment for the last financial year and compare it with the limit (part 7) [2].
Work out the loan: what a lender would lend you on the part the government doesn't cover, at the price you want (part 20).
Line up the extras: any state grant or duty concession that applies on top (part 14).
Get the before-you-sign answers: selling, buying back and income rising (part 12).
For the formal application, follow the government's Help to Buy pages; we handle the home loan side and make sure it's ready when you are.
What to have ready
Your notice of assessment for the last financial year, for the income test
Proof that every applicant is an Australian citizen, such as a passport
Your last two payslips, or tax returns if you're self-employed
Statements showing your deposit and money for buying costs
Details of any debts, including HECS-HELP and credit card limits
The full document list is on How it works.
What does a broker cost you?
How a broker is paid, and the rule Money Brain holds against it, is set out in full on its own page: what a mortgage broker costs.
Your first move
You've read the rules, including the catch. Now there's one question left: is Help to Buy your best way in, or would the 5% Deposit Scheme, a family guarantee or paying LMI leave you better off at your price and income? That's what Money Brain works out before anything goes to a lender.
When you're ready, the closing section below is the simplest way to start.
Is Help to Buy your best way in?
Tell me your income, what you've saved and roughly what you want to spend. I'll come back with whether Help to Buy fits, and how it compares with the 5% Deposit Scheme and paying LMI for you.
You'll hear back within the hour in business hours, and by 9am the next business day after hours.
Help to Buy questions
At least 2% of the purchase price under the Australian Government Help to Buy scheme. On a $600,000 home that's $12,000, plus your buying costs.
Sources
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
LMI premium: one insurer's published rate card, first home buyer rates. Checked 21 October 2026.
- 9
APRA: serviceability buffer of 3 percentage points, letter of 6 October 2021. Re-read 21 October 2026.
Updated 3 October 2026