First home buyer schemes: which ones you can use, and which you can combine

What government home buyer schemes are there in Australia?

The government home buyer schemes in Australia come in two layers. The federal layer has three: the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme, Help to Buy and the First Home Super Saver Scheme [1][3][4]. The state layer is each state's first home owner grant and stamp duty relief, and every state sets its own (part 13).

They do different jobs. One guarantees part of your loan, one puts money into the price, one releases your own savings, and the state help pays you cash or cuts a tax. That's why some stack and one pair doesn't.

What this means for you: a first home buyer scheme isn't one thing you either get or don't. It's a set of separate tests, and the useful question is which combination you pass.

Which first home buyer schemes can you use together?

Most first home buyer schemes can be used together, because they help with different parts of the purchase. Housing Australia's guide says getting the 5% Deposit Scheme's guarantee doesn't prevent you using other housing help from the Australian Government or a state or territory government, and asks you to check those programs with whoever runs them [1]. Help to Buy's own page says stamp duty concessions, grants and other exemptions still apply alongside it [3].

The First Home Super Saver Scheme is your own money, released from your super [4]. It isn't a guarantee, a loan or a share in your home, which are the kinds of help the other schemes rule out. Neither scheme's pages name it either way, so how a lender counts the released amount is something we confirm on your file.

What this means for you: a typical stack is one federal loan scheme, plus your state's duty relief, plus a grant if the home is new, plus super saver money toward the deposit. Each piece still has its own test, and passing one doesn't mean you pass the others (part 10).

Help to Buy or the 5% Deposit Scheme: how do you choose?

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 [1]. Help to Buy makes your loan smaller by putting in up to 30% of an existing home's price, or up to 40% of a newly built one, and in return you share some of the home's value with the government [3]. The 5% Deposit Scheme keeps the home all yours and lets you borrow up to 95% without lenders mortgage insurance (LMI, the insurance a lender charges you for when you borrow more than 80% of the price) [1].

What this means for you: if your income can carry a 95% loan, the 5% Deposit Scheme keeps all the home's value in your hands. If it can't, Help to Buy's smaller loan may be the way in. The 5% Deposit Scheme also has a ceiling: with 20% or more saved after buying costs, your loan isn't eligible [1].

The full rules are on the 5% Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy.

What each route looks like on a $600,000 home

On a $600,000 existing home, the ways in with less than 20% compare like this. The LMI figures come from one published first home buyer rate card [14]; they're illustrations, not quotes, and premiums vary by insurer and lender. Both schemes apply only where the price is under the cap for the area [1][3].

What this means for you: Help to Buy needs the least cash and the smallest loan, but it's the only route here 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.

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.

Do first home buyer schemes have income limits?

Only some first home buyer schemes have income limits. The 5% Deposit Scheme has none [1]. Help to Buy does: this financial year your income must be at or below $103,000 if you apply alone, or $165,000 for joint applicants or a single parent, and the limits are wage indexed each year [3].

The First Home Super Saver Scheme's eligibility list has no income test [4]. Among the states, South Australia's grant is not means tested [10], and the ACT's stamp duty exemption has no income threshold [12].

What this means for you: Help to Buy's joint limit is a combined figure. Two buyers on $85,000 each earn $170,000 between them, over the $165,000 limit [3][17], so a couple can miss Help to Buy where each would fit alone, and still use the 5% Deposit Scheme.

What are the price caps for each scheme?

Each first home buyer scheme sets its own price cap, so the same home can be under one and over another. The 5% Deposit Scheme's cap depends on the state and on whether you buy in the capital city and its listed regional centres or in the rest of the state [1]. Both the price you pay and the lender's valuation must be at or under it [1].

State grants carry their own limit, separate from the federal one. Help to Buy's caps are set by location and checked on the government's own tool [3]; we haven't read them at source, so they aren't in this table.

The regional centres that share the capital-city cap are a short list: in New South Wales the Central Coast, Coffs Harbour–Grafton, the Illawarra, the Mid North Coast, Richmond–Tweed, and Newcastle and Lake Macquarie; in Victoria, Geelong; in Queensland, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast [1]. A buyer in Ballarat, Bendigo, Townsville or Cairns is on the rest-of-state cap, and in Victoria and Queensland the gap between the two is $300,000 [1][17].

Who counts as a first home buyer? A different test for each scheme

"First home buyer" means something different to each scheme, and you can pass one test and fail another. The 5% Deposit Scheme looks back 10 years. The First Home Super Saver Scheme asks whether you've ever owned property in Australia. Some state tests count a home owned overseas [1][4][6].

The 5% Deposit Scheme's test is wider than it sounds. It counts any interest in real property in Australia in the last 10 years, including land, a lease of 50 years or more or a company title interest, residential or commercial, lived in or not, held alone or with a former partner [1]. Inherited land counts.

What this means for you: "I've never owned a home" isn't the test. If you've ever held anything on a title, here or overseas, check it against each scheme separately before you count on any of them.

Do you need to be a citizen to use a first home buyer scheme?

Whether you need to be a citizen depends on the scheme. Help to Buy needs every applicant to be an Australian citizen [3]. The 5% Deposit Scheme accepts citizens and permanent residents [1]. The First Home Super Saver Scheme's eligibility list has no citizenship test [4].

State help usually needs at least one buyer to be a citizen or permanent resident. Queensland's grant takes a citizen or permanent resident, or someone applying with one [5], and its duty concession now has its own citizen or permanent resident test [6]. New South Wales and the Northern Territory need at least one applicant to be a citizen or permanent resident [7][13]. Victoria's duty relief also needs every buyer to be enrolled to vote in Victorian elections, a rule no other state has [8].

What this means for you: a temporary visa holder buying alone can't use the 5% Deposit Scheme or Help to Buy, and a couple where one partner isn't a citizen can't use Help to Buy. See home loans for visa holders.

Do the schemes work on an established home?

The federal schemes work on established homes. The 5% Deposit Scheme covers an existing home, a house and land package, vacant land with a contract to build, and an off-the-plan home [1]. Help to Buy takes existing homes too, with a larger government share of up to 40% on a newly built one [3].

State grants are usually for new homes only. Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory all pay theirs on a new home [5][7][8][9][10][13], Tasmania's is for building or buying off the plan [11], and the ACT's help is a duty exemption, not a grant [12].

Stamp duty relief more often covers established homes. New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia give first home buyers duty relief on established homes as well as new ones, and the ACT's exemption covers every kind of residential property [6][7][8][9][12]. South Australia's relief is for new homes and land to build on, and Tasmania's established-home exemption has ended [10][11].

What this means for you: on an established home, the help that's actually on offer is usually the duty relief plus one federal scheme, not a grant.

What each state adds: grants and stamp duty relief

Each state adds its own first home help on top of the federal schemes, and the amounts differ widely. Here is what each state's own pages say, in short; the full rules, including occupancy and ownership tests, are on each state's page.

What this means for you: where you buy can matter as much as what you earn. The Northern Territory pays a far larger grant than any state, the ACT has removed stamp duty for eligible buyers at any price, and Tasmania now gives no duty help on an established home.

Each state in full: 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.

What a whole package can add up to

An illustration, not a client file. A first buyer pays $700,000 for a newly built home in Brisbane. The Queensland grant is $30,000, because the home is under the $750,000 limit [5]. Transfer duty is nil, a saving of up to $24,525 [6]. Through the 5% Deposit Scheme a $35,000 deposit is enough, and the price is under Brisbane's $1,000,000 cap [1]. That's $54,525 of state help [17].

The LMI the scheme replaces is on top of that. On the $665,000 loan, one published first home buyer rate card puts it at about $29,992 [14][17]. That's money you don't pay and don't add to your loan.

Change one thing, an established home at the same price, and the grant falls away. The duty saving and the 5% Deposit Scheme still apply [1][6].

Help to Buy on the same new home would look different: a deposit from $14,000 (2%), a government share of up to $280,000 (40%), and a loan of about $406,000 [3][17], with the grant and the duty saving still applying [3], if the price is under Help to Buy's cap for the area.

Do the schemes run out of places?

Only one of the federal schemes has a limit on places. The 5% Deposit Scheme has no limit on places and no waiting list [1]. Help to Buy has 10,000 places a year [3]. The pages we hold for the First Home Super Saver Scheme and the state grants set no limit on places.

If a Help to Buy place isn't available when you're ready to buy, the 5% Deposit Scheme, a family guarantee or paying LMI are the routes to look at, and any of them can be compared on your numbers (part 7).

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.

Which lenders offer each scheme?

The 5% Deposit Scheme is offered only through Participating Lenders, the lenders Housing Australia has authorised. There are more than 30 of them, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac among them, and the list changes from time to time [2]. You can't apply to the government directly [1].

The Help to Buy pages we hold don't list the lenders that offer it [3], so this page doesn't either. The First Home Super Saver money comes from the Australian Taxation Office, not a lender [4]. State grants are lodged in different ways: in the Northern Territory the grant is paid to your lender once you're eligible [13], and in New South Wales the grant goes through an approved agent.

Being on a panel doesn't mean a lender treats you the same as the next one. Each still runs its own credit policy, which is why Money Brain checks which panel lenders fit your income, deposit and home before anything is lodged (part 24).

How long does each scheme take?

Each scheme runs on its own clock. Once you ask the ATO to release your First Home Super Saver money, it can take 15 to 20 business days to arrive [4]. A 5% Deposit Scheme place gives you 14 days to complete the application, and pre-approval gives you 90 days to find a home and sign [1].

On a build, the 5% Deposit Scheme sets its own deadlines: a building contract within 6 months of the loan settling, building started within 12 months and finished within 36, and land titled inside the 90-day pre-approval window [1]. Owner-builder contracts aren't eligible [1].

What this means for you: the slowest piece sets the pace. If your deposit depends on super saver money, ask for it in time for the deposit you pay on signing.

Can a grant count toward your deposit?

Usually not the deposit you pay on the day you sign. A grant is usually paid at settlement on a purchase, or at the first progress payment on a build, so it arrives after you've exchanged contracts. Whether a lender counts it toward your own contribution is the lender's call, and lenders differ.

The Northern Territory is the exception worth knowing: you can ask your lender to release the HomeGrown Territory Grant early to help with your deposit, subject to the lender's normal approval [13].

Plan your deposit without the grant, and treat it as money that arrives later.

What rules come with a scheme after you buy?

Most schemes come with rules that last after settlement, and breaking one can cost you the help. The 5% Deposit Scheme has the most: you move in within 6 months of settlement and keep living there, you can't rent the home out, and you can't increase the loan while the guarantee is in place [1]. You can refinance and keep it only by moving to another Participating Lender, without borrowing more or extending the term [1]. The guarantee ends on its own when your loan reaches 80% of the value through scheduled repayments [1].

Help to Buy's lasting rule is the shared value: you own the home, and the government holds an equity share in it [3]. What happens to that share when you sell or your income rises isn't on the pages we hold, so it's a question to settle before you sign.

What this means for you: if you might rent the home out, move for work or renovate with a bigger loan in the first few years, check these rules before you choose a scheme, not after.

Is there a government scheme for nurses, teachers or other jobs?

None of the federal first home buyer schemes on this page is tied to a particular job. The 5% Deposit Scheme's eligibility tests carry no job test, so a nurse, a teacher and a tradie face the same scheme rules [1].

Where your job does matter is with lenders. Some lenders waive LMI for certain professions, which can work like a scheme without the scheme's price caps. Bank First, for one, waives LMI to 90% for healthcare and education workers buying their first home, on loans up to $800,000, but not for building [16]. See LMI waivers, nurse home loans and teacher home loans.

Are there schemes for single parents?

Single parents have two schemes that start at a 2% deposit. The 5% Deposit Scheme lets single parents and legal guardians buy from 2%, applying on their own, with no income limit [1]. Help to Buy also starts at 2%, with an income limit of $165,000 for a single parent [3].

The difference is the same as for anyone else: 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, up to 98% of the price. Housing Australia publishes a separate guide for single parents, so check its conditions too. See home loans for single mothers.

If you don't qualify for any scheme

Some buyers miss every scheme: the price is over the cap, they've owned property before, or they earn too much for Help to Buy. You can still buy with a small deposit.

A family guarantee lets a parent's home equity stand in for part of the deposit, often with no LMI, though it's a real commitment for the person who signs. Some lenders waive LMI for certain professions (part 21). And paying LMI is a straightforward option in its own right: on a $600,000 home it's about $11,178 with a 10% deposit, or $19,152 with 5%, on one published rate card [14].

See 5% Deposit Scheme or a guarantor, guarantor home loans and no deposit home loans.

Does a scheme mean the bank will approve your loan?

No. A scheme doesn't approve your loan. The lender still assesses your income, your debts, your living costs and your credit history as it would for any loan [1].

Banks also check that you could still make the repayments if rates were at least 3 percentage points higher than the rate you're charged, the buffer APRA expects them to use [15]. On a 95% loan that test bites hard, because the loan is large against your deposit.

What this means for you: work out what lenders will lend you first, then fit the schemes to the price. Two lenders can give the same buyer quite different answers. See how much can I borrow.

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 seen the rules side by side. Now there's one question left: which combination of schemes, for your price, your savings and your state? That depends on what you earn, what you've owned and the home you want, and it'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.