Mortgage broker Gold Coast: what's different about buying here

What is different about getting a home loan on the Gold Coast?

A home loan on the Gold Coast works the same way as anywhere in Australia: the same lenders, the same credit checks, the same rules on how much you can repay. What is different is three things around the loan.

First, the federal 5% Deposit Scheme treats the Gold Coast like Brisbane, with a $1,000,000 price cap, while most of Queensland gets $700,000 [4]. Second, Queensland's own help, the grant and the transfer duty concession, has price lines of its own that sit well under that cap [1][2]. Third, the property: apartments, new builds and homes you might one day let out each bring rules from the lender or the scheme that a buyer elsewhere may never meet.

What this means for you: on the Gold Coast, the scheme's cap is not the only line that matters. The state's $700,000 and $750,000 lines, the type of property and the lender's own rules can each come into play before it does. That's what this guide works through, part by part.

What is the 5% Deposit Scheme price cap on the Gold Coast?

The 5% Deposit Scheme price cap on the Gold Coast is $1,000,000, the same as Brisbane's [4]. The scheme lets a first home buyer buy with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), the insurance a lender charges you for when you borrow more than 80% of the price, because Housing Australia, a government agency, guarantees the lender instead [4].

In Queensland, the scheme names only the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast as regional centres that share Brisbane's cap. Everywhere else in the state, Townsville and Cairns included, the cap is $700,000 [4]. That's a $300,000 gap between the Gold Coast and the rest of regional Queensland.

Two numbers have to fit under the cap, not one: the price you pay and the lender's valuation of the home [4]. If you buy land and sign a separate contract to build, the land price and the build cost together must stay under it [4].

Buying just over the border in New South Wales

A home over the border in New South Wales falls under New South Wales rules, not Queensland's. That applies to the state's grant and duty, and to the scheme's cap: New South Wales names Richmond-Tweed among its regional centres, where the cap is $1,500,000, and $800,000 applies in the rest of that state [4].

So two homes a short drive apart can sit under different caps, different duty and a different grant. Before you compare them on price, compare them on the help each one gets. See first home buyers in NSW.

What can a first home buyer claim on the Gold Coast?

A first home buyer on the Gold Coast can claim up to three kinds of help: Queensland's First Home Owner Grant, Queensland's first home concession on transfer duty (Queensland's name for stamp duty), and the federal 5% Deposit Scheme. Each has its own test, and you can qualify for one without the others.

The grant is cash toward a new home. The duty concession cuts a tax at settlement. The scheme doesn't give you money at all: it lets you buy with less saved and no LMI.

How much is the first home owner grant on the Gold Coast?

The first home owner grant on the Gold Coast is Queensland's grant: $30,000 for a first home buyer who buys or builds a new home valued under $750,000 [1]. Older contracts got $15,000 [1]. It's a Queensland rule, so the Gold Coast gets exactly what the rest of the state gets.

The home must be new, never lived in or sold as a home. The $750,000 includes the land and any variations to the building contract, and the value has to be under it, so exactly $750,000 doesn't qualify [1]. You must move in within a year of the purchase or build being completed, and live there for 6 months in a row [1].

The full grant rules, including the ownership test for you and your spouse, are on first home buyers in Queensland.

Do first home buyers pay stamp duty on the Gold Coast?

First home buyers on the Gold Coast pay no transfer duty on a home valued at $700,000 or less, under Queensland's first home concession [2]. Against the general rate of duty, that's worth up to $24,525 [2][6]. It applies to new and existing homes alike.

Between $700,001 and $799,999 you pay reduced duty. The concession shrinks in $10,000 steps from $710,000, each step taking $1,735 off it, and reaches nil at $800,000 [3]. The Queensland Revenue Office's own example: a first home buyer on a $730,000 home pays $6,555 [2]. From $800,000 there's no first home concession, though Queensland's general home concession may still apply [2].

To claim it you must be an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or a specified foreign retiree, never have held an interest in another home in Australia or overseas, and move in within a year of settlement, a time the Queensland Revenue Office says can't be extended [2]. Work out the duty on any price with the stamp duty calculator.

Buying between $800,000 and $1,000,000 on the Gold Coast

Buying a first home between $800,000 and $1,000,000 on the Gold Coast means no grant and no first home duty concession, but the 5% Deposit Scheme still works [1][2][4]. That band is where the Gold Coast's higher cap does its real work.

Here's what LMI would cost on a 95% loan for a first home buyer at these prices, from one insurer's published rate card [5]. Under the scheme, it isn't charged. These are illustrations from one card, not quotes; your premium depends on the insurer, the loan and the lender.

What this means for you: a buyer at $900,000 on the Gold Coast can use the scheme and avoid LMI of about $38,561 on a 95% loan [5][6]. The same buyer at the same price in Townsville is over the $700,000 cap and can't use the scheme at all. Above $800,000 on the Gold Coast, Queensland's grant and first home concession are both gone, so the scheme carries most of the weight, and it's worth more the higher the price.

What can the help add up to on a Gold Coast home?

An illustration, not a client file. A first home buyer pays $700,000 for a newly built home on the Gold Coast. The grant is $30,000. Transfer duty is nil, a saving of up to $24,525. Through the 5% Deposit Scheme, a $35,000 deposit is enough, and the price is well under the $1,000,000 cap. That's $54,525 of help from Queensland [1][2][6].

On top of that, the scheme means no LMI. On the same 95% loan, one insurer's card puts LMI at about $29,992 [5]. Counted together, that's about $84,517 the buyer either gets or doesn't pay [6].

Buy an existing home at the same price and the grant falls away; the duty saving and the scheme still apply. Buy a new home at $760,000 and the grant is gone too, because the value isn't under $750,000, and the duty concession is only part of what it was [1][3].

Can you holiday-let or rent out a home bought with first home help?

Not under the 5% Deposit Scheme. A home bought with the scheme can't be rented out while the guarantee is in place, and that includes renting it out later if you move [4].

Queensland's duty concession is less strict. You must not rent out the whole home in the first year, but renting out part of it, such as a room, is allowed while you live there [2]. The grant asks you to live there for 6 months in a row [1].

What this means for you: if short-stay letting or renting the place out is part of your plan for a Gold Coast unit, the scheme is the wrong tool for it. That doesn't rule the purchase out; it changes which loan and which help fit. Decide the plan first, then choose the help.

Buying a Gold Coast apartment or unit

You can buy a Gold Coast apartment or unit with the 5% Deposit Scheme. The scheme's guide names an existing apartment, and an off-the-plan apartment or townhouse, among the homes it covers [4]. For off the plan, you must move in within 6 months of settlement [4].

Lenders set their own rules on the property as well as on you, and those rules differ from lender to lender. Which lender takes which building is a lender-by-lender question, so it's worth checking before you sign, not after.

Do lenders treat Gold Coast suburbs and postcodes differently?

Some lenders do grade locations by postcode and set rules by the grade. Firstmac, for example, offers its bridging loan only in the postcodes its policy lists as Category 1a and 1b [7]. Each lender sets its own rules, and they change.

We don't publish a suburb-by-suburb list, because each lender's list is its own and moves with its policy. What we do is check the address you're looking at against the lenders that would suit you, before you sign.

Valuations matter here too. The lender orders its own valuation where one is needed, and for the 5% Deposit Scheme that valuation, as well as the price, must be at or under the $1,000,000 cap [4]. A valuation below the price can also change how much a lender will lend, so it's one more reason to know your lender before you bid.

Building a new home on the Gold Coast

Building a new home on the Gold Coast is where the grant lives, and where the rules are tightest. For the grant, the land, the build and every contract variation count toward the $750,000 line [1]. A house-and-land package just under it can creep over with a few upgrades.

Under the 5% Deposit Scheme, the building contract must be signed within 6 months of the loan settling, building must start within 12 months and finish within 36 months, and you move in within 6 months of the occupancy certificate [4]. Owner-builder contracts don't qualify; the builder must be licensed, insured and on a fixed-price contract [4].

Two traps: the land has to be titled before the guarantee can be issued, inside the scheme's 90-day pre-approval window, and if you already own the vacant land, you can't use the scheme to build on it [4]. See construction loans.

Can you buy on the Gold Coast with a small deposit?

Yes, you can buy on the Gold Coast with a small deposit, in several ways. The 5% Deposit Scheme takes a 5% deposit, or 2% for single parents and legal guardians, with no LMI [4]. A parent can put up part of their home's equity as security in a family guarantee. Some lenders waive LMI for certain professions. Or you can pay LMI and buy sooner.

Help to Buy, the federal shared equity scheme, is another way in, but it can't be used together with the 5% Deposit Scheme [4]. Which way comes out ahead depends on your price, your savings and your job.

See low and no deposit home loans, guarantor home loans, LMI waivers by profession and Help to Buy.

How much can you borrow for a Gold Coast home?

How much you can borrow for a Gold Coast home comes down to what a lender counts of your income, your debts and your living costs. Lenders then check you could still make the repayments if rates were 3 percentage points higher, the buffer APRA, the banking regulator, has set [8].

The grant and the duty concession don't change what a lender works out you can repay; they change how much cash you need on the day. That's why the order matters: work out what lenders would lend you first, then fit the help to the price.

Two lenders can read the same pay quite differently, especially overtime, allowances, casual or self-employed income. See how much can I borrow and self-employed home loans.

Investing on the Gold Coast, or from it

Investing on the Gold Coast, or using a Gold Coast home to buy elsewhere, starts with the same question: what you want to own in ten years, not just the next purchase. The order you buy in, and how each loan is set up, decides whether you can keep going.

The 5% Deposit Scheme is for a home you live in, so it doesn't apply to an investment [4]. Equity in a home you already own is the usual way in. See using equity to buy an investment property.

Money Brain arranges the lending. Finding the property is a different job, and Property Brain, our sister business for investors, does that, with its own fee.

Refinancing a Gold Coast home loan

Refinancing a Gold Coast home loan works as it does anywhere: we compare what you have with what lenders on our panel would offer you, in dollars, and only suggest moving if it leaves you better off. See refinancing your home loan.

If you bought with the 5% Deposit Scheme, there's a rule to know first. You can keep the guarantee only by moving to another lender in the scheme, and you can't increase the loan or extend its term while it's in place [4]. Move to a lender outside the scheme and the guarantee is lost.

After settlement we record your loan's details and look at it again at about six months, then each year, because a rate that suited you at settlement can stop suiting you later.

Selling one Gold Coast home and buying the next

Selling one Gold Coast home and buying the next can be done in either order. Selling first is simpler. Buying first usually means a bridging loan: the lender lends against both homes for a set time, and the sale pays the bridging part down.

Firstmac publishes its full bridging rules. Its bridge runs for 6 or 12 months, chosen at the start. It lends up to 80% of the value at the peak, and tests the debt left after the sale as if your home sells for 20% less than its value. And it bridges only in the postcodes its policy lists as Category 1a and 1b [7]. Other lenders set their own terms.

See bridging finance for how the debt builds month by month.

Who would you actually be dealing with?

At Money Brain you deal with Darren Parker, Credit Representative 501592, authorised under Australian Credit Licence 389328, held by our aggregator, Connective Credit Services Pty Ltd [9]. Money Brain is the trading name of NU Home Loans Pty Ltd, based at Hope Island on the Gold Coast [9].

One person is on your file from the first call to settlement.

Mortgage brokers must act in your best interests, and where a conflict exists, put your interests first [10]. Our own rule goes further: a recommendation is decided on the lowest net cost to you, and nothing else. See about Money Brain.

Which lenders does Money Brain use?

Money Brain uses the lenders on its panel. A broker can only lodge with lenders on its panel, so that's where the comparison happens. Within it, we work out what each lender would lend you on its own rules, and compare the loans that fit on rate, fees and features, in dollars.

Lender policy changes often. We check each lender's current policy rather than memory, and we say so when something is uncertain. If you'd like to see which lenders we looked at for you, and why we chose one, we're happy to show you.

Working with Money Brain if you're not on the Gold Coast

You don't need to be on the Gold Coast to work with Money Brain. We're based at Hope Island and work with clients across Australia [9]. The options call is on video, documents come through one upload link, and you sign the application electronically.

What does change with location is the help you can get. Each state runs its own grant and duty rules, and the 5% Deposit Scheme sets a cap for each area [4]. See first home buyer grants by state.

How do you choose a mortgage broker on the Gold Coast?

Choosing a mortgage broker on the Gold Coast comes down to how they work, not where their office is. Five questions tell you most of it, and any broker should answer them without hesitating, us included:

How are you paid on my loan, and does it differ between the lenders you'd suggest? Which lenders are on your panel, and are there any you can't use? Will you show me the comparison and why you chose this lender? Is there any fee, and will you put it in writing first? If I refinance in the first couple of years, does that affect you?

Reviews tell you how other people felt. These five questions tell you how the broker will handle your loan.

A Gold Coast mortgage broker or straight to your bank?

Going straight to your bank can be right if your situation is simple, your bank offers you a sharp rate, and you'd rather deal with one lender. A bank's staff can only offer the bank's own loans.

A broker earns their place when something about your position isn't standard, your income, your deposit, your job or the property, and the question is which lender will say yes, and on what terms, before you apply. On the Gold Coast, that something can be the property: an apartment, a new build, or a price above Queensland's first home lines.

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. Now there's one question left: on the home you want, at the price you'll pay, which lender fits, and which of the grant, the duty concession and the 5% Deposit Scheme do you actually get?

That depends on new or existing, house or apartment, what you've owned and what you've saved, and it's what Money Brain works out before anything goes to a lender.