Buy your first home with
5% deposit instead of 20%

The First Home Guarantee lets the government act as your guarantor, so you don’t need to ask family for help. It also means you skip Lenders Mortgage Insurance altogether. That alone saves most buyers tens of thousands of dollars.

But the scheme changed significantly in October 2025, so most of what you’ll find online is already out of date.

Here’s what actually changed

Three things are gone:

01.

No more income caps.

The old $125k single / $200k couple limits? Gone. Your taxable income no longer determines if you can use the scheme.

02.

No more place limits.

The 35,000 annual spots that used to run out? Gone. No more racing to apply before July.

03.

Higher
price caps.

Melbourne and Geelong both jumped to $950,000. That’s a $150,000 increase from where it was.

But there are still things that trip people up every week

The scheme looks simple on paper. In practice, it gets complicated fast.

Not all lenders participate.

ANZ doesn’t offer the scheme at all. And among the lenders who do, policies vary – some have stricter credit scoring, some won’t do construction loans under the scheme, some have longer processing times. The lender you pick matters more than most people realise.

Couples where one partner owned property.

If your partner owned a place in a previous relationship – even eight years ago – you can’t apply together. The only option is applying solo. One income. One name on the loan.

Price caps vary by location.

Geelong and Melbourne go up to $950,000, but other parts of Victoria are capped at $650,000. The boundaries aren’t always obvious either. A few kilometres can make the difference between qualifying and not.

The refinancing lock.

Once you’re in the scheme, you can only refinance to other participating lenders. That rate from a non-bank lender you saw advertised? Off limits until your LVR drops below 80%. And that takes years with scheduled repayments – property value increases don’t count.

The 10-year ownership rule.

You might think you’re a first home buyer – until someone asks if you were ever briefly on a parent’s property title. Or if you inherited anything, even for a few months before selling.

The occupancy requirement.

You need to live in it. If you rent it out while your LVR is still above 80%, the guarantee ends – and you may have to pay LMI at that point. Even below 80%, renting it out means your loan gets reclassified as an investment loan with a higher rate.

Construction complications.

Fixed-price contracts are non-negotiable. Any cost blowouts during the build? That’s on you. And if the total goes over the price cap, you lose the scheme entirely.

Speak To A Home Loan Expert Today

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The questions you’re googling at midnight

These aren’t on the government website. But they come up constantly:

What if my partner owned property overseas – does that count?
What if I’m on a bridging visa and my partner is a citizen?
What happens if I need to move for work after 12 months?
What if I want to rent out a room to help with repayments?
What if I got made redundant between approval and settlement?

These are the scenarios that don’t appear in government summaries. They appear in declined applications and stressed phone calls from buyers who thought they qualified.

Talk to someone who deals with this every week

A 15-minute chat with one of our brokers will tell you exactly where you stand.

We’ll cover:

Whether you actually qualify (including the edge cases)
What the scheme means for your specific situation
How much you could realistically borrow
What to do next – whether that’s now or six months from now

No cost, no pressure, no paperwork until you’re ready.

Real Results From Real Clients

As first home buyers, the process could’ve been overwhelming, but their professionalism, support and genuine enthusiasm made everything feel so smooth and stress-free.

- Bridie Louise

As first home buyers we were completely new to the process, and Andrew made it feel seamless from start to finish. He took the time to explain every step clearly, ensured we understood our options, and went above and beyond to achieve the best outcome for us.

- Paris Rowe

I was feeling pretty overwhelmed about the journey of purchasing my first home… I instantly knew I was in safe hands and can now say that I am a proud and informed home owner!

- Veronica Thomas