First Home Buyer Grants & Schemes: 2026 Complete Guide

Saving for your first home can feel like running uphill in sand. Property prices are high, rents aren't going anywhere, and by the time you've built up a deposit, the market seems to have moved again. It's demoralising — and completely understandable.

But here's something that might just change your perspective: the Australian government has set aside billions of dollars in grants, concessions, shared equity contributions, and tax advantages specifically for first home buyers. Most people only know about one or two of these programs. Many never claim everything they're entitled to.

This guide covers every current federal and state-level scheme available in 2026 — including the Help to Buy Scheme that launched in December 2025, the First Home Guarantee that lets you buy with just a 5% deposit at zero LMI cost, the First Home Super Saver Scheme, and the stamp duty waivers that could save you up to $30,000 the moment you sign on the dotted line. By the end, you'll know exactly what's available, whether you qualify, and what to do first.

The Cheat Sheet

Before diving in, here's a quick-reference map of every scheme currently on offer. It's more than most people realise.

Scheme	How It Helps	Potential Saving
First Home Guarantee	Buy with 5% deposit — no LMI	$15,000–$22,000 in LMI costs
Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee	Same as above, for regional properties	$15,000–$22,000 in LMI costs
Help to Buy Scheme	Government co-buys up to 40% of your home	Dramatically smaller loan and lower repayments
First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS)	Access up to $50,000 of your super for a deposit	Significant tax savings on deposit savings
State stamp duty concessions	Transfer duty waivers on eligible properties	Up to $30,000+ depending on state and price

These schemes operate independently, and many can be stacked together — more on that later. But first, let's break each one down.

The First Home Guarantee: 5% is all you need

The First Home Guarantee is one of the most powerful tools available to first home buyers — and it costs you nothing to access. It lets you purchase a home with as little as a 5% deposit without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI).

Here's why that matters. When you borrow more than 80% of a property's value, lenders consider you a higher-risk borrower and require you to take out LMI to protect themselves against default. On a $600,000 purchase with a 5% deposit, that LMI premium can run to $17,000 or more — and it's typically added directly to your loan, meaning you pay interest on it for the entire life of the mortgage.

The First Home Guarantee eliminates that cost entirely. The government doesn't hand you cash — instead, it guarantees the loan portion between your deposit and the 20% threshold. Your lender treats it as if you've put down 20%, so no LMI is charged. You get into the market sooner, with less money sitting idle in interest on an insurance premium you never wanted.

Who's eligible?

To qualify for the First Home Guarantee, you must:

Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident
Have never previously owned a property in Australia
Earn no more than $125,000 per year (singles) or $200,000 combined (couples/joint applicants)
Intend to live in the property as your principal place of residence
Purchase under the applicable property price cap for your area (see table below)

Property price caps for 2025–26

State / Territory	Capital city & regional centres	Rest of state
NSW	$900,000	$750,000
VIC	$800,000	$650,000
QLD	$700,000	$550,000
WA	$600,000	$450,000
SA	$600,000	$450,000
TAS	$600,000	$450,000
ACT	$750,000	—
NT	$600,000	—

The scheme offers 35,000 places per year for the standard First Home Guarantee, plus a further 10,000 for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (same structure, specifically for purchases in designated regional areas). Places don't last forever — particularly in the second half of the financial year — so it pays to apply early.

Example: Linh is buying a $580,000 property in Brisbane. With a 5% deposit of $29,000, her LVR is 95%. Without the guarantee, her LMI premium would be approximately $17,400 — added to her loan and charged interest for up to 30 years. With the First Home Guarantee, she pays $0 LMI. That's $17,400 she never hands over to an insurer, reducing her total loan repayments considerably over time.

The Help to Buy Scheme: The Government Buys Your Home With You

The Help to Buy Scheme is the most significant first home buyer policy launched in years, and it works very differently from the guarantee schemes above. Rather than guaranteeing part of your loan, the government actually buys a share of your home alongside you.

Housing Australia contributes:

Up to 40% of the purchase price for a new property
Up to 30% of the purchase price for an existing property

You only need to come up with a minimum 2% deposit. Your mortgage is then calculated on the remaining share — dramatically reducing both your required deposit and your ongoing repayments. When you eventually sell, the government takes back its proportional share of the sale proceeds. If you'd prefer to buy out the government's stake early, you can do so in instalments over time.

The scheme launched in December 2025 and is now actively accepting applications through approved participating lenders.

Who's eligible for Help to Buy?

Criteria	Single applicant	Joint applicants
Annual income cap	$90,000	$120,000 combined
Minimum deposit	2%	2%
Citizenship required	Australian citizen	At least one Australian citizen
Property ownership	Must not currently own any property	Neither applicant can currently own property
Intended use	Must occupy as principal residence	Must occupy as principal residence

Annual property price caps also apply and vary by location — check the Housing Australia website for the current caps in your target area. The scheme offers 10,000 places per year.

Example: James and Sarah are buying an existing $620,000 home in Melbourne. Housing Australia contributes 30% — that's $186,000. The couple need a 2% deposit of $12,400. Their loan is for the remaining $421,600. At 5.5% per annum over 30 years, their monthly repayments are approximately $2,395, compared to $3,181 if they'd borrowed the full $607,600 without the scheme. That's a saving of more than $780 per month — or over $9,360 per year.

There are ongoing obligations to be aware of — including requirements around residential occupancy and conditions around property modifications — so it's worth reading the full scheme terms on the Housing Australia website, or speaking with a mortgage broker who's experienced with shared equity products.

The First Home Super Saver Scheme: Use Your Super to Build a Deposit

Saving a deposit through your superannuation fund might sound unusual — but it's a genuinely effective tax-saving strategy that many first home buyers overlook.

The First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) lets you make voluntary contributions to your super fund on top of your regular employer contributions, then withdraw those extra contributions (plus associated earnings) to put toward your first home deposit.

Here's the key detail: you can withdraw up to $15,000 per financial year, with a lifetime maximum of $50,000 in total. The tax advantage is where it gets interesting.

Voluntary concessional (before-tax) contributions are taxed at just 15% inside super, compared to your marginal income tax rate — which could be 32.5% or higher. When you withdraw to buy your home, the amount is taxed at your marginal rate minus a 30% tax offset, making the effective rate much lower for most earners.

In practical terms, a buyer on a $85,000 salary could save a few thousand dollars in tax on every $15,000 they contribute — and that money compounds inside their fund while it sits there.

Who does it suit? The FHSSS works best if you have a stable income, a few years before you plan to buy, and you're not already hitting the concessional contributions cap ($27,500 per year as of 2025–26). It won't work for everyone — particularly if you need your savings to remain liquid — but for disciplined savers with a longer planning horizon, it's one of the most tax-effective ways to build a deposit.

Stamp Duty Concessions: Massive Savings!

Stamp duty — officially called "transfer duty" in some states — is typically one of the largest single upfront costs when buying property. For first home buyers, this is often where the most significant government savings are available, because every state and territory offers some form of concession or full exemption.

Here's the current picture in the three most populous states to give you an idea of how much you could save:

New South Wales

NSW operates the First Home Buyer Assistance Scheme (FHBAS):

Properties valued at $800,000 or less: full exemption from stamp duty — you pay nothing
Properties valued between $800,001 and $1,000,000: a sliding-scale concession applies
Properties over $1,000,000: no concession — standard transfer duty rates apply

Example: A standard buyer purchasing a $750,000 home in Sydney would pay approximately $29,240 in stamp duty. An eligible first home buyer pays $0. That's nearly $30,000 that stays in your pocket from the moment you settle.

Victoria

VIC offers a First Home Buyer Duty Exemption or Reduction:

Properties valued at $600,000 or less: full exemption from stamp duty
Properties valued between $600,001 and $750,000: a sliding-scale reduction applies (the higher the price, the smaller the discount)

Example: A $550,000 home in Melbourne would attract approximately $28,070 in standard stamp duty for a regular buyer. An eligible first home buyer pays $0. The same property at $680,000 would attract a partial concession rather than a full exemption.

Queensland

QLD administers a First Home Concession on transfer duty:

Properties valued at $500,000 or less: full concession — no transfer duty payable
Properties valued between $500,001 and $550,000: a partial sliding concession applies

Example: Buying a $490,000 established home in Brisbane as a first home buyer. Standard transfer duty on that purchase would be approximately $14,175. With the First Home Concession: $0.

Stamp duty concessions do vary by state and territory so if you want a deeper breakdown of how transfer duty works where you live — including calculations — read our complete stamp duty guide or use the MoneyMart stamp duty calculator to see the exact figures that could apply to you.

The First Home Guarantee: A Step-by-Step Guide

You don't apply directly to the government for the First Home Guarantee or Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee. You apply through your lender — and Housing Australia administers the guarantee in the background. Here's exactly how that process works.

Stage 1: Check Your Eligibility (1–2 days)

Before you do anything else, verify you meet the income, citizenship, first home buyer, and property price cap requirements. Housing Australia has a free eligibility checker on their website — there's no cost and no formal application required at this stage. It takes minutes.

The key criteria to confirm:

Your taxable income is within the cap ($125,000 single / $200,000 joint)
You haven't previously owned a residential property in Australia
You're an Australian citizen or permanent resident
You intend to live in the purchased property

Stage 2: Find a Participating Lender (1 week)

Not every lender participates in the scheme. Housing Australia publishes a current list of approved participating lenders on their website. The major banks — Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ, NAB — are all participants, as are dozens of credit unions and smaller lenders.

If you're not sure which lender suits your situation, a mortgage broker can compare options across multiple participating lenders simultaneously. They'll match your circumstances to the right lender and product, which is particularly useful given that interest rates and loan features vary considerably across participating institutions.

Stage 3: Apply for Pre-Approval (1–2 weeks)

Once you've selected a lender, submit an application for conditional pre-approval (also called approval in principle). Your lender will assess your borrowing capacity and confirm your guarantee eligibility at the same time.

You'll typically need to provide:

Two years of tax returns or ATO Notices of Assessment
Three to six months of recent payslips
Bank statements demonstrating your deposit savings history
Details of any existing debts, personal loans, or credit card limits
Identity documents (passport, driver's licence)

Stage 4: Search for a Property and Make an Offer (variable)

Armed with pre-approval, you can search for a property within your budget and the applicable price cap for your area. Make sure any property you're seriously considering falls under the cap — purchases above the cap are ineligible for the guarantee, regardless of your other circumstances.

Once you find a property and your offer is accepted, you'll move into the contract exchange stage.

Stage 5: Lodge the Formal Application (approximately 1 week)

Your lender submits the formal guarantee application to Housing Australia on your behalf. You don't need to contact Housing Australia directly — your lender handles the submission and confirmation. The guarantee is confirmed before settlement proceeds.

Stage 6: Settlement

Settlement proceeds exactly as it would for any home purchase. The guarantee operates in the background — it doesn't change the day-to-day experience of completing the purchase. You simply make your standard loan repayments without any LMI premium attached.

One critical timing note: guarantee place allocations are confirmed before exchange of contracts. Don't wait until you've signed a contract to start the lender conversation — speak to your chosen lender as early as possible in your property search.

Can You Stack These Schemes?

Yes — and this is where smart first home buyers can really maximise what's available to them. Here's what works together and what doesn't:

FHSSS + First Home Guarantee ✅ Eligible. Your FHSSS withdrawal counts toward the 5% deposit requirement. These schemes are explicitly designed to be compatible — you can save your deposit inside super at a lower tax rate, then use that money to meet the guarantee's deposit threshold.

FHSSS + Help to Buy Scheme ✅ Eligible. Your FHSSS funds can form your 2% minimum deposit under Help to Buy. Same principle — tax-efficient deposit saving, then access it at purchase time.

First Home Guarantee + State stamp duty concession ✅ Eligible. These operate entirely independently. The guarantee reduces your LMI cost; your state concession reduces (or eliminates) your transfer duty. Both benefits apply simultaneously if you meet both sets of criteria.

Help to Buy Scheme + State stamp duty concession ✅ Eligible. You can take advantage of your state's stamp duty exemption and still access Help to Buy, provided you meet both programs' requirements.

First Home Guarantee + Help to Buy Scheme ❌ Not eligible. These are mutually exclusive — you choose one federal deposit support scheme or the other. You can't participate in both at the same time.

Next Steps

You've just mapped every major grant, concession, and scheme available to Australian first home buyers in 2026. That's a significant amount of potential support — and now you know where to look and what to do.

Key Takeaways:

The First Home Guarantee lets you buy with a 5% deposit and avoid $15,000–$22,000 in LMI costs — apply through a participating lender, not directly through the government.
The Help to Buy Scheme (launched December 2025) has the government co-purchase up to 40% of your home, dramatically cutting your loan size and monthly repayments with only a 2% deposit required.
The First Home Super Saver Scheme lets you contribute up to $50,000 in voluntary super contributions and withdraw them for your deposit — with meaningful tax savings along the way.
Stamp duty concessions can eliminate up to $30,000 in upfront costs on eligible properties — and that's on top of any federal scheme you access.
Most Schemes can be layered: use the FHSSS for your deposit, pick either the Guarantee or Help to Buy for your loan, and claim your state's stamp duty concession independently.
Guarantee places fill up during the year — start the conversation with a participating lender early, well before you've signed a contract.

Ready to take the next step?

Compare home loans on MoneyMart — see competitive rates from Australian lenders and find a product that works with your chosen scheme
Use the home loan calculator — Easily see how much your repayments are going to be based on how much you need to borrow.
Calculate your stamp duty — enter your property price and state to see your exact transfer duty bill and what you'd save as a first home buyer
Read our complete stamp duty guide — a deeper dive into how transfer duty works in every Australian state and territory

Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and doesn't consider your personal circumstances. Consider seeking professional financial advice before making any decisions.

How to Save Thousands Buying Your First Home: Every Australian Grant & Scheme Explained (2026)