The Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS) is an Australian Government initiative to support eligible home buyers to purchase a home sooner. The Scheme is administered by Housing Australia on behalf of the Australian Government.
The HGS includes three types of Guarantees that you may be eligible for:
The purpose of the First Home Guarantee (FHBG) is to support eligible home buyers to enter the housing market sooner. To be eligible, home buyers applying for the FHBG must have a minimum of 5% deposit, and can include first home buyers or previous home owners who haven’t owned a property in the ten years prior to the date they execute their home loan.
Prior property ownership includes a freehold interest in real property in Australia (this includes owning land only), an interest in a lease of land in Australia with a term of 50 years or more, or a company title interest in land in Australia.
Australian Citizens or Australian permanent residents may apply.
Individual or joint applicants may apply for the First Home Guarantee (FHBG). Joint applicants may include partners, friends, siblings, and other family members. All applicants must occupy the property as their principal place of residence and it must remain their principal place of residence whilst under the Scheme.
The purpose of the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFBG) is to help eligible regional home buyers to buy a home sooner.
To be eligible, home buyers applying for the RFHBG must have a minimum of 5% deposit. They must have lived (or at least one applicant if applying as joint applicants) in the regional area or adjacent regional area they are purchasing in the for the preceding 12 month period to the date they execute the home loan agreement.
Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents may apply.
Employees required by their employer to relocate may be eligible for an exemption.
Individual or joint applicants may apply for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee. Joint applicants may include partners, friends, siblings, and other family members. All applicants must occupy the property as their principal place of residence and it must remain their principal place of residence whilst under the Scheme.
Home buyers not eligible for the RFHBG may be eligible for the FHBG or FHG.
The purpose of the FHG is to support eligible single parents and eligible single legal guardians to buy a home. An eligible single parent or eligible single legal guardian is not required to be a first home buyer, but must not own property at the time of entering into a loan under the FHG.
To be eligible, home buyers applying for the FHG must have a minimum deposit of 2% of the property value.
Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents may only apply.
Home buyers must be eligible single parents or eligible single legal guardians of at least one dependent.
5,000 places have been made available.
The New Home Guarantee (NHG) is no longer available. A NHG place reserved on, or before 30 June 2022, will still be able to progress to settlement, subject to meeting eligibility criteria and NHG requirements and timelines.
The minimum deposit required is set out in the eligibility criteria for each Guarantee under the Scheme.
With a Guarantee under the Home Guarantee Scheme you could purchase or build a home with a reduced deposit and avoid paying any Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) in conjunction with your loan.
Normally if you were purchasing or building a home today, you would need to provide a deposit of at least 20% of the property’s value to avoid paying Lender’s Mortgage Insurance (LMI) costs to borrow an amount that is more than 80% of the value of the property.
With a guarantee provided under the Home Guarantee Scheme you can provide a deposit of as little as 5% (dependent upon the guarantee type) and the Guarantee will mean that you are able to avoid the expense of paying LMI.
It is important to check all aspects of your eligibility for the Home Guarantee Scheme and determine the correct Guarantee applicable for.
To check your eligibility, visit Housing Australia's website.
To get started, some of the criteria includes:
- All applicants for the First Home Guarantee (FHBG) or the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG) must be a First Home Buyers or previous home owners who haven't owned a property in the ten years prior to the date they execute their home loan. There is a maximum of two applicants/borrowers. Where an applicant is eligible for the RFHBG, they are not eligible for the FHBG. Therefore, if someone has lived in the region, or an adjacent regional area to the area they are purchasing in for the prior 12 months, they must be placed into the RFHBG.
- All applicants must be Australian citizens or Australian permanent residents, be aged 18 years of age and be able to provide the required supporting documents under the Scheme.
- All applicants must not be existing property owners (e.g. investment properties or vacant land awaiting construction) or have owned a property in the ten years prior to the date of executing their home loan documents.
- Applications must be for Owner Occupied homes with Principal & Interest repayments (exception for any construction periods).
- Applicants for the First Home Guarantee (FHBG) or Regional First Home Buyers Guarantee (RFHBG) must have accumulated a minimum deposit of 5% from genuine savings.
- In addition to a minimum of 5% deposit, applicants must also have available funds for purchase costs, including Stamp Duty and any other costs or fees required to complete the purchase transaction.
- The proposed property being purchased must not exceed the applicable Property Price Caps for the area/region – see Property Price Thresholds
- Applicants must have earned less than the below Income Thresholds in the preceding financial year. You will need to provide a copy of your Notice of Assessment from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the preceding financial year as part of the reservation process.
Income thresholds:
Individuals: $125,000
Joint applicants combined income: $200,000
Important note: In addition to Home Guarantee Scheme eligibility criteria, home loans applications need to also comply with standard Auswide Bank lending policy and eligibility criteria.
| First Home Guarantee (FHBG) | Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG) | Family Home Guarantee (FHG) | |
| Minimum deposit | 5% | 5% | 2% |
| Number of applicants | Single or joint. Maximum of 2 applicants | Single or joint. Maximum of 2 applicants | Single applicants |
| Property type | Existing homes and new builds. Must be owner occupier, investment properties are not eligible. |
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| Prior property ownership | Applicants can be a first home buyer or previous homeowners who haven't owned a property in Australia in the past 10 years. |
Applicants can be a first home buyer or previous homeowners who haven't owned a property in Australia in the past 10 years. | Applicants can be a first home buyer or previous homeowner. |
| Citizenship | Australian citizens or permanent residents. |
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| Income | Have a taxable income of no more than $125,000 in the last financial year for singles or no more than $200,000 for joint applications.
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Have a taxable income of no more than $125,000 in the last financial year for singles or no more than $200,000 for joint applications. | Have a taxable income of no more than $125,000 in the last financial year. |
| Purchase location | All Australia | Australia Regional areas. Applicants must have lived in or adjacent to the area for the preceding 12 months. |
All Australia |
| Available places FY 2023-24 | 35,000 | 10,000 |
5,000 |
| Property price cap | Property price caps are the same for all Guarantees and can be viewed on Housing Australia's website |
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- Familiarise yourself with the eligibility criteria.
- Submit a Home Loan enquiry to start your application, or speak with one of our Home Loan Consultants to discuss your circumstances and eligibility.
- Our Lending Specialists will let you know what information and supporting documents are required to reserve a Guarantee allocation. Available allocations are limited and are issued by Housing Australia on a ‘first in best dressed’ basis. We will confirm with you once a reservation is in place.
- If a reservation is confirmed, your allocation will be reserved for 14 calendar days. This allows time for initial assessment of your Home Loan Application.
- Once you have a reservation, your Lending Specialist will work with you to process your Home Loan Application. If your Home Loan Application is successful either a Pre-Approval or Conditional Approval can be issued. Both types will have conditions applicable to them. This will allow your reservation to be extended for another 90 days to allow you to select a property to buy or build.
- If you haven’t already, select a property you want to buy and your Lending Specialist will help submit your Home Loan application for final assessment.
- We will need to obtain a valuation of the property to ensure you still meet the requirements of the Home Guarantee Scheme, as well as our own lending criteria.
- Following final approval of your Home Loan application Auswide Bank will request the Guarantee Certificate to be issued to secure your Scheme place
- On receipt of the Guarantee Certificate Auswide Bank will issue your loan documents to you for execution and return in preparation for settlement
- Following final approval of your Home Loan Application, your Lending Specialist will assist you with having your loan documents issued to you and following your loan through to completion of the purchase of your new house.
- When you have returned the signed loan documents to Auswide Bank’s settlement agents (MSA) they will co-ordinate settlement with your solicitors or conveyancers.
- Once settlement has been completed your free to move into your new home!
- If you have purchased land and are building a new home, once the land purchase has settled then the construction phase of the loan will commence.
- The builder will be paid at the completion of each stage of the house as set out in the your fixed price building contract.
- When the final payment is made handover will be completed and you will be able to move into a brand new home
More For First Home Buyers
The First Home Owners' Grant is a national scheme funded by the states and territories and administered under their own legislation. Under the scheme, a one-off grant is payable to first home owners that satisfy all the eligibility criteria.
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