First Home Buyers Grant: Every Grant and Scheme Available in Australia

Buying your first home is one of the biggest milestones of your life, but let’s be honest, the financial side of things can feel pretty overwhelming. The good news? The Australian government actually wants to help you get there, and there are more support options available than most people realise.

If you’ve heard the term “first home buyers grant” thrown around but aren’t quite sure what it means or whether you qualify, you’re in the right place. From cash grants to stamp duty exemptions and shared equity schemes, there’s a whole range of programs designed to take some of the pressure off your deposit and upfront costs.

In this guide, we’re going to walk you through every major grant and scheme available across Australia right now. We’ll cover who’s eligible, how much you could receive, and exactly how to apply. Whether you’re just starting to research or you’re ready to take action, this post will give you a clear picture of the help that’s out there waiting for you. Let’s dive in.

What Is the First Home Owner Grant (FHOG)?

The First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) is a one-off, tax-free cash payment designed to help eligible Australians get a foot on the property ladder. Importantly, it is not a federal government payment. Instead, it is funded and administered independently by each state and territory under their own legislation, which means the rules, amounts, and eligibility conditions can look very different depending on where in Australia you are buying.

As of 2026, virtually all states and territories restrict the grant to newly built homes, off-the-plan purchases, or substantially renovated properties. If you are hoping to buy an established home, the FHOG generally will not apply. The ACT is a notable exception in a different direction, having replaced the cash grant entirely with a stamp duty exemption for eligible buyers.

Grant amounts vary quite significantly across the country. Most states offer $10,000, while South Australia provides $15,000 and Tasmania $20,000. Queensland currently offers $30,000, and the Northern Territory tops the national list at $50,000. That means two buyers with identical situations could receive a $40,000 difference in government support, simply based on their postcode.

When it comes to timing, the grant is typically paid at settlement for a completed purchase, or at the first drawdown for a construction loan. It is usually paid directly to your lender, reducing the amount you need to bring to the table at that point.

To qualify, you generally need to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, aged 18 or over, purchasing your first home as an individual rather than through a company or trust. You will also need to move into the property as your principal place of residence and stay there for a minimum continuous period, commonly between six and twelve months depending on your state. The grant is not means tested, so your income does not affect eligibility.

For a full breakdown by state, the state-by-state first home buyers grant guide is a helpful starting point alongside your state revenue office.

State-by-State FHOG Amounts and Eligibility (2026)

Grant amounts vary significantly depending on where you buy, so knowing your state’s rules before you start house hunting can save you a lot of confusion. Every state and territory has its own legislation, its own price caps, and its own definition of what qualifies. Here is a complete breakdown for 2026.

A few things stand out from this table. Queensland and Tasmania offer the highest grants nationally at $30,000 each, making them particularly attractive states for first home buyers purchasing new builds. Victoria is the only state with a regional loading, doubling the grant from $10,000 to $20,000 if you buy outside a metropolitan area. This reflects a broader push to ease housing pressure in major cities by encouraging buyers to consider regional living.

Western Australia has a unique dual price cap structure, with a higher $1,000,000 cap applying in the north of the state to account for elevated property costs in remote areas. Meanwhile, the ACT does not offer a traditional FHOG at all, instead directing buyers toward stamp duty concessions and the HomeSeeker program, which can still provide meaningful financial relief.

One rule applies everywhere: the FHOG is only available for new or substantially renovated homes. No state currently pays the grant on established properties, so if you are eyeing an older home, you will need to rely on other first home buyer support. For a full overview of what is available at the federal level, visit firsthome.gov.au as your starting point, then check your specific state revenue office for the finer details.

The Three Federal Schemes Available in 2026

On top of the state-based FHOG payments covered above, the federal government runs three separate programs that can make a significant difference to your buying journey. Each one tackles a different piece of the affordability puzzle, so it’s worth understanding what each does before deciding which ones apply to your situation.

The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme targets the biggest hurdle most buyers face: saving a large enough deposit. It lets eligible buyers purchase with just 5% down while the government guarantees the rest up to the standard 20% threshold, eliminating the need for Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). Since October 2025, the scheme has no income caps and no annual place limit, meaning it’s now open to virtually any eligible buyer without a waitlist.

The Help to Buy Scheme takes a different approach. The government co-contributes up to 40% of the purchase price on a new home (or 30% on an existing one), which means you need a smaller loan and only a 2% deposit to get started. Applications opened on 5 December 2025, making it the newest of the three programs.

The First Home Super Saver Scheme helps you build your deposit faster by saving inside superannuation, where contributions are taxed at a lower rate. You can contribute up to $15,000 per year and withdraw a lifetime maximum of $50,000 toward your first home.

All three schemes are managed through firsthomebuyers.gov.au, which Ratebuster recommends bookmarking as your go-to government reference. Importantly, many buyers can combine more than one scheme simultaneously, which we cover in detail in the stacking section below.

The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme

If you’ve been searching online for help with your deposit and keep seeing the term “Home Guarantee Scheme,” it’s worth knowing that name is now outdated. The scheme was officially rebranded as the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme in October 2025. Any lender, broker, or website still using the old name is working from old information, so it’s a useful red flag when you’re comparing your options.

So how does it actually work? The scheme lets eligible buyers purchase a home with a deposit as small as 5%, without needing to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). LMI is typically charged when your deposit is below 20% of the property value, and it can add thousands of dollars to your upfront costs. Under this scheme, the government steps in and guarantees up to 15% of the property value, which effectively brings your loan-to-value ratio up to 80% in the eyes of the lender. You still borrow the full amount, but you skip the LMI bill entirely.

One of the biggest changes to the scheme came into effect on 1 October 2025. Previously, there were income caps in place ($125,000 for individuals and $200,000 for couples) and a limited number of places available each year. Both restrictions have now been removed. The scheme is open to any eligible first home buyer, regardless of income, and there is no longer an annual cap on how many people can access it. This is a significant shift from the previous system, where 46,022 of 50,000 available places were taken in 2024-25, representing 92% utilisation before the cap even existed. That same year, the scheme supported 1 in 3 first home buyers nationally, and more than 230,000 Australians have used it since January 2020.

The property price caps vary by location, and knowing your city’s limit is essential before you start looking. As of October 2025, the updated metro caps are:

• NSW (Sydney, Illawarra, Newcastle): $1,500,000
• QLD (Brisbane, Gold Coast): $1,000,000
• VIC (Melbourne): $950,000
• SA (Adelaide): $900,000
• WA (Perth): $750,000

Keep in mind that you apply through a participating lender, not directly through the government, so your first step is finding a lender that is part of the scheme.

What the LMI Waiver Is Actually Worth

One of the most overlooked financial benefits of the 5% Deposit Scheme is not a cash grant at all. It is the cost you never have to pay in the first place.

Lenders Mortgage Insurance, or LMI, is a one-off premium that lenders require when your deposit is less than 20% of the purchase price (meaning your loan-to-value ratio exceeds 80%). Here is the frustrating part: you pay the premium, but the insurance protects the lender, not you. If you default and the property sells for less than what you owe, the lender makes a claim. You receive nothing. To make it worse, LMI is commonly added to your loan balance and charged interest over the full loan term, quietly inflating what you owe from day one.

The dollar amounts involved are significant. On a $700,000 property purchased with a 5% deposit, estimated LMI typically falls between $18,000 and $22,000 depending on the lender and insurer. Step up to an $850,000 purchase, and those savings rise to roughly $25,000 to $30,000. At the $1 million mark, avoided LMI can exceed $35,000. The 5% Deposit Scheme eliminates this cost entirely, making it arguably more valuable than the cash FHOG grants available in most states.

It is important to understand that the LMI saving is not money deposited into your account. It is a cost that simply never appears on your loan. That means you borrow less from day one, pay less interest over the life of the loan, and effectively increase your purchasing power without needing extra savings.

Once you have built enough equity to bring your LVR below 80% through repayments and capital growth, you can refinance to a standard home loan with no LMI concerns whatsoever. That is exactly the moment to compare rates across lenders on Ratebuster to make sure your new deal reflects the stronger financial position you have worked hard to reach.

The Help to Buy Scheme: Shared Equity Explained

Launched on 5 December 2025, the Help to Buy Scheme takes a fundamentally different approach to the other federal programs. Rather than simply waiving LMI or helping with a deposit guarantee, the federal government actually co-purchases a portion of your home alongside you. For new builds, the government can contribute up to 40% of the purchase price; for existing properties, that figure is up to 30%. The result is a smaller loan, lower monthly repayments, and a much more accessible entry point into the market.

To qualify, you need a minimum 2% deposit, your income must sit below $100,000 as an individual or $160,000 for joint applicants and single parents, and the property must be your principal place of residence. You also need to demonstrate you could not purchase without the scheme’s help. The scheme is capped at 10,000 places per financial year, targeting 40,000 Australian households across its lifetime, so timing your application matters.

Here is the most important thing to understand about this scheme: the government’s contribution is not a grant. It is a genuine ownership stake. When you sell the property, or when you can financially afford to buy the government out, you repay their share calculated at the property’s market value at that time, not the original dollar amount. If your home grows in value, the government shares in that growth proportionally.

This has real financial implications worth thinking through carefully. The government’s equity stake will reduce your net proceeds when you sell, and it may also affect how lenders assess your borrowing capacity down the track. Before applying, it is worth modelling both scenarios with a mortgage broker or lender.

One genuinely useful feature is the Single Parent Stream. Single parents or guardians with at least one dependent can access Help to Buy on the same 2% deposit threshold, and crucially, prior home ownership does not disqualify them. You can check current scheme details through the Help to Buy customer guide on the official government site.

The First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSS)

The FHSS is a clever savings strategy that lets you use your superannuation fund as a tax-effective vehicle to build your home deposit. Instead of saving in a regular bank account, you make voluntary contributions into your super on top of your compulsory employer contributions. When you are ready to buy, you apply to the ATO to withdraw those contributions, along with any associated earnings, to put toward your purchase.

The caps are straightforward. You can contribute up to $15,000 per financial year in eligible voluntary contributions, and the lifetime withdrawal limit is $50,000 per person. If you are buying with a partner, you can each access your own FHSS savings separately, giving you a combined total of up to $100,000 toward a single property purchase. Contributions above the $15,000 annual threshold in any one year simply do not count toward the scheme, so consistent yearly contributions over several years is the most effective approach.

The real power of the FHSS is the tax advantage. Voluntary contributions made via salary sacrifice are taxed at just 15% inside super, rather than at your marginal income tax rate. If you earn $80,000 and contribute $15,000 through salary sacrifice, you save meaningfully compared to saving that same amount from your take-home pay. Over three or four years, that tax difference adds up to a noticeably larger deposit.

One critical step that catches many buyers off guard is the timing of the withdrawal process. You must apply to the ATO for an FHSS determination before signing a purchase contract, and the release typically takes 15 to 20 business days. Build this timeline into your buying plan well in advance to avoid any delays at settlement. For a deeper look at how the scheme works in practice, the 2026 FHSS guide from Tax BNE is a helpful resource.

Can You Combine Multiple Schemes? Stacking Strategies Explained

Here is the good news: in most cases, you can absolutely stack multiple schemes on top of each other, and doing so can dramatically reduce the cash you need to bring to settlement. The main exception is that the Help to Buy Scheme and the 5% Deposit Scheme cannot be used together, since both involve a government guarantee or equity contribution on the same loan. You need to pick one federal scheme, then layer your state-based FHOG and any applicable stamp duty concessions around it.

A Real-World Stacking Example

Let’s make this concrete. Imagine a couple purchasing a brand-new home in regional Queensland valued at $650,000. Here is what their combined support could look like:

• QLD First Home Owner Grant: $30,000 (for new builds)
• FHSS withdrawal (couple combined): up to $50,000
• 5% Deposit Scheme: waives LMI entirely, saving an estimated $20,000 to $25,000

That is $80,000 in deposit support before a single dollar of personal savings is added. The 5% deposit on a $650,000 purchase is $32,500. With a combined FHSS withdrawal potentially covering that amount on its own, the couple’s personal cash contribution could be close to zero on the deposit itself. The LMI saving on top represents thousands more that stays in their pocket rather than going to an insurer.

The One Rule You Cannot Ignore

The key restriction worth repeating is this: Help to Buy and the 5% Deposit Scheme are mutually exclusive. Both programs attach a government interest to the same loan, so lenders cannot process both simultaneously. Your decision here shapes everything else. If you choose Help to Buy for its lower 2% deposit threshold, you can still combine it with the FHOG and FHSS savings. If you choose the 5% Deposit Scheme, the same applies, and you also get the LMI waiver on top.

Because lender accreditation and scheme combination rules can shift, always confirm your strategy with a broker or lender before you sign anything. A comparison tool like Ratebuster can help you identify which lenders are accredited under the relevant schemes, so you are not narrowing your options before you need to.

Eligibility Checklist: All Schemes at a Glance

Use this table as your go-to reference before applying for anything. It pulls together the four main programs side by side so you can see at a glance where you stand.

Here is what each row means in plain language.

State FHOG: You need to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, aged 18 or over, and you must never have owned a residential property anywhere in Australia before. You also need to move in and live there as your principal residence, typically for at least 6 to 12 months depending on your state.

5% Deposit Scheme: You bring a minimum 5% deposit and the government guarantees the rest, so you skip Lenders Mortgage Insurance entirely. There are no income caps and no annual place limits since October 2025. It is open to first home buyers, with the Single Parent Stream extending access to eligible single parents at just a 2% deposit.

Help to Buy: This shared equity scheme asks for only a 2% deposit and contributes up to 40% toward a new home or 30% toward an existing one. The trade-off is an income cap of $100,000 for individuals and $160,000 for joint applicants, plus only 10,000 places are available each year. Unlike the other schemes, previous homeowners can qualify through the Single Parent Stream.

FHSS: There is no deposit requirement here because this is purely a savings mechanism. You contribute voluntarily into super, up to $15,000 per year and $50,000 over your lifetime, then withdraw those savings at tax time to fund your deposit. The key rule is that you must never have previously requested an FHSS release, and you need a genuine intention to live in the property.

The Price Cap Problem: Buying in Brisbane, Perth, or Adelaide

There is a real tension building in three of Australia’s fastest-moving property markets, and most first home buyer guides simply don’t talk about it. Median house prices in Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide each grew by more than 12% in the year to March 2026, and that growth is pushing values in many suburbs beyond the federal scheme price caps. For the 5% Deposit Scheme, the current caps sit at $1 million for Brisbane and the Gold Coast, $900,000 for Adelaide, and $850,000 for Perth (always check the official price caps page for the most current figures, as these can change). On paper, those numbers sound generous. In practice, if you are eyeing a median-priced house in an inner suburban pocket of any of these cities, you may find the property you want sits above the cap entirely.

When that happens, the scheme simply cannot help you. You would need to either save a full 20% deposit or pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance out of pocket, without any scheme support to fall back on. That is a significant setback for buyers who have planned their strategy around the 5% pathway.

Practical Options If You Are Priced Out of the Cap

The good news is that there are ways around this constraint. First, broaden your search to outer suburban or regional areas, where median prices tend to remain well within cap limits. Second, look seriously at units and townhouses; these typically carry lower price points than houses and often fall within caps even in high-growth cities, because the caps apply across all dwelling types. Third, consider whether the Help to Buy Scheme suits your situation better. Its shared equity model requires only a 2% deposit and the government contributes up to 40% equity on new builds, though income caps of $100,000 for individuals and $160,000 for couples do apply.

It is also worth noting that regional areas have lower absolute caps but proportionally lower median prices too, meaning the cap is far less restrictive outside major city centres. The federal structure genuinely works better for buyers in regional markets than for those chasing a house in inner Brisbane or Perth. Before committing to any purchase strategy, verify the cap for your specific postcode against current suburb-level median data, because the gap between cap and market price can vary dramatically from one street to the next.

From Grant to Home Loan: What Comes Next

Most first home buyer guides spend a lot of time helping you understand grants and schemes, then stop right before the part that actually determines how much you pay over the next 30 years. Getting access to a grant or scheme changes your deposit position and your loan-to-value ratio, and that directly shapes which lenders you can approach, what interest rate you’ll be offered, and what loan features you can access. That connection is worth understanding clearly before you start talking to lenders.

If you’re entering the market through the 5% Deposit Scheme, you’ll be borrowing at 95% LVR without paying LMI, which is a genuinely significant position to be in. But not every lender participates in the scheme, and among those that do, the interest rates and loan features on offer can vary meaningfully. Some accredited lenders offer offset accounts and redraw facilities on their scheme-eligible products; others don’t. Some will have sharper rates at 95% LVR than others. The lender you choose at this LVR tier can translate into thousands of dollars in difference over the life of your loan, so it’s worth comparing carefully rather than simply going with whoever you bank with already.

Here’s where stacking schemes starts to get interesting. If you’ve built FHSS savings of up to $50,000 and you’re also entitled to a state FHOG payment of $10,000 to $30,000, combining both can lift you from a 5% deposit position to 10% or higher, depending on the property price. That shift can unlock better rate tiers with more lenders and broader access to loan features.

This is exactly where using Ratebuster to compare low-deposit home loan rates across accredited lenders makes a practical difference. Rather than researching each lender individually, you can identify which participating lenders are offering the most competitive rates for your specific LVR tier, converting all that grant research into real, measurable savings.

Once you know your exact deposit position, including any FHOG payment you’re entitled to, the logical next step is getting pre-approval. Presenting lenders with a complete picture of your deposit upfront means they can assess your application accurately from the start.

Bringing It All Together

Think of your first home buyer journey as a three-layer opportunity. Your state FHOG delivers cash at settlement to cover upfront costs. The federal 5% Deposit Scheme removes the LMI burden and gets you into the market with a smaller deposit. The FHSS builds your savings faster using the tax advantages of super. Each layer solves a different part of the affordability puzzle, and in many cases you can access all three at once.

The October 2025 reforms made federal support more accessible than at any point since the scheme launched in 2020. With no income caps, no place limits, and higher property price caps across every state, there are fewer barriers standing between eligible buyers and meaningful government assistance.

For the most current eligibility details and applications, firsthomebuyers.gov.au is your official starting point for all three federal programs. For state grant amounts and price caps, check your state revenue office directly, as these figures shift with budget cycles and can change with little warning.

Once you know which schemes you qualify for, comparing your home loan becomes the next critical step. Use Ratebuster to compare rates from lenders who participate in first home buyer schemes. On a low-deposit loan, even a small rate difference compounds significantly over a 25 to 30 year term, and that gap can easily dwarf the value of any grant you receive.

Conclusion

Buying your first home in Australia doesn’t have to feel like an uphill battle. Between the First Home Owner Grant, stamp duty concessions, shared equity schemes, and federal deposit guarantees, there is real money on the table that could bring your goal closer than you think. The key takeaways are simple: know what’s available in your state, check your eligibility early, and don’t leave free government support unclaimed.

The path to homeownership is absolutely within reach, especially when you understand the tools available to you. Your next step is to review the schemes that apply to your state and speak with a mortgage broker or your state revenue office to confirm your eligibility.

Your first home is waiting. Take what you’ve learned here, take action, and make it happen.