If you live in a regional area and you’re looking to purchase a home, the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee is here to make buying or building it easier.
Minimum 5% deposit
Get into your home sooner.
Pay no Lender's Mortgage Insurance
Save thousands in LMI costs.
Access to our best products
All our customers get access to the same loan benefits.
What is the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee?
The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG) is an Australian Government initiative. It allows eligible regional home buyers to buy or build a home in regional Australia with a minimum 5% deposit, without having to pay for Lender's Mortgage Insurance (LMI). To be eligible for the RFHBG, you must purchase a home in the regional area where you have lived for the preceding 12-month period, or an adjacent regional area.
From 1 July 2023, there will be 10,000 RFHBG places available per financial year until 30 June 2025.
Are you eligible?
To apply to the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, you'll be subject to certain eligibility criteria as outlined below. You need to provide documentation to prove your eligibility and secure your position.
- You must be purchasing an eligible property.
- You can apply as an individual or jointly with a partner, friend, sibling, and other family member.
- You must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident at the time you enter the loan.
- You must be at least 18 years of age.
- You must have earned less than $125,000 as a single person, and less than $200,000 as a couple in the last financial year, as shown on the Notice of Assessment issued by the Australian Taxation Office.
- You must be first home buyers who have not previously owned, or previous homeowners who haven't owned a property in Australia in the past 10 years.
- You must intend to be owner-occupiers of the purchased property.
- You must have lived in the regional area or adjacent regional area in the preceding 12-month period to the date the home loan agreement is executed. (Employees who have been required to relocate for work by their current employer may be exempt from this requirement if employed for at least 12 months).
- There are also property price caps set by the Australian government.
What property types meet the eligibility criteria?
Eligible property types for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee include:
- an existing house, townhouse or apartment
- a house and land package
- land and a separate contract to build a home, or
- an off-the-plan apartment or townhouse.
Housing Australia has also developed some tools to help first home buyers determine the property price caps for suburbs they’re looking to purchase a property in, or to find out if it's an eligible location they're planning on purchasing in. All you need to do is enter the postcode for the area you want to buy in to find out more information.
Frequently asked questions
Under the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, eligible applicants can get a home loan from participating lenders with a deposit of as little as 5%, without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI), enabling you to get into your first home sooner.
Usually, first home buyers with less than a 20% deposit need to pay lenders mortgage insurance. Under the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, the government agrees to guarantee up to a maximum of 15% of the value of the property purchased, supporting eligible first home buyers to buy or build a new residential property with a deposit of as little as 5%.
Pros:
- Allows you to enter the property market earlier, as you can get a home loan with a deposit as little as 5%.
- Don’t need to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI).
- Can be used alongside the First Home Super Saver Scheme.
Cons:
- Buying with a lower deposit means the loan will take longer to pay off, because the amount you owe will be larger.
- You may end up paying more interest over the life of the loan, as your total loan size will be larger.
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Important information
Meeting the eligibility criteria does not mean that you will receive either a guarantee or a loan from a participating lender.