The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee allows up to 10,000 regional homes each year to be purchased by first home buyers with as little as a 5% deposit.

Here you’ll find what you need to know about the guarantee, including the requirements needed for first home buyers and what areas are classified as ‘regional’ to be eligible.

What is the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee?

The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee is a part of the Federal Government’s Home Guarantee Scheme, designed to provide a boost for first home buyers in regional Australia.

It promises 10,000 guarantees each year until June 2025 to help first-home buyers purchase a regional home with as little as a 5% deposit without having to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). This means you can borrow up to 95% of the property’s value, with the federal government providing the lender with a guarantee of up to 15% of the property’s value.

The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee is only available to Aussies who have been living in the region they wish to buy in for at least one year. However, exceptions to this rule might be available to those whose employer required they relocate to the region or members of the Australian Defence Force.

The Home Guarantee Scheme now comprises of:

    • Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee - offering 10,000 guarantees each year.

    • First Home Buyer Guarantee - offering 35,000 guarantees each year.

    • Family Home Guarantee - offering 5,000 guarantees each year.

What is classified as a regional property?

The Australian Government’s Housing Australia (formerly the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation) defines a regional area as areas in a state or the Northern Territory that are not a capital city of that state or territory.

Norfolk Island, the Territories or Jervis Bay, Christmas Island, and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are also classed as regional, as per Housing Australia.

The greater capital city areas of each state and the Northern Territory and the entire Australian Capital Territory are excluded from the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee. Home buyers in these areas may be eligible for the First Home Guarantee or Family Home Guarantee. 

Housing Australia provides access to a Regional Checker, allowing home buyers to enter the suburb (or postcode) of their current home and the suburb (or postcode) they would like to purchase in, to confirm if they would be eligible for the scheme.

Under the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, home buyers can purchase a residential property, including: 

  • An existing house, townhouse, or apartment
  • A house and land package
  • Land and a separate contract to build a home
  • An off-the-plan apartment or townhouse

Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee price caps

For first home buyers looking to take advantage of the scheme, there are price caps on the property you can purchase. Ultimately the cap depends on which state or territory you live in and the regional area within the states. The table below shows just how much you can spend on a first home in specific regions to be eligible to receive the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee.

State

Regional Centre* 

All other Regional Areas 

NSW 

$900,000 

$750,000 

VIC 

$800,000 

$650,000 

QLD  

$700,000 

$550,000 

WA 

 

$450,000 

SA 

 

$450,000 

TAS 

 

$450,000 

*Regional centres are classified as Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, Illawarra, Geelong, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. 

Territory

Regional area 

ACT 

Not applicable 

NT Regional 

$600,000 

Jervis Bay Territory & Norfolk Island 

$550,000 

Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands 

$400,000 

Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee eligibility

To be eligible, home buyers, or at least one borrower when applying as part of a pair, must have lived in the regional area or an adjacent regional area that they intend to purchase in for the preceding 12-month period to the date they execute their home loan agreement, unless they're granted an exemption.

To qualify for this federal government scheme, you will also need to:

  • Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident aged over 18.

  • Be a first time home buyer or someone who hasn’t owned property in Australia for at least 10 years.

  • Intend to live in the property you’re buying.

  • Be earning under $125,000 if applying as an individual, or under a combined $200,000 if submitting a joint application.

  • Meet the property price threshold for the region you’re buying in.

Home buyers who are not eligible for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee may be eligible for the First Home Guarantee or the Family Home Guarantee.

Before taking up any of these guarantees, home buyers should discuss their individual circumstances with a participating lender.

Participating lenders

  • Commonwealth Bank

  • NAB

  • Westpac

  • RAMS

  • BankSA

  • Bank of Melbourne

  • St George

  • Australian Military Bank

  • Australian Mutual Bank

  • Auswide Bank

  • Bank Australia

  • Bank First

  • Bank of Heritage Isle

  • Bank of Us

  • bcu

  • Bendigo Bank

  • Beyond Bank Australia

  • Border Bank

  • Community First Credit Union

  • Credit Union SA

  • Defence Bank

  • Firefighters Mutual Bank

  • G&C Mutual Bank

  • Gateway Bank

  • Great Southern Bank

  • Health Professionals Bank

  • Indigenous Business Australia

  • Illawarra Credit Union

  • IMB Bank

  • Mortgageport

  • Newcastle Permanent Building Society 

  • P&N Bank

  • People First Bank (formerly People's Choice, renamed following its merger of Heritage Bank)

  • Police Bank

  • QBANK

  • Queensland Country Bank

  • Regional Australia Bank

  • Teachers Mutual Bank

  • The Mutual Bank

  • UniBank

  • Unity Bank Limited 

  • WAW

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First published on October 2022

Image by Phillip Flores via Unsplash



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