The Home Guarantee Scheme, which is supported by 32 participating lenders, will offer another 50,000 places in the new financial year, but there will be some changes to the program.
From July 1, all three guarantees offered under the scheme - the First Home Guarantee, the Family Home Guarantee and the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee – will be open to permanent residents, in addition to Australian citizens.
Under the First Home Guarantee and Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, friends and family members will be eligible for joint applications. Previously, eligibility was limited to single applicants, married couples and couples in de-facto relationships.
The guarantee will also be expanded to include non-first home buyers who have not owned a property in Australia in the past 10 years.
Eligibility for the Family Home Guarantee will be expanded from single natural parents and adoptive parents to cover certain single legal guardians, including aunts, uncles and grandparents.
Under the First Home Guarantee, an eligible first home buyer can purchase a property with a deposit of 5 per cent. To be eligible for the guarantee, individual income cannot exceed $125,000 and a couple’s income cannot exceed $200,000. In 2023/24, 35,000 places will be available.
The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, an addition to the Home Guarantee Scheme that was launched last year, has an allocation of 10,000 places a year until June 2025.
The Family Home Guarantee has an allocation of 5000 places a year until 30 June 2025. It supports single parents (and now guardians) with at least one dependent child to buy a home, with a deposit of as little as 2 per cent.
Of the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and NAB are scheme participants.