10,000 places available from Saturday under the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee
From Saturday 1 October 2022, 10,000 new places will be available under the Australian Government’s Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS), helping thousands more Australians living in regional areas to enter the housing market sooner.
The new Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG) supports eligible first home buyers living in regional areas1 to purchase a modest home in a regional area with a deposit of as little as five per cent.
To be eligible, home buyers (or at least one borrower when applying as a couple) must have lived in the regional area or adjacent regional area they are purchasing in, for the preceding 12-month period to the date they execute their home loan agreement.
Australian Defence Force members may be eligible for a partial exemption. Other eligibility and lender’s criteria, as well as HGS property price caps, apply.
The introduction of the RFHBG increases the total number of annual HGS places to 50,000. Home buyers who are not eligible for the RFHBG may be eligible for the First Home Guarantee or the Family Home Guarantee. Home buyers should discuss their individual circumstances with a participating lender.
From Saturday, regional home buyers can access detailed information about the RFHBG on the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) website. Interested regional first home buyers will be able to check eligibility, search the areas they are able to purchase in, as well as the applicable property price caps. An Information Guide and Fact Sheet will also be available.
"NHFIC welcomes this targeted support for first home buyers living in regional Australia. Making it easier for more Australians to access housing is our fundamental purpose, and programs like this are even more important as aspiring homeowners cope with increasing cost of living pressures."
NHFIC CEO Nathan Dal Bon
[1] A regional area is defined as Statistical Area Level 4 (ASGS SA4 2016) areas in a State or the Northern Territory that are not a capital city of that State or Territory; and Norfolk Island; or the Territories of Jervis Bay, Christmas Island or Cocos (Keeling) Islands; as defined in the version published by The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in July 2016. The ACT and greater capital city areas of each State and the Northern Territory are excluded from the RFHBG. SA4s are based on population density and labour markets; they vary in size reflecting these criteria.