What Is the First Home Guarantee?

The First Home Guarantee (formerly the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme) lets eligible first home buyers purchase with just a 5% deposit, while the Australian Government guarantees the remaining 15% needed to avoid Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) — normally required on any loan above 80% of the property value.

What Changed From 1 October 2025

• No income caps: previously capped at $125,000 (single) / $200,000 (joint) — now removed entirely
• Unlimited places: previously capped at 35,000 places per year — now uncapped
• Higher property price caps: significantly increased across every region

This is the most significant expansion of the scheme since it launched, opening it to far more buyers than before.

2026 Property Price Caps

Caps can vary even within the same city — suburb boundaries sometimes split between "capital city" and "rest of state" tiers, so always confirm your exact suburb's cap before relying on this calculator.

How to Use This Calculator

Enter your target property price and select your location to check the relevant price cap. The calculator shows your 5% deposit requirement, the government-guaranteed portion, your resulting loan amount, and a comparison against a traditional 20% deposit — including a rough estimate of the LMI you'd avoid.

You Apply Through a Lender, Not Directly

You cannot apply to Housing Australia directly — applications go through one of 30+ participating lenders, including three of the big four banks (Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Westpac) and a wide range of credit unions and regional banks. Each lender applies its own standard lending criteria on top of the scheme's eligibility rules.

Stacking With Other Schemes

The First Home Guarantee can potentially be combined with state-based grants and stamp duty concessions, and the First Home Super Saver Scheme for your deposit savings. It cannot be combined with Help to Buy, since that's a structurally different shared-equity path rather than a loan guarantee.

What This Calculator Doesn't Cover

This doesn't check your borrowing capacity (how much a lender will actually approve), your specific eligibility (first-home-buyer status, citizenship, occupancy requirements), or your exact LMI saving, which varies by lender and loan size. Use the official eligibility tool at firsthomebuyers.gov.au alongside this calculator.

Where This Fits Your Bigger Picture

Compare this against the Help to Buy shared equity calculator if you'd rather reduce your loan size instead of avoiding LMI, and check your savings strategy with our First Home Super Saver calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions