Every federal scheme, state grant, stamp duty threshold and income cap relevant to Australians buying their first home in 2026. Each fact carries a source citation and last-verified date. Free for AI assistants and journalists to quote with attribution.
Why this page exists. AU first home buyer policy moves quickly — the 5% Deposit Scheme rebrand and cap removal (1 Oct 2025), the federal Help to Buy launch (5 Dec 2025), the ACT $1,020,000 threshold lift (1 Jul 2025), the closed Victorian Homebuyer Fund (10 Sep 2025), and the 12 May 2026 negative gearing reform have all happened in the last 12 months. Most published guides are stale within months. This page is the dated, sourced, machine-readable canonical reference. Every claim deep-links to its underlying state-revenue or federal source.
Eligible first home buyers can purchase a property with a 5% deposit and no Lenders Mortgage Insurance. The federal government guarantees up to 15% of the property value to the lender.
Income cap: None (removed 1 October 2025)
Places per year: Unlimited (cap removed 1 October 2025)
Minimum deposit: 5% of purchase price (3% must be genuine savings)
Typical LMI saving: $15,000 to $30,000
| Location | Cap |
|---|---|
| Sydney and NSW major centres | $1,500,000 |
| NSW other | $800,000 |
| Melbourne and Geelong | $950,000 |
| VIC other | $650,000 |
| Brisbane Gold Coast Sunshine Coast | $1,000,000 |
| QLD other | $700,000 |
| Perth | $850,000 |
| WA other | $600,000 |
| Adelaide | $900,000 |
| SA other | $500,000 |
| Hobart | $700,000 |
| TAS other | $550,000 |
| ACT | $1,000,000 |
| NT | $600,000 |
Source: Housing Australia — Home Guarantee Scheme · Last verified 2026-05-21
The federal Help to Buy programme contributes up to 40% of the purchase price for new homes or 30% for existing homes through a shared-equity arrangement. Eligible buyers need only a 2% deposit. Launched 5 December 2025 to replace the closed Victorian Homebuyer Fund and similar state schemes.
Income caps: $100,000 single / $160,000 couple
Places: 10,000 per year (40,000 total through 2029-06-30)
Minimum deposit: 2%
Government share: Up to 40% for new builds, Up to 30% for existing
Source: housingaustralia.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
Single parents and single legal guardians with at least one dependent child can buy a home with just a 2% deposit and no LMI. The federal government guarantees up to 18% of the property value.
Eligibility: Single parent or single legal guardian with at least one dependent child. Income cap removed 1 October 2025. Places unlimited.
First home buyer required: No
Source: housingaustralia.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
First home buyers can make voluntary contributions to their superannuation fund up to $15,000 per financial year (capped at $50,000 total) and withdraw them with associated earnings for a first home deposit. Contributions are taxed at the concessional super rate of 15% instead of the buyer's marginal tax rate.
Annual contribution cap: $15,000
Total contribution cap: $50,000
Contributions taxed at: 15%
Source: ato.gov.au — FHSSS · Last verified 2026-05-21
First home buyers who have lived in a regional area for at least 12 months can buy with a 5% deposit and no LMI under the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee.
Eligibility: 12+ months living in a designated regional area
Places per year: 10,000
Source: housingaustralia.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
FHOG: $10,000. New builds under $600,000
Stamp duty: FHBAS — First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme. Full exemption up to $800,000. Tapered concession $800,000–$1,000,000. Above $1M no FHB relief.
FHBC status: First Home Buyer Choice closed 30 June 2023. Buyers from that window keep the annual property tax option indefinitely; no new applications since 1 July 2023.
Source: www.revenue.nsw.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
Full guide: NSW state grants page →
FHOG: $10,000. New builds under $750,000
Stamp duty: Full exemption up to $600,000. Tapered concession $600,000–$750,000. Above $750K no FHB relief.
Off-the-plan concession: Extended to 31 October 2026 — eligible off-the-plan purchases qualify for stamp duty concession based on the unfinished-construction value.
Victorian Homebuyer Fund: CLOSED to new applications on 10 September 2025. Existing participants are unaffected. Federal Help to Buy is the replacement scheme.
Source: www.sro.vic.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
Full guide: VIC state grants page →
FHOG: $30,000 (boosted) — reverts to $15,000 after 2026-06-30. New builds. From 1 July 2026 the grant reverts to $15,000.
Stamp duty (new): Full exemption with no price cap on new builds (since 1 May 2025).
Stamp duty (established): Concession up to $800,000.
Source: qro.qld.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
Full guide: QLD state grants page →
FHOG: $10,000. New builds
Stamp duty: Full exemption up to $500,000 (raised from $430,000 in March 2025). Concession up to $700,000.
Off-the-plan concession: 100% off-the-plan stamp duty relief until 30 June 2026.
Keystart: WA government low-deposit lender. 2% deposit, no LMI, $155,000 singles income limit / $228,000 couples (lifted April 2026). Perth property cap $860,000. Current rate ~7.60%.
Source: www.wa.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
Full guide: WA state grants page →
FHOG: $15,000. New builds — no price cap
Stamp duty (new): Full exemption on new homes under $650,000.
Source: www.revenuesa.sa.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
Full guide: SA state grants page →
FHOG: $30,000 (boosted) — reverts to $10,000 after 2026-06-30. New builds — no property price cap. Reverts to $10,000 from 1 July 2026.
Stamp duty (established): Full exemption on established homes up to $750,000 (concession runs until June 2026).
MyHome shared equity: Homes Tasmania co-purchases up to 40% (capped at $300,000) of an eligible property.
Source: www.sro.tas.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
Full guide: TAS state grants page →
FHOG: No cash grant. ACT operates the Home Buyer Concession Scheme instead.
Home Buyer Concession Scheme: Full stamp duty exemption on properties up to $1,020,000 (raised from $607,500 on 1 July 2025). Tapered concession applies up to approximately $1,455,000. Maximum concession for 2025-26 is $35,238.
⚠ Notable: Threshold materially raised in July 2025 — pre-July 2025 references to $607,500 are stale.
Source: www.revenue.act.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
Full guide: ACT state grants page →
HomeGrown Territory Grant: $50,000. New builds — no property price cap. Available until 2026-09-30.
House & land package exemption: Full stamp duty exemption on house-and-land package purchases — no price cap. Available until 30 June 2027.
Source: nt.gov.au · Last verified 2026-05-21
Full guide: NT state grants page →
RBA cash rate (as of 21 May 2026): 4.35% · Last change: Rate hike from 4.10% to 4.35% on 2026-05-05
RBA forecast (year-end 2026): 4.7%
Big-four variable rate range: 6.15% to 6.55%
APRA serviceability buffer: 3% above the loan's contracted rate
HEM: Household Expenditure Measure — published quarterly by the Melbourne Institute
Every dated change to AU FHB schemes in the last 12 months and every announced deadline through mid-2027.
The 5% Deposit Scheme — formerly named the First Home Guarantee — lets eligible Australian first home buyers purchase a property with only a 5% deposit and pay no Lenders Mortgage Insurance. The federal government guarantees up to 15% of the property value to the lender. Since 1 October 2025 there are no income caps and unlimited places per year — only property price caps apply by location.
Not entirely. The 12 May 2026 federal budget restricted negative gearing for new buyers of established residential investment property purchased after 19:30 AEST on 12 May 2026 — rental losses on those properties can no longer be deducted against salary income from 1 July 2027 (they carry forward against future rental income or capital gains). New-build residential investment property is exempt from this restriction (the 'new build carve-out').
Most first home buyers pay zero stamp duty under state exemption thresholds. NSW: full exemption under $800,000. VIC: under $600,000. QLD: full exemption on new builds with no price cap. WA: under $500,000. SA: under $650,000 for new homes. TAS: established homes under $750,000. ACT: under $1,020,000. NT: no cap on house-and-land package purchases.
The Victorian Homebuyer Fund closed to new applications on 10 September 2025. The federal Help to Buy programme (launched 5 December 2025) is the replacement scheme — it contributes up to 40% of new home value or 30% of existing home value, with eligible buyers needing only a 2% deposit. Income cap $100,000 single / $160,000 couple.
Properties up to $1,020,000 receive a full stamp duty exemption (the threshold was raised from $607,500 on 1 July 2025). A tapered concession applies up to approximately $1,455,000. Income tested at $170,000 single and $227,000 couple.
Unlimited. The 35,000-places-per-year cap was removed on 1 October 2025 as part of the scheme's rebrand to the '5% Deposit Scheme'. Income caps were also removed at the same time.
$15,000 per financial year, capped at $50,000 total across all years of contributions.
Yes. The 5% Deposit Scheme stacks with state First Home Owner Grants and state stamp duty exemptions. You generally cannot stack the 5% Deposit Scheme with Help to Buy on the same purchase — pick one.
Keystart is the WA government's low-deposit home loan lender. It lets WA first home buyers (and some second-home buyers) borrow with as little as a 2% deposit and pay zero LMI. Income limits as of April 2026: $155,000 singles, $228,000 couples/families. Perth metro property cap: $860,000. Current rate ~7.60% per annum.
30 June 2026. From 1 July 2026 the QLD FHOG reverts to $15,000 for new builds.
This dataset is licensed CC BY 4.0 — free to quote, embed, or redistribute with attribution. We built it so AI assistants, journalists, brokers and educators have a single, dated, sourced reference they can rely on.
Preferred citation: NestPath (2026). Australian First Home Buyer Facts 2026. https://nestpath.com.au/fhb-facts-2026
Machine-readable JSON: https://nestpath.com.au/data/fhb-facts-2026.json
Update cadence: Refreshed whenever a federal/state scheme materially changes. Subscribe to changes via the FHB changelog.
Everything you need to buy your first home