Your first home buyer journey, in 8 honest steps.

Work out what you can really afford

Before you look at a single house, you need to know your honest borrowing power — not the bank’s biggest number. On a $90,000 salary in NSW, most lenders will offer you somewhere between $430,000 and $510,000, but you can comfortably afford repayments on closer to $380,000 without giving up everything else in your life. The gap between those numbers is where most first home buyers get caught.

Three things change your borrowing power more than anything else: existing debts (HECS especially), how many credit card limits you have open, and your monthly living expenses on your bank statements for the last 3 months. Cancel any credit cards you don’t use. A $10,000 limit you never touch can knock $30,000–$50,000 off what you can borrow.

Get pre-approved with a broker

Pre-approval is a lender’s written promise that they would lend you up to a certain amount right now, subject to a few final checks. It lasts 3–6 months. Without it, real estate agents won’t take your offer seriously, and you can’t bid at auction.

You can go directly to a bank, or use a mortgage broker. A broker compares 30+ lenders at no cost to you (they’re paid by the lender). For first home buyers especially, a broker usually finds 10–15% more borrowing power than a single bank because different lenders treat your income and expenses differently. They also know which lenders accept the First Home Guarantee, casual income, recent job changes, and self-employment.

Save your deposit (you might not need 20%)

You do not need 20%. The First Home Guarantee lets eligible first home buyers in with 5%, and the federal government covers Lender’s Mortgage Insurance (LMI) — saving you between $10,000 and $30,000 depending on your purchase price. There are 50,000 places available each financial year.

On a $700,000 purchase, that’s a deposit of $35,000 instead of $140,000. The trade-off: you borrow more (so your repayments are higher), but you’re in the market 18–36 months earlier. For most first home buyers in 2026, in is in.

You can also use the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSS) to save voluntary super contributions for your deposit at a lower tax rate — up to $50,000 over multiple financial years. It’s most useful for buyers earning over $90,000.

House hunt with a real checklist

The average first home buyer in Australia spends 8–14 weeks actively looking before they buy. You’ll inspect somewhere between 15 and 40 properties. By property 5, every kitchen looks the same. The buyers who don’t overpay are the ones with a checklist.

What to actually check at every inspection: structural cracks larger than a 20c coin, rising damp around skirtings, the age of the roof, the smell (mould), water pressure, mobile reception, neighbour noise on a weekday evening, the flood zone, the school catchment if you have kids planned. Open the meter box. Open the kitchen sink cupboard. Open the toilet cistern. Take photos.

Make an offer or bid at auction

About 30% of Australian sales happen at auction, the other 70% by private treaty (negotiated offers). The rules and tactics are different for each.

Private treaty: You submit an offer in writing to the agent. The agent takes it to the vendor. Negotiation usually happens through the agent, sometimes with counter-offers. You can include conditions (subject to finance, subject to building & pest inspection). Most states give you a cooling-off period after exchange.

Auction: You register before the auction, you bid against other registered bidders, the highest bid wins if it’s above the vendor’s reserve. If you win, you sign the contract on the spot and pay a deposit (usually 10%). No cooling-off period and no conditions — your building & pest inspection and finance must already be done.

Building & pest inspection, conveyancing, contract

The building and pest inspection is a non-negotiable. A licensed inspector spends 90 minutes inside, under, and on top of the property. They look for structural issues, termite activity, rising damp, electrical and plumbing red flags. The report comes back the same day with photos.

Your conveyancer (or solicitor in some states) handles the legal transfer of ownership. They review the contract, check the title, organise stamp duty payment, coordinate with the bank, and manage settlement. Conveyancers cost $1,200–$2,500. Use a solicitor only if there’s something legally unusual (estate sale, deceased estate, off-the-plan complexities).

Settlement day

Settlement is the day the title officially transfers from the seller to you, and the bank releases the loan to the seller’s account. It happens behind the scenes — your conveyancer and the bank do the work. You don’t physically attend.

The day before settlement, you do the final inspection. Walk through with your conveyancer’s checklist: are the inclusions still there (dishwasher, blinds, fixed items in the contract)? Are all the rooms in the same condition? If anything is missing or damaged, this is your last chance to flag it.

On settlement day, your bank transfers the loan amount, your conveyancer pays stamp duty and final adjustments (rates, water, strata), and the title is registered. Mid-afternoon, the agent calls and tells you it’s settled. You go pick up the keys.

Move in & set up your new home

The legal side is done. Now you switch utilities (electricity, gas, internet), redirect mail, change your address with Medicare, the ATO, your employer, your bank. There’s a 30-day grace period on most things, but the longer you leave it the more painful it gets.

Day-one essentials: a working internet connection, a fridge, a bed, a kettle, and somewhere to sit. Everything else can wait. The first week in your own home is the best week — don’t spend it stressed about furniture.