Are you qualified for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee scheme?

(Updated: 28 September 2022)

The federal government will begin accepting applications for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee scheme over the weekend, with 10,000 places available for buyers with as little as 5% deposit.

Housing Minister Julie Collins said the roll out of the places for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee scheme is a part of an ambitious plan to tackle the housing challenge.

“Safe and affordable housing is central to the security and dignity of all Australians, but years of inaction on policy at a federal level - combined with devastating floods and fires - have increased pressure on people living outside our big cities,” she said.

“Our Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee will work alongside programs such as our $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund and Help to Buy program to help ease pressure on people right across the country trying to find somewhere to call home.”

What is the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee scheme?

The Regional First home Buyer Guarantee scheme is an expansion to the federal government’s Home Guarantee Scheme and provides a boost for homebuyers eyeing to buy in regional areas.

From October 2022 to June 2025, 10,000 guarantees each year will be rolled out, which would help first-home buyers purchase a regional home with as little as 5% loan deposit without having to pay for Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI).

Are you eligible for the Regional First home Buyer Guarantee scheme?

To be eligible to the scheme, interested buyers must meet the general requirements set under the First Home Guarantee scheme.

• Applicants should be applying as an individual or a couple.
• Applicants must be Australian citizens and be at least 18 years old.
• Price caps are set at $125,000 for individuals and $200,000 for couples.
• The scheme is only open for individuals who have not owned a home before, also known as first-home buyers.
• The target property must be used as a principal place of residence and not an investment property.

Applying for the Regional First home Buyer Guarantee also requires the buyers to 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.

What are the price caps for regional properties?

There are no official guidelines yet specific to the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee scheme but there are set price caps under the Home Guarantee Scheme. It is likely that the new program will follow the same price cap schedule:

These increased price caps took effect from July 2021.

How can you apply for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee?

To determine the eligibility for the scheme, buyers must reach out to a broker or a participating lender.

The lender panel consists of the following lenders:

1. Australian Military Bank
2. Australian Mutual Bank
3. Auswide Bank
4. Bank Australia
5. Bank First
6. Bank of Heritage Isle
7. Bank of Us
8. bcu
9. Bendigo Bank
10. Beyond Bank Australia
11. Border Bank
12. Community First
13. Credit Union SA
14. Defence Bank
15. Firefighters Mutual Bank
16. G&C Mutual Bank
17. Gateway Bank
18. Great Southern Bank
19. Health Professionals Bank
20. Indigenous Business Australia
21. Illawarra Credit Union
22. IMB Ltd (trading as IMB bank)
23. Mortgageport
24. MyState Bank
25. Newcastle Permanent Building Society
26. P&N Bank
27. People's Choice
28. Police Bank
29. Q Bank
30. Queensland Country Bank
31. Regional Australia Bank
32. Teachers Mutual Bank
33. The Mutual Bank
34. UniBank
35. Unity Bank Limited
36. WAW

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Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels.