Australian Government Home Guarantee Scheme – more support for eligible home buyers from 1 July

50,000 new places are now available for the 2023-24 financial year across the three Guarantees:

• 35,000 places for the First Home Guarantee (FHBG);
• 10,000 places for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG); and
• 5,000 places for the Family Home Guarantee (FHG).

In addition, expanded eligibility criteria come into effect today, opening up the Scheme to a broader range of aspiring homeowners:

• All Guarantees are now available to eligible home buyers who are Australian permanent residents, expanded from only Australian citizens.
• The Family Home Guarantee has been expanded from eligible single natural or adoptive parents of at least one dependent to include eligible single legal guardians of at least one dependent – such as aunts, uncles and grandparents.
• The First Home Guarantee and the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee have been expanded from eligible first home buyers to also include those who have not owned a property in Australia in the last ten years.
• The First Home Guarantee and the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee are now open to two applicants broadly, i.e. friends, siblings, and other family members to make joint applications. These Guarantees were previously restricted to married or de-facto couples, in addition to single applicants.
• The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee now includes an exemption to the requirement to live in the region or adjacent region for the preceding 12-month period, which may apply to some employees required by their current employer to relocate. An exemption was previously only available to Australian Defence Force members.

Housing Minister Julie Collins said, “The Government is moving to meet the times, because households have changed. I encourage Australians who may be finding the deposit hurdle difficult to overcome to look at support available under the Home Guarantee Scheme. The Government is proud to be expanding these opportunities with 50,000 places available from today and expanded eligibility criteria.”

NHFIC CEO Nathan Dal Bon said, “NHFIC is excited to be offering an expanded Home Guarantee Scheme and new places to aspiring homeowners. The Scheme assists eligible home buyers to overcome some of the key barriers to home ownership, including the challenge of saving a deposit. NHFIC is delighted to administer a key Government housing program that provides more Australians, including permanent residents, with greater access to the property market, enabling them to bring forward plans to buy their own home.”

NHFIC Chief Program Officer Home Ownership Jennifer Chew said, "The expanded criteria coming into effect today provide an opportunity for many more home buyers to buy or build their own home sooner. We look forward to continuing to work with our Participating Lenders and their broker networks to help more people on the path to homeownership.”

The Home Guarantee Scheme is administered by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) and available to eligible home buyers through 33 Participating Lenders. The Westpac Group, which was appointed to the Participating Lender Panel in October 2022, is now offering the Scheme from today through its Westpac and RAMS Home Loans brands.

For more information on the Scheme, contact a Participating Lender or visit the NHFIC website.

About NHFIC  

NHFIC’s mission is to improve housing outcomes for Australians. Established in 2018, NHFIC is a corporate Commonwealth entity that provides long-term and low-cost finance and capability building assistance to registered community housing providers (CHPs) to support the provision of more social and affordable housing. NHFIC lends, invests and provides grants to help finance the critical infrastructure and social and affordable housing needed to unlock and accelerate new housing supply. NHFIC supports home buyers by administering Government schemes that help them purchase their home sooner, and undertakes independent research into housing supply, demand and affordability in Australia. For more information and the latest data on our achievements, visit nhfic.gov.au