Move in sooner with as little as 5% deposit
At Great Southern Bank, we’re proud to help more first-home buyers step onto the property ladder. One of the ways we do this is through our continued involvement in the First Home Guarantee, which is part of the Australian Government’s Home Guarantee Scheme.
What’s the First Home Guarantee?
The First Home Guarantee is a government initiative that provides eligible first home buyers the opportunity to buy or build their first home with a deposit as little as 5%.
Traditionally, home buyers need to save a 20% deposit to avoid paying costly Lenders' Mortgage Insurance (LMI). For many Australians, saving a 20% deposit is a big barrier to getting onto the property ladder.
Lowering the barrier to home ownership
Under the First Home Guarantee, your minimum savings goal drops to 5%. This is because the Australian Government acts as a guarantor, so you don’t have to fork out extra funds for LMI – even if your deposit is less than 20%.
You can take years off the time it takes to save a deposit and move into your first home sooner.
More places than ever before
From 1 July 2024, Housing Australia released 35,000 places under the First Home Guarantee.
Experienced lenders to guide you through the process
This is our fifth year taking part in the Home Guarantee Scheme. During this time, we have helped over 11,000 customers buy a home through the scheme.
- Be first home buyers, or haven’t owned a property in Australia in the past 10 years.
- Be aged 18 years and over.
- Be Australian citizens or Australian Permanent Residents and have a valid Medicare card.
- Have a taxable income of no more than $125,000 in the last financial year for singles or no more than $200,000 for joint applications (as shown on the Notice of Assessment issued by the Australian Taxation Office).
- Couples, friends, siblings and other family members are eligible for joint applications (maximum of two borrowers).
- Be buying an eligible property within the property price threshold for your area. You can view the property price cap for your suburb on the Housing Australia website .
Speak to one of our Home Loan Specialists via live online chat.
Fill out our online enquiry form and one of our Home Loan Specialists will get back to you to start the process.
Mon - Fri: 9:30am - 4:00pm (AEDT)
Discover our other Support Schemes
The Family Home Guarantee supports eligible single parents and legal guardians to purchase a family home
Great Southern Bank, a business name of Credit Union Australia Ltd ABN 44 087 650 959, AFSL and Australian Credit Licence 238317. Lending criteria, limits, conditions, and fees apply. Applications are subject to credit approval. Ask us for details. More information about the Home Guarantee Scheme (including the First Home Guarantee, Family Home Guarantee and Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee) and Housing Australia is available at www.housingaustralia.gov.au.
This is a one-off insurance payment which protects your mortgage lender if you default on the loan. LMI is commonly paid when borrowers have less than a 20% deposit.
The amount paid can vary depending on the lender, the loan amount and your deposit size. Most lenders let you to choose to pay LMI upfront or add this to your loan amount and include it in your repayments.