Your first home, with a 5% deposit.

As little as 5%. Under the First Home Guarantee, eligible first home buyers purchase with a 5% deposit and pay no lenders mortgage insurance — the government guarantees part of the loan to the lender. Since October 2025 the scheme has no income caps and no limit on places. Property price caps apply and vary by location (in NSW, $1.5 million for Sydney and regional centres as at August 2026). Outside the scheme, most lenders accept deposits as low as 5% to 10% with LMI, and a family guarantor can reduce the deposit to zero.

It is an Australian Government scheme that lets eligible first home buyers purchase with a 5% deposit and no LMI. You cannot apply to the government directly — applications go through participating lenders, and a broker lodges it for you as part of the loan application. We check your eligibility and the current property price cap for your area, then handle the paperwork.

Often, no. Under the NSW First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, purchases below a set price threshold are exempt from transfer duty, with a concessional rate on a band above it (as at August 2026, a full exemption applies up to $800,000 and a concession up to $1 million for new and existing homes). Vacant land has its own thresholds. We confirm the current numbers for your purchase, and our stamp duty calculator gives a quick estimate.

A $10,000 grant for eligible first home buyers who buy or build a brand-new home, subject to property value caps. It does not apply to established homes. If you are looking at a house-and-land package or a newly built home, we will check whether your purchase qualifies alongside the other schemes.

Usually. An eligible buyer of a new home below the caps can potentially use the First Home Guarantee, the stamp duty exemption and the First Home Owner Grant together — and add a guarantor where a little more support is needed. Each scheme has its own eligibility rules, so we work out which combination your purchase actually supports.

It depends on your income, expenses and other commitments — and every lender calculates it differently, applying a serviceability buffer (currently 3 percentage points) above the actual rate. As a first step, try our borrowing power calculator, then book a free assessment and we will give you real numbers from the lenders that suit your situation.

With Hills District established-house prices well above the scheme price caps, the realistic local paths are apartments and townhouses in established suburbs, or new builds in the growth corridor — Box Hill, The Gables, North Kellyville and surrounds — where house-and-land packages can fit under the First Home Guarantee and stamp duty caps. Each scheme has its own price cap: packages under $750,000 all-in may also unlock the $10,000 First Home Owner Grant. See our construction loan page for how two-contract purchases work.