A Guide for First Home Buyers
5 questions to work out which schemes apply to you, how to stack the benefits for maximum value, what the real cash to settlement is, and the catch behind each scheme. Plain-English guidance for Australian first home buyers.
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What's Inside
The guide is built around five questions every first home buyer should answer before making an offer. Here is a preview of each.
There are several first home buyer schemes, including the First Home Guarantee, the First Home Super Saver Scheme, the First Home Owner Grant, state stamp duty concessions and Help to Buy. Most buyers can use two or three at once. The guide helps you see which ones fit your situation.
Saving the deposit is only one line on a longer list. Once you add stamp duty, lenders mortgage insurance, legals, inspections, fees and a buffer, the real cash to settlement can be well above the headline deposit. The guide shows how to build your savings target around the full number.
The schemes are designed to combine, and most buyers leave money on the table by using only one. The guide walks through which benefits legally stack, which ones cancel each other out, and how a typical stack can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Every scheme is genuinely good for the right buyer and wrong for someone else. A 5% deposit means a larger loan, money saved in super is locked until you buy, some grants tie you to a new build, and shared equity hands the government a share of your home. The guide spells out the catch behind each one.
The loan you sign has to survive the life you are planning, not just settlement day. The guide covers stress-testing for a drop in income or a rate rise, the role of an offset account, and setting a regular review so the loan keeps fitting your life.
The guide closes with a stage-by-stage checklist you can tick off as you go. Here are the five stages it covers.
Discovering the schemes
Know which schemes you qualify for, and which do not apply.
Setting your savings target
Work out the real cash to settlement, not just the deposit.
Optimising your stack
Know which benefits combine and what your stack is worth.
Checking the catches
Understand the long-term catch of every scheme you use.
Setting up the loan
Stress-test the loan and set it up for the next five years.
Yes. Following the 2026 changes, the expanded First Home Guarantee lets eligible first home buyers purchase with a 5% deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance, with the previous income caps and place limits removed. Eligibility and property price caps still apply.
Often yes. Many buyers combine the First Home Guarantee, the First Home Super Saver Scheme and a state stamp duty concession. Some options, such as Help to Buy, generally replace the First Home Guarantee rather than stack with it. The guide shows which combinations work.
Yes. The First Home Owner Grant, stamp duty concessions and price thresholds are set by each state and territory, so the help available varies by where you buy. Tell us your state on the form and we can point you to what applies.
Yes. New builds carry their own financing risks around settlement timing, builder solvency and valuation. If a newly built or off-the-plan home is on your shortlist, read our Before You Sign new-build finance guide as well.
If you are buying your first home in Australia and feel unsure about which grants apply, what they are worth and what the whole thing will really cost, this guide gives you a clear starting point. With the 2026 changes opening more doors for first home buyers, see our 2026-27 Federal Budget breakdown for the wider picture.
Get clear on your schemes and your numbers before you start house hunting.
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