Help to Buy officially launches today

The Australian government’s highly anticipated Help to Buy shared equity scheme officially commences today (5 December), offering thousands of low- and middle-income earners a pathway to enter the property market.

The program – administered by Housing Australia – aims to significantly shorten the path to home ownership by reducing the deposit required and lowering the size of the mortgage needed.

The Help to Buy scheme aims to support up to 40,000 owner-occupiers over its first four years, with 10,000 places available per year.

The long-planned program is now open for applicants in six states and territories (excluding Western Australia, which is expected to launch the scheme in 2026, and Tasmania, which has opted out of the scheme).

While Help to Buy is designed to help lower and middle-income earners purchase a property, it is not intended to be a lifelong commitment. Instead, participants are encouraged to pay out the government’s share, so they can fully own the home.

How it works

Applicants must be Australian citizens, at least 18 years of age, and must not currently own any property in Australia or overseas. The purchased home must also be their principal place of residence.

To be eligible, applicants must also meet strict income caps:

• Singles: Annual taxable income of $100,000 or less.

• Couples and single parents: Annual taxable income of $160,000 or less.

While applicants cannot combine Help to Buy with other government home buying assistance programs (like state-based shared equity schemes or the 5 per cent Deposit Scheme), they can use it alongside other grants and concessions – such as state-based stamp duty discounts or the First Home Super Saver Scheme – to boost their deposit savings.

Eligible participants must still meet servicing requirements (i.e. must be able to afford ongoing mortgage repayments, but just cannot meet the upfront deposit requirements), and, if they do, they can access a home loan with a participating lender with a deposit of just 2 per cent (without needing to pay lenders mortgage insurance) and sharing the cost of the property purchase with the federal government.

Under the shared equity model, the federal government will take an equity share in the property, co-purchasing the home with the buyer.

This contribution can be up to 40 per cent of the price for a newly built property or 30 per cent for an established dwelling.

Eligible properties include a wide range of dwelling types – such as houses, town houses, apartments, and units – and even vacant blocks of land for new construction, provided there is a signed building contract.

Price caps vary by jurisdiction to reflect differences in local housing markets.

Once a property is bought, the government retains partial ownership until the borrower either buys out their portion or sells the property (when the government will take its share of the profit or losses).

For example, if an eligible borrower wants to buy an established home that is valued at $800,000 through Help to Buy, they would need a deposit of at least $16,000 (2 per cent) to access a loan through a participating lender.

As the government would contribute up to 30 per cent of the mortgage cost (in this case, $240,000), the borrower would only need a mortgage of $544,000 to cover the remaining 68 per cent.

Housing Australia – the body administering the government’s property schemes – will arrange the signing of the required documents before settlement, including the second mortgage that Housing Australia takes over the property.

Over the life of the home loan, the borrower would need to pay out the government’s share. The amount paid will always be based on the value of the property at the time of making the payment. Borrowers can pay out the government either by voluntary repayments, in a lump sum, or when the borrower decides to sell the property.

Anyone who is given a place in the Help to Buy scheme also needs to continue meeting a range of criteria, including maintaining their home, keeping it insured, and participating in reviews (such as providing updated income details or information about changes to personal circumstances).

Just 2 lenders involved in the scheme so far

Once a pre-approval is secured through a participating lender, a borrower’s spot in the scheme is reserved, giving them 90 days to find a suitable home within the applicable price cap.

Starting from today, loans for the Help to Buy scheme are available through just two banks: the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Bank Australia. More institutions are expected to join the panel in 2026.

However, only one of these banks is making the scheme available through the broker channel.

While Bank Australia has confirmed its Help to Buy loans will be available through the broker channel, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia told Broker Daily it is currently only accepting applications directly through its home lending specialists.

However, CBA’s general manager of third-party banking, Baber Zaka, has said that while it’s “not currently offered through the broker channel at CBA”, the bank “continuously reviews its distribution strategy, so it “might change in the future.”

This decision by Australia’s largest bank has drawn criticism from the broking industry, which said it limits fair access to the scheme.

Broker Daily readers have taken to the site in their droves to voice their disappointment with the decision, with some suggesting that if government schemes are only offered through a select few banks – and not through mortgage brokers (who help most borrowers) – it “unintentionally promotes those banks, restricts access, and reduces competition”.

Others outlined that it was unfortunate that only two banks were available through the scheme at launch, and that half of them were not enabling brokers to write Help to Buy scheme loans, despite the third-party channel being responsible for more than three-quarters of home loans in Australia.

[Related: Brokers not included in CBA Help to Buy offering]