What the Latest Help to Buy Changes Mean for First Home Buyers

If you have been saving for a first home and still feel like the deposit is forever out of reach, there is a government scheme worth understanding properly, because two lenders have just made it easier to get into. Help to Buy is a shared equity scheme, which means the government becomes a part owner of your home alongside you, in exchange for contributing part of the purchase price. That lowers how much you need to borrow and save, without you having to find a full deposit on your own.

A shared equity scheme explained simply

Under Help to Buy, eligible buyers can purchase a home with a deposit as low as two per cent, and without paying for lenders mortgage insurance, the extra cost most buyers face when they borrow with a small deposit. In return, the government takes an equity share in the property, up to forty per cent of the purchase price for a new build, or up to thirty per cent for an existing home. You still take out a home loan for the rest, but a smaller loan usually means lower repayments than buying outright would require. Over time you can buy back the government's share in portions, as your income and savings allow, though you are not required to do so on any set timeline.

The numbers behind Help to Buy

To qualify, your taxable income needs to sit under $103,000 if you are applying on your own, or under $165,000 for joint applicants and single parents. Those caps were lifted from $100,000 and $160,000 respectively from the start of this financial year. The scheme offers 10,000 places a year, as part of 40,000 places over four years, and it is open to both first home buyers and people returning to the market after time away from home ownership.

Demand has been strong. An independent review found 7,261 active applications in the scheme's first seven months to the end of June, with 3,636 of those already settled. Extrapolated out, that puts annual applications on track to run ahead of the 10,000 places available each year, which is worth keeping in mind if you are thinking about applying.

Two new lenders, one still missing

Until recently, only Commonwealth Bank and Bank Australia offered Help to Buy, and only Bank Australia did so through brokers. That has started to change. Teachers Mutual Bank joined the panel in late July and opened broker access to its first trained cohort in early October, with a second cohort due by the end of the month and wider access planned through 2027. Queensland Country Bank joined most recently, offering the scheme through both its retail and broker channels from day one.

Commonwealth Bank remains the exception. It is still the only lender on the panel that does not offer Help to Buy through brokers at all, meaning anyone wanting to use CBA for the scheme has to apply directly rather than through a broker.

Why broker access actually matters

This matters more than it might sound. A broker who has access to Help to Buy can compare it against your other options, help you work out whether the numbers actually stack up for your situation, and lodge the application on your behalf. Without a lender on a broker's panel offering the scheme, brokers simply cannot help clients use it, however suitable it might be for them. As more lenders come on board and existing ones widen their broker rollout, more buyers will have a genuine choice in how they access the scheme, rather than being limited to whichever lender happens to offer it directly.

Is Help to Buy right for you

Shared equity will not suit everyone. Sharing ownership with the government means sharing in any future gain in the property's value, proportional to its equity share, and you will usually want to buy that share back eventually rather than carry it indefinitely. You will also still need to meet a lender's normal assessment of whether you can service the loan, just as with any other home loan. For some buyers, particularly those with a smaller deposit saved and a stable income, it can be the difference between buying now and waiting years longer. For others, a different low deposit option might suit better. The best way to know which applies to you is to talk it through with a broker who can model both paths against your actual numbers.

Figures in this article are drawn from Housing Australia, firsthomebuyers.gov.au, The Adviser and Broker News reporting published in October 2026.

This article is general information only and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Please speak with a Claremont Financial broker before making any borrowing decision.