The delivery of this election commitment will mean 10,000 places will be available each financial year through the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee to support regional first home buyers to purchase new or existing homes with a deposit of as little as five per cent.

The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee will provide a government guarantee of up to 15 per cent for eligible first home buyers, so regional Australians with a 5 per cent deposit can avoid paying mortgage insurance.

To be eligible for a Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, applicants must be Australian citizens, purchase outside a capital city, and demonstrate they have been living in the region in which they are purchasing the property (or adjacent regional area) for at least 12 months.

Property price caps and income caps will be consistent with the existing First Home Guarantee, administered by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC).

The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee is part of the Albanese Government’s ambitious housing reform agenda to support people into home ownership and improve the supply and quality of social and affordable housing, which includes:

• Widening the remit of the National Housing Infrastructure Facility, making up to $575 million available to invest in social and affordable housing;
• A $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund which will build 30,000 new social and affordable housing properties in its first five years;
• A National Housing Supply and Affordability Council to increase housing supply and improve affordability;
• A National Housing and Homelessness Plan to set and deliver short, medium and long term goals to improve housing outcomes across Australia; and
• The Help to Buy program, which will reduce the cost of buying a home by up to 40 per cent for 10,000 Australians a year.

Comments attributed to Member for Bendigo, Lisa Chesters:

“The Federal Labor Government have brought this support forward to help thousands of people living in regional Australia purchase their own home.

 “Bendigo residents have faced some of the largest drops in housing affordability, making it increasingly hard for locals to save a sufficient deposit.

 “The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee will help aspiring first homebuyers living in regional Australia realise home ownership sooner by overcoming the deposit hurdle.  

“This targeted assistance is an important part of the Federal Labor Government’s ambitious plan to tackle the housing challenges we inherited.”