Family Home Guarantee
Single parents can buy a home with a 2% deposit under the government's Family Home Guarantee while avoiding one of the bigger mortgage costs for low deposit borrowers.
Key takeaways
- The Family Home Guarantee (now part of the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme) is a federal government scheme which allows single parents to buy property with as little as a 2% deposit.
- The government will act as a guarantor, helping these borrowers avoid lender's mortgage insurance (LMI).
- Property price caps apply, but since 1 October 2025 there are no income caps, unlimited places and no waiting list.
How does the Family Home Guarantee work?
Australian home buyers typically save a deposit of between 5% and 20%. But under the Family Home Guarantee an eligible single parent can buy a home with just a 2% deposit.
It's not really possible to get a home loan with a deposit below 5% in Australia except by using this scheme. And normally, any deposit below 20% also requires an extra charge called lenders mortgage insurance (LMI).
With the Family Home Guarantee you can avoid this cost completely and potentially save thousands of dollars.
The scheme's big benefit: Avoiding LMI costs
By acting as a guarantor, the federal government essentially backs the borrower and allows them to avoid this extra home buying cost.
Let's say you want to purchase a $600,000 home with a 10% deposit of $60,000. Normally, your lender would charge you an LMI premium on top. This could cost you around $11,000.
With the Family Home Guarantee, an eligible single parent could buy a $600,000 home with a deposit of just $12,000 (2%) and pay no LMI at all. That's an instant saving of $11,000.
Who is eligible for the scheme?
To be eligible, a single parent must:
- Be 18 or older.
- Be an Australian citizen or permanent resident with at least 1 dependent child*.
- Be single (not married, even if separated, and not in a de facto relationship). There is no income cap.
- Be an owner-occupier not currently owning property or intending to own other property (but they do not need to be a first home buyer).
- Be buying or building a home to live in (not an investment property).
*You have to be a single parent or guardian at the "home loan date", which is the date you sign your home loan contract.
As with similar government schemes, there are region-specific price caps on properties. You can use the government's Property Price Cap Tool to look up the property price caps for your location. If the price of the property you are purchasing exceeds these caps, you will not qualify.
Property value caps
To be eligible for the scheme, both the purchase price and the property's value must be at or below the price cap for its location. These are the caps listed by Housing Australia as at October 2026:
| State/Territory/region | Price cap |
|---|---|
| NSW - capital city and regional centres* | $1,500,000 |
| NSW - rest of state | $800,000 |
| VIC - capital city and regional centres* | $950,000 |
| VIC - rest of state | $650,000 |
| QLD - capital city and regional centres* | $1,000,000 |
| QLD - rest of state | $700,000 |
| WA - capital city | $850,000 |
| WA - rest of state | $600,000 |
| SA - capital city | $900,000 |
| SA - rest of state | $500,000 |
| TAS - capital city | $700,000 |
| TAS - rest of state | $550,000 |
| ACT | $1,000,000 |
| NT - capital city | $750,000 |
| NT - rest of territory | $600,000 |
| Jervis Bay Territory and Norfolk Island | $550,000 |
| Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands | $400,000 |
*Regional centres are Central Coast, Coffs Harbour - Grafton, Illawarra, Mid North Coast, Richmond-Tweed and Newcastle and Lake Macquarie in NSW, Geelong in VIC, and the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast in QLD. Check the cap for a specific suburb with Housing Australia's postcode search tool and confirm it with your lender.
How big is the average Australian deposit?
70% of first home buyers in 2025 buy a home with a deposit below 20%. And it's no wonder. The average 20% deposit in Australia, based on loan data from the ABS, would be as high as $134,000 (and much higher than that in NSW).
How do I apply for the scheme?
Housing Australia does not accept applications directly. Successful applicants need to apply for a home loan with a lender that is taking part in the scheme.
Since 1 October 2025 there's no limit on the number of places and no waiting list, so you can apply whenever you're ready.
Which lenders are taking part in the Family Home Guarantee scheme?
Housing Australia lists these participating lenders for the 5% Deposit Scheme (as at October 2026). The list changes from time to time, so check the current participating lenders before you apply.
- ANZ
- Australian Military Bank
- Australian Mutual Bank
- Bank Australia
- Bank Orange
- Bank First
- Bank of Melbourne
- BankSA
- Bank of Us
- BankVic
- BCU
- Bendigo Bank
- Beyond Bank
- Border Bank
- Cairns Bank
- Central Murray Bank
- Coastline Bank
- Community First Bank
- Commonwealth Bank
- Credit Union SA
- Darling Downs Bank
- Defence Bank
- Dnister Bank
- Firefighters Mutual Bank
- Fire Service Credit Union
- First Option Bank
- Gateway Bank
- Great Southern Bank
- Health Professionals Bank
- Horizon Bank
- Hume Bank
- Indigenous Business Australia
- IMB Bank
- Liberty
- MyState Bank
- NAB
- Newcastle Permanent
- Northern Inland Credit Union
- People First Bank
- P&N Bank
- Police Bank
- Police Credit Union
- QBank
- Queensland Country Bank
- Regional Australia Bank
- Southern Cross Credit Union
- St.George
- Teachers Mutual Bank
- The Mac
- The Mutual Bank
- UniBank
- Unity Bank
- Westpac
- bankWAW
Our expert says: Calculate your repayments
"If you bought a property for $750,000 using a 2% deposit thanks to the Family Home Scheme, you would be borrowing $735,000. Your monthly repayments over 30 years with a rate of 6% would be $4,407. In comparison, with a 10% deposit you'd borrow $765,000 and your monthly repayments would be $4,047. That's a $360 difference.
Schemes like these can be a fantastic support for buyers, but it's important you consider the costs and whether such a high loan amount is manageable for you."
Are there any risks with this scheme?
Buying a home with just a 2% deposit does come with some risks. For one, you have very little equity in the property at the start. In other words, you only own 2% of the property. The rest is debt.
If the value of the property went down, your debt could end up being more than the property's value. If you suddenly found you can't repay the loan and have to sell the property you could end up with very little left.
But as long as you're able to make your loan repayments this is not a problem because you will be building equity.
The homeownership gap between women and men
Homeownership doesn't feel equally reachable for everyone. 26% of women say they've avoided pursuing it altogether, compared to 13% of men. Schemes like the Family Home Guarantee exist specifically to help close gaps like this, letting eligible single parents and single buyers get into the market with a smaller deposit and no lenders mortgage insurance.
Source:
Finder's 2026 Home Loan Report
A bigger loan means larger repayments
The smaller your deposit, the more money you borrow. And the more you have to borrow, the more interest you pay.
While the Family Home Guarantee is a federal policy intended to support single parents, if you can't repay the loan, then the government won't help you. You will have to sell the property so the lender can recover the debt.
More guides and government support
- 5% Deposit Scheme for first home buyers. The Family Home Guarantee is part of the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme, which also lets first home buyers buy with a 5% deposit while avoiding LMI, with no income caps. The scheme replaced the separate First Home Guarantee and Regional Home Guarantee on 1 October 2025.
- First Home Owner Grants and stamp duty. There are also first home owner grants available in every state and territory and possible stamp duty exemptions for first-time buyers.
- First Home Super Saver Scheme. The FHSS scheme lets first home buyers make voluntary super contributions, then withdraw those contributions to form a deposit, effectively gaining a solid tax discount to do so.
Need more help? Check out these guides
More questions about the Family Home Guarantee
More resources on Finder
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Hi,
Is there a way to apply/place deposit/secure something through the scheme for a later date, for example 2024, as I think my current income will not be enough for banks to lend me the remaining amount
Hi Jac,
There are some panel lenders that use a waitlist system to help them manage the strong demand for the schemes. While it’s not guaranteed that you’ll be able to hold your spot until the desired date, it’s a good idea to join the waitlist if you can.
Scheme place availability changes on a regular basis across all panel lenders, and when interest rates increase, that will impact your borrowing power as well. All of these variables make it difficult for your place to be “guaranteed”. If you’d like some guidance as you plan to buy a home, consider working with a mortgage broker. Their service is free, and they can help you navigate all of these next steps:
I hope this helps!
Cheers,
Sarah
Hi
If I’m a single parent and have a 2% deposit, do I also need to have the stamp duty amount to pay from my own pocket ? Or does this amount get added to the loan ?
Thanks
Hi Gab,
You’ll need to pay for stamp duty on top of your deposit, and this is an additional cost on top of other upfront costs such mortgage application fees and conveyancing fees. These other fees and charges, including stamp duty, are not generally able to be added to the loan.
However as a first home buyer, you may be eligible for a hefty discount or even a waiver worth up to 100%.
You can apply for the Family Home Guarantee through lenders directly, or through mortgage brokers participating in the scheme. Here’s a little more info:
https://www.nhfic.gov.au/support-buy-home/family-home-guarantee#eligibility-and-how-to-apply
I hope this helps,
Cheers,
Sarah
Hi I would like to have a professional (Broker?) contact me so I can check my eligibility and start the process.
Hi Troy,
On the top left of this page you’ll notice an option that says ‘Brokers’. Click on this to get a dropdown list of brokers; click on the name of the broker you want to learn more about, and you’ll be redirected to the Finder review page.
From there, you can select your area and you’ll be connected to a broker in your area to help you with your home loan.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Sarah