If you have been saving for a first home on the Tweed or the southern Gold Coast, the deposit is usually the hardest part. The First Home Guarantee is the federal scheme that lets eligible buyers purchase with a much smaller one, without paying lenders mortgage insurance. I’m Steph, a first home buyer mortgage broker based on the Tweed Coast, and this is my plain-English guide to how it works in 2026, what changed recently for our area, and how to apply.
What the First Home Guarantee is (and why it has two names)
What used to be called the First Home Guarantee is now officially the 5% Deposit Scheme. Housing Australia runs it on behalf of the federal government. Most people, and plenty of lenders, still call it the First Home Guarantee, so you will see both names. They mean the same thing.
Here is the idea. You put down a deposit of at least 5% of the property’s value, and the government guarantees the gap between your deposit and the point where a lender would normally stop charging insurance. The guarantee is to the lender, not to you. It doesn’t give you money and you don’t repay it. It simply changes how the lender sees the risk of your loan.
How the guarantee removes LMI
Two terms matter here. Your LVR (loan-to-value ratio) is the loan as a percentage of the property’s value. A small deposit means a high LVR. LMI (lenders mortgage insurance) is a one-off premium most lenders charge when your deposit is under 20% of the value. It protects the lender if the loan goes bad, not you, and it is usually added to your loan, so you pay interest on it for years.
Under the scheme, the government’s guarantee takes the place of that insurance. The lender is covered, so it doesn’t charge you LMI. On a first home at local prices, that can be a substantial saving, and it means you can stop saving sooner instead of chasing a bigger deposit while prices move.
A smaller deposit still means a bigger loan, so your repayments will be higher than if you waited. That trade-off is worth running through with real numbers, and the borrowing power calculator is a good place to start.
What changed in October 2025 and July 2026
1 October 2025: no more income caps or waiting lists
Before October 2025 the scheme had a set number of places each year and income limits, so buyers often missed out or had to wait. From 1 October 2025 those limits were removed. There are no income caps and no place limits, so if you meet the rules, a place is available.
1 July 2026: the Tweed became a regional centre
This one matters a lot locally. From 1 July 2026, the Richmond–Tweed area was classed as a regional centre for the scheme. Before that, the Tweed sat under the lower other-areas cap, which ruled out a lot of homes in Kingscliff, Casuarina and the newer estates. The higher cap opens up far more of the local market. If you looked at the scheme a while ago and were told your budget was over the limit, it is worth checking again.
Price caps for the Tweed and the southern Gold Coast
The price cap is the most the property can cost for the scheme to apply. It depends on where the property is, not where you live now or where you work.
| Item | Price cap | Minimum deposit |
|---|---|---|
| Tweed (NSW, Richmond–Tweed regional centre) | $1,500,000 | 5% |
| Gold Coast (QLD) | $1,000,000 | 5% |
| Single parents, either side | Same cap as the property’s area | 2% |
Figures checked 9 November 2026. Check current rules with Steph.
Because Tweed Heads and Coolangatta sit on different sides of the border, two homes a few streets apart can fall under different caps. My guide to NSW vs QLD first home buyer schemes walks through how the state grants and duty rules differ too.
Who is eligible
In broad terms, you could be eligible if you:
- are an Australian citizen or permanent resident
- meet the scheme’s rules on previous property ownership (I’ll check these with you)
- will live in the home yourself. It is for owner-occupiers only, not investment properties
- are buying under the price cap for the property’s area
- are borrowing through a lender on the official participating list
Established homes, new builds, townhouses and units can all qualify, and so can a house-and-land package or a construction loan. If you are building, my page on construction loans explains how the progress payments work, and I have written separately about building in Kings Forest.
The single-parent stream
Single parents and legal guardians with at least one dependent child can use a version of the scheme with a deposit as low as 2%. You don’t need to be a first home buyer, so it suits someone who owned a home before a separation. The catch is that you can’t own any property at the time you buy.
The deposit rules
Your deposit must be at least 5% and less than 20% of the property’s value. The value that counts is the one your lender assesses, usually through its own valuation, not necessarily the price on the contract. If the valuation comes in under the price, your deposit becomes a smaller share of the value, which is worth knowing before you make an offer.
The scheme also expects you to put in as much of your own savings as you reasonably can. It isn’t designed for someone who has a large deposit and wants to hold most of it back. If you have savings above the minimum, the lender will usually ask you to use them, while leaving a sensible buffer for buying costs and emergencies.
Remember the deposit isn’t the only cash you need. Allow for conveyancing (a conveyancer is the licensed professional who handles the legal side of the purchase), inspections, loan fees and any transfer duty, the state tax on buying property that most people call stamp duty. The stamp duty calculator with first home buyer ticked shows where you stand on either side of the border.
How to apply through a participating lender
You don’t apply to the government directly. You apply through a lender that offers the scheme, and the lender handles the guarantee with Housing Australia as part of the loan. Check the official list of participating lenders (opens in a new tab) to see who takes part.
Check you fit the schemeBefore you start looking
We confirm your eligibility, your savings and what you could borrow, and check the price cap for the areas you like.Get pre-approvalOne to two weeks
Pre-approval is a lender’s conditional yes to a loan amount before you have found a property. I make sure it’s with a participating lender and that your budget fits the local price cap.Find the home and signWhen you are ready
Make sure the address sits under the right cap and the contract timing suits your pre-approval.Formal approval and settlementUsually a few weeks
The lender values the property, confirms the guarantee and issues formal approval, then your conveyancer settles the purchase.
For every other step of buying, from saving to settlement day, my first home buyer checklist is printable and covers the local details.
The move-in rule and the LMI clawback
Because the scheme is for people who live in the home, you need to move in within the time your lender sets and keep living there while the guarantee is in place. If you don’t move in on time, or you move out and rent the place while the guarantee still applies, the lender may charge you LMI after all. That can be a large bill you weren’t expecting, so if a job move or a change in family plans is on the horizon, talk to me first.
How it works with grants, duty concessions and Help to Buy
The 5% Deposit Scheme can sit alongside the state help on offer. On the Tweed side that may include the NSW First Home Owner Grant for a new home and the NSW transfer duty concession. On the Gold Coast side it may include the Queensland grant and Queensland’s first home duty concession. Each has its own rules, including how long you must live in the home, so we check them one by one.
What you can’t do is combine it with Help to Buy, the federal shared equity scheme. You pick one or the other.
| Item | 5% Deposit Scheme | Help to Buy |
|---|---|---|
| How it helps | Government guarantees part of your loan, so no LMI | Government owns a share: up to 30% of an existing home or 40% of a new one |
| Minimum deposit | 5% | 2% |
| Income limits | None | $103,000 single, $165,000 joint or single parent (2026-27, indexed each July) |
| Price cap, Tweed | $1,500,000 | $1,300,000 |
| Price cap, Gold Coast | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
Figures checked 9 November 2026. Check current rules with Steph.
Note the Tweed caps are not the same for the two schemes. For Help to Buy, the First Home Super Saver and the rest, see my page on government schemes and concessions.
How I help
Not every lender on my panel offers the scheme, and the ones that do have different policies on things like valuations, construction and the move-in timeframe. I compare the participating lenders among my panel for your situation, check the cap against the exact address before you sign, and time your pre-approval and guarantee so they line up with your contract and settlement. This is general information only, and the rules do change, so check current details with me before you rely on them. When you’re ready, talk to Steph about your first home.