The Home Guarantee Scheme Family, Explained Without the Jargon
September 17, 2026
"The Home Guarantee Scheme" gets used as a catch-all term, but it's actually a small family of related government guarantees with different eligibility rules. Mixing them up is easy — and it's worth getting straight before you assume you either do or don't qualify.
First, what a "guarantee" actually is
None of these schemes hand you money. A government guarantee means Housing Australia guarantees the lender for the gap between your deposit and the usual 20% threshold, so the lender will approve the loan without charging you Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). You still borrow, and repay, the full purchase price minus whatever deposit you actually put down — the guarantee only removes the LMI cost and lowers the deposit hurdle. Your borrowing power and serviceability are still assessed exactly the same way they would be for any other loan.
First Home Guarantee: the main scheme, since 1 October 2025 simplified and expanded
The First Home Guarantee lets an eligible first home buyer purchase with as little as a 5% deposit and no LMI. As of 1 October 2025, the scheme was significantly expanded: there are no income caps and no place limits, meaning any eligible first home buyer can access it regardless of income or how early in the financial year they apply. The separate Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, which previously covered regional postcodes specifically, was folded into the general First Home Guarantee at the same time — so there's no longer a separate regional stream to apply for.
Family Home Guarantee: a narrower, separate scheme for single parents
The Family Home Guarantee is a distinct scheme, aimed specifically at single parents and legal guardians of a dependent child, and it kept its own rules after the October 2025 changes:
- A minimum deposit of just 2% (lower than First Home Guarantee's 5%)
- Available to single natural parents, adoptive parents, or legal guardians of one or more dependent children (separated but not divorced does not count as single)
- A taxable income cap of up to $125,000 a year, verified against your ATO Notice of Assessment
- 5,000 places allocated for the 2025–26 financial year
- No LMI, the same as First Home Guarantee
- Available whether or not you've owned a home before, unlike First Home Guarantee, which is restricted to genuine first home buyers
In short: First Home Guarantee is now open and effectively uncapped for eligible first-time buyers, while Family Home Guarantee remains a smaller, targeted, capped program with its own income test — the two are not interchangeable, and a single parent who has owned property before may still qualify for Family Home Guarantee specifically because it doesn't require first-home-buyer status.
Price caps still apply, and they vary by location
Both schemes cap the purchase price of the property you can buy with the guarantee, and the cap depends on where the property is. As a general guide to the current caps:
| Location | Indicative price cap |
|---|---|
| Sydney & NSW regional centres | $1,500,000 |
| Melbourne & Geelong | $950,000 |
| Brisbane, Gold Coast & Sunshine Coast | $1,000,000 |
| Perth | $850,000 |
| Adelaide | $900,000 |
| ACT | $1,000,000 |
| Hobart | $700,000 |
| Regional NSW, QLD, VIC, WA, SA & TAS | Lower than the matching capital city — typically $500,000–$800,000 |
These figures move with policy updates and differ by specific postcode within a state, so treat the table as a starting orientation, not a final number — confirm the exact cap for your property's postcode using Housing Australia's own price cap tool or a participating lender before relying on it.
Which one applies to you
If you're buying your first home and don't fit the Family Home Guarantee's single-parent criteria, First Home Guarantee is the relevant scheme, and as of the October 2025 changes there's no income test standing in your way. If you're a single parent or legal guardian of a dependent child — whether or not you've owned a home before — Family Home Guarantee is worth checking first, since its 2% deposit is lower, but you'll need to fit under the $125,000 income cap and there are a limited number of places each financial year. Either way, the guarantee only ever changes your deposit and LMI position, never how much you can actually borrow — that still comes down to normal lender serviceability assessment.
Our First Home Buyer Calculator lets you model your deposit, LMI exposure, stamp duty and borrowing power together, so you can see roughly where you land before talking to a lender or broker about which guarantee actually fits your situation.
This article is general educational information, not financial or eligibility advice. Home Guarantee Scheme eligibility, income caps, place limits and price caps are set by the Australian Government and Housing Australia and can change — confirm current rules and your own eligibility directly with Housing Australia or a participating lender before making a decision.