First Home Buyer Deposit Scheme Places Available from 1 July 2021

KEY TAKE OUTS

• New Places released on 1 July 2021
• Are you a first home buyer looking to Purchase?
• Are you struggling to save 20% to purchase your first home?
• Are you eligible to any deposit benefits?

As of the 1 of January 2020, the Federal Government launched the 2020 First Home Loan Deposit Scheme (Deposit Scheme) to assist first home buyers to enter the property market.

The Federal Government, as of 1 July 2021 has now released another 10,000 places under the Scheme to eligible first home buyers.

The Deposit Scheme allows eligible first home buyers to purchase a property with as little as a 5% deposit, without the requirement to take out lenders mortgage insurance. Without the Deposit Scheme buyers are required to have 20% saved and without the same, a buyer is then required to obtain lenders mortgage insurance.

Under the Deposit Scheme, the Federal Government guarantees the difference between what the first home buyer has saved and the 20% threshold with the lenders.

Unfortunately, not all lenders are parties to the Deposit Scheme, therefore depending on the lender you may not be able to apply for the Deposit Scheme. Both Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Bank of Australia have been selected as the two major lenders to participate in the scheme with a total allocation of 5,000 places shared between both lenders. The remaining 5,000 places will be shared amongst other smaller lenders. Details of lenders can be found here.

In addition to the limited places available, the Federal Government has released a criteria each applicant needs to meet to be able to apply and be eligible for the Deposit Scheme.

The criteria includes but not limited to the following:

Income

• Individuals must have earned less than $125,000 in the last financial year
• Couples must have earned less than $200,000 in the last financial year.
• Couples must be married or in a de-facto relationship to be eligible.

Property ownership

All applicants must be first home buyers and must not have owned or had an interest in property in the past or currently

Minimum age & Citizenship

• All applicants must be at least 18 years old year
• All applicants must be Australian Citizen

Deposit requirement

Applicants must have saved a deposit between 5% and 20% of the property’s value

Owner-occupier requirement

• The Deposit Scheme is only applicable to properties being purchased for owner-occupier, not for investment purposes

Applicants when purchasing the property will need to:

• move into the property the later of, six months from the date of settlement or six months from the date an occupation certificate is issued, and;
• continue to live in that property for as long as the loan forms part of the Deposit Scheme.

In addition to the above criteria an applicant needs to meet to be eligible for the Deposit Scheme, the Federal Government has also applied thresholds to the value of the properties being purchased. Depending on the location and state of your property different thresholds will apply.

The places are limited and subject to a strict criteria for both applicants and the property. If you are a first home buyer, looking to purchase your first home and enter the property market, now is the time to do so.

For more information please click here.