Family help and the first-home schemes

The schemes a first-home buyer is counting on all have one thing in common: they are tests of the buyer. A gift, a guarantee or a parent's name on the title can change whether the buyer still passes. This page sets out which form of help touches which scheme, and where the answer for a particular state and lender sits.

The 5% Deposit Scheme

Under the federal scheme, an eligible first-home buyer can borrow with a deposit of 5% and the government guarantees the lender for the part of the loan above 80%, in place of lenders mortgage insurance. Since 1 October 2025 the scheme has had no income caps and no limit on places, with price caps by location. The tests it applies are about the buyer: a first-home buyer who will live in the home, buying under the cap, through a participating lender.

Family help meets it in two places. First, the deposit: whether a gifted deposit counts, and whether any part must be the buyer's own savings, is set by the scheme's eligibility rules and the participating lender's policy. Second, a guarantee: the scheme itself is a guarantee, so a family guarantee is usually doing the same job, and a buyer who has one often does not need the other. A family gift that lifts the deposit to 20% takes the buyer out of the scheme's territory altogether, because there is nothing left for the government to guarantee.

Help to Buy

Help to Buy is shared equity: the government takes a stake in the home, of up to 30% for an existing home or 40% for a new one, and the buyer borrows less. Applications opened on 5 December 2025 and the scheme operates in the states that have passed enabling legislation and in both territories, with income and price caps by location. A parent's gift can still form part of the buyer's deposit; a parent on the title changes the picture, because the ownership is then shared three ways and the scheme's tests apply to every owner. The state page for the buyer's state says whether the scheme is operating there; the caps are Housing Australia's.

The First Home Owner Grant and the duty concessions

These are the state's, and every state tests them in its own way, but the shape is the same: the grant and the concession go to a first-home buyer who will live in the home, and in most states every person taking an interest in the property has to pass the test. That is where co-buying bites. A parent who already owns a home and takes a share of the title is not a first-home buyer, and depending on the state that can cost the child the grant, the concession, or a share of it. A gift or a guarantee does not put the parent on the title and, in general, leaves the buyer's eligibility as it was. The eight state pages carry each state's test with its source:

The residence requirement

Every scheme and concession requires the buyer to move in and stay for a period. That is the buyer's obligation, and family help does not change it, but co-buying can: where a parent's share means the home is partly an investment, the residence test applies to the buyer's occupation, and the parent's share may be treated as an investment for duty and land tax. The co-buying guide has that side.

Which help touches which scheme

Form of help	5% Deposit Scheme	Help to Buy	Grant and duty concessions
Gift	Deposit and genuine-savings rules are the scheme's and the participating lender's; a large gift can take the buyer above the scheme's need	Can form part of the deposit	Buyer's eligibility unchanged
Family loan	Counted as a liability by the lender; whether a borrowed deposit is accepted is lender policy	Counted as a liability	Buyer's eligibility unchanged
Guarantee	Usually does the same job as the scheme's guarantee; rarely both	Not the scheme's mechanism	Buyer's eligibility unchanged
Parent on the title	Every owner tested	Every owner tested	Every owner tested in most states; can cost the concession

Whose tests they are

The federal schemes' tests are Housing Australia's and are applied by participating lenders; the grant and duty tests are each state's revenue office's; how a single lender applies all three at once is that lender's policy. The deposit and loan-to-value ratio each form of help produces is the figure every one of those tests starts from.