There are several federal and state/territory government initiatives in place, which aim to assist first home buyers to enter the housing market. Probably the most familiar initiatives are the First Home Super Saver Scheme, the First Home Owner Grant Scheme, and stamp duty concessions.
With that being said, it can still prove difficult for first home buyers to save an adequate deposit. Given this, a new initiative, the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme (FHLDS), commenced from 1 January 2020.
The FHLDS aims to assist eligible first home buyers to purchase a home if they have saved a deposit as low as 5%, by guaranteeing loans for which the home buyer can’t pay the full 20% deposit that most lenders require for a home loan. Although, when looking at the data on lending to households in Australia, there were 112,097 owner occupier first home buyers in 2018* – the FHLDS supports up to 10,000 eligible first home buyer loans each financial year.
*Australian Government, Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2019). Lending to households and businesses, Australia: Lending to households for owner occupier first home buyers, number and value of commitments, original.