More Government support for first home buyers is here

With housing affordability declining across the country, both the Australian Federal Government and Queensland State Government have recently launched shared equity schemes to help first home buyers into home ownership.

While it’s welcome news that more support is here, it can be confusing to navigate the various programs available. It may be helpful for buyers’ agents to share the program information with their clients and for residential sales agents to include in their communications to prospective buyers of Queensland property.

About the home buying programs

In these shared equity programs, the Government contributes funds towards the price of the home in order to overcome the deposit gap (given you can buy with as little as 2% deposit) and avoid the need to pay lenders mortgage insurance (LMI). You don’t pay any interest on the Government’s contribution. Participating lenders still need confidence that the borrowers can repay the amount borrowed.

Shared equity scheme means that because the Government is providing a percent of the deposit, it is acquiring an equity stake in the property – in other words, the Government jointly owns the property with you.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the State and Federal shared-equity programs.

For more information about Boost to Buy: https://www.treasury.qld.gov.au/policies-and-programs/home-ownership/boost-to-buy/

For more information about Help to Buy: https://firsthomebuyers.gov.au/australian-government-help-buy-scheme

Disclaimer: This article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice and should not be used as such. REIQ cannot and does not warrant and nor does it represent in any way that the information contained herein is current and/or will remain current beyond the time and date of release.

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