Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee

If you live in regional Australia, the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG) is an Australian Government initiative to help you buy or build your first home – or first home in 10 years – sooner. At IMB, we’re proud to be a participating lender in this initiative. It is administered by Housing Australia under the Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS).

There are 10,000 RFHBG places available nationally this financial year (and each year until June 2025). Eligible borrowers can use the RFHBG in conjunction with other government programs like the First Home Super Save Scheme, and relevant state and territory first home owner grants and stamp duty exemptions (find out more about those here).

How does the RFHBG work?

If you’re eligible for the RFHBG you can buy or build your home with a low deposit of 5%, without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). Usually, home buyers with less than a 20% deposit need to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance. Through the Scheme, Housing Australia will “guarantee” the difference in deposit for the lender, which means Lenders Mortgage Insurance is not required.

What type of home can I buy?

For a property to be eligible it must be a residential property. Eligible residential properties generally include:

• an existing house, townhouse or apartment
• a house and land package
• land and separate contract to build a home
• an off-the-plan apartment or townhouse.

Property price caps also apply, based on where you buy. Search the property price threshold for a suburb or post code at Housing Australia .

How do I apply for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee?

Check your eligibility

The section titled "Eligibility Criteria" below details the main eligibility criteria. You can find out more at the Housing Australia website to check your eligibility.

Get in touch with us

Book an appointment online, by calling 133 462, or at your local IMB branch.

Submit your home loan application

Once you have received conditional approval from IMB, we will collect the documents required for eligibility and reserve your Guarantee.

Buy a home

You now have 90 days to purchase your first home after you’re approved for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee.

Eligibility criteria

To apply for the RFHBG, you will be subject to the following eligibility criteria. You need to be able to provide documentation of your eligibility to secure your Guarantee place.

Eligibility criteria includes:

• Australian citizens and permanent residents who are at least 18 years of age and live in regional Australia. Applicants (or at least one of the applicants) must provide satisfactory evidence that they have lived in the regional area or an adjacent regional area for the preceding 12-month period (assessed from the home loan agreement date). Go to Housing Australia's Regional Checker and enter the postcode of your current home and the postcode of where you would like to purchase to see if you may be eligible for the RFHBG.
• Individual applicants with a taxable income of up to $125,000 per annum or joint applicants with a taxable income of up to $200,000 per annum (as shown on the Notice of Assessment issued by the Australian Taxation Office). For all FHG applications made from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, the relevant financial year assessed will be 2022-23.
• Two applicants are permitted for a joint application and can be a couple, family members, siblings or friends.
• Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee assists individual applicants and joint applicants that have between 5% and 20% of the value of an eligible property saved as a deposit.
• Applicants must intend to be owner-occupiers of the purchased property. Investment properties are not supported by the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee.
• Your purchased property must be an acceptable property type and within the property price threshold for the suburb and postcode. Find out the acceptable property type and price cap for your area on the Housing Australia website.

Fact sheets and information guides

For complete information on eligibility, property types and more from Housing Australia, click on the information guide links below or head to housingaustralia.gov.au.

• 2024/25 HA Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee Fact Sheet
• 2024/25 HA Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee Information Guide