Nearly 23,000 homes have been purchased using the Federal Government’s Deposit Schemes. They are currently housing 33,000 Australians.

According to the latest report by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation, (NHFIC), 30,000 loans were supported since January 2020 through the First Home Loan Deposit Schemes (FHLDS) and New Home Guarantee (NHG).

These schemes allow first-home buyers to purchase a home for as low as 5% deposit. NHG is not available to purchase a home that has been built or for the construction of a home.

NHFIC reports that 22,879 homes were purchased out of the 30,000 available places over the past two years. At least 32,962 Australians now live in these 22,879 homes.

Around 10% of first-home buyers applied for NHG or FHLDS.

Younger first-home buyers — those who are under the age of 30 — made up 58% of all buyers under the scheme.

The scheme helped almost 300 people over 50 get into the market.

These are other important trends in FHLDS/NHG for the 2019-2021 and 2020-2021 financial year:

  • The government has guaranteed a total amount of $1.4bn to cover any deposit shortfalls.
  • 37% and 25% of the FHLDS applications were made during the period for homes to be purchased in rural areas.
  • Two schemes provided support for approximately 6,000 key workers. These included nurses, teachers and child carers as well as emergency service workers.
  • Broker channels accounted for roughly 72% and 52%, respectively (averages for the two financial year) of FHLDS guarantees.

Interstate migration benefitting Qld, WA

Both Queensland and Western Australia reported healthy uptake of the schemes, especially the NHG.

Queensland had the second highest share of NHG guarantees issued over the 2020-21 financial years at 27%. Victoria’s 29% was next.

The fourth-placed spot, behind Sydney’s 22%, was taken by Western Australia with 14%.

Nathan Dal Bon, CEO NHFIC, said that Queensland saw the greatest demand for both schemes in relation to its share of the population.

“The interstate migration to the regions is particularly noteworthy and reflects a trend we have seen since COVID-19,” Mr Dal Bon said.

“This is particularly pronounced in Queensland which has been the greatest benefactor of interstate migration.”

NHFIC also reported that both schemes had a broad geographical coverage.

In reality, approximately 37% of all FHLDS locations during the last two financial years were for households who moved to a home outside of major cities.

Another important observation was the distance that buyers moved to buy their houses.

The NHG report shows that buyers moved on average 13 km from their current homes to purchase, a distance greater than the 8.4 km for FHLDS beneficiaries.

Single-parent families are in high demand

Separate figures from Michael Sukkar’s office showed that 52,888 Australians purchased or reserved a property under the Home Guarantee Scheme. This figure was based on January 2020.

Apart from NHG and FHLDS recipients in the previous two financial years, and the secured places for the current year; this number also includes FHG applicants. This allows single parents to purchase a house with as little as 2 percent deposit.

Around 1,023 single parents have secured their FHG places since the beginning of the 2021-2022 financial years.

You should note that there are only 10,000 available places for the next 4 years.

Mr. Sukkar stated that 84% of single mothers who took up single parent places under the scheme were single moms seeking to provide security and homeownership for their children.

In the current financial year, there are 7,784 applicants to the FLHDS and 2,443 to NHG.

Mr Sukkar said this is an “incredible outcome” for the scheme.

“First homeowner numbers are at their highest levels in nearly 15 years,” he said.

“The Government’s Home Guarantee Scheme helps overcome the challenges of saving for a deposit and has played a huge part in opening up the housing market to even more Australians.”