September 30, 2025 • 13 mins
Buying your first home just got easier… the Government hopes. Its new home ownership scheme comes into effect from today, allowing first-time purchasers to secure a home with a 5% deposit, down from the standard 20%. The Government says it wants to ensure more renters own a home but the Opposition has called it "a dark day for the Australian dream". It comes as property experts warn the initiative will further drive up house prices. We’ll explain everything you need to know in today’s deep dive.
Hosts: Emma Gillespie and Billi FitzSimons
Producer: Orla Maher
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Already and this this is the Daily This is the
Daily OS.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Oh, now it makes sense. Good morning, and welcome to
the Daily OS. It's Wednesday, the first of October. I'm
Emma Gillespie.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Pinch and a punch for the first day of the month.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
But who are you.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm Philly fit Simons.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Buying your first home just got easier. The government hopes
its new home ownership scheme comes into effect from today,
allowing first time purchasers to secure a home with a
five percent deposit, down from the standard twenty percent. There
will no longer be income tests or limited places for
first home buyers under the scheme, but there will be
(00:47):
a limit on how much you can spend on a property,
with value caps depending on where you live. The government
says it wants to ensure more renters own a home,
but some experts are warning the initiative has already prompted
a property price search. We will explain everything you need
to know about this scheme in today's Deep Dive, right
after a quick word from our sponsor.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
So m it is the first of October, and so
we have this new first home Buyers scheme coming into
effect as of today. Now I'm sure the listeners don't
need reminding about how the property market is and how
hard it is. Your barrier of entry is very high.
But for anyone who does need a reminder, do you
want to just give us some quick context.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
In case you've been living under a ros or you've
just traveled here from the year nineteen eighty. Australia's property
market has skyrocketed in recent years, even in recent decades,
I think we can say, especially in our capital cities.
So the median dwelling price in Australia now sits at
around eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That's according to
(01:53):
the latest figures from Totality.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
And when we say dwelling, that's apartments or homes.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Exactly property that you would live in home verus, apartment, townhouse,
semis whatever. Recent analysis by Finder of prop Track and
ABS loan data shows households with an average before tax
income of about one hundred thousand dollars per year are
currently priced out of eighty three percent of Australian suburbs.
So around the country, if you earn about one hundred grand,
(02:20):
you can maybe save up to buy in less than
twenty percent of the suburbs in the country. The average
home now costs almost ten times what the average Australian earns,
and to be able to afford a home in Sydney,
where property prices are the most expensive, you would need
to be earning close to two hundred and fifty k
after tax. Wow, all of this means that we are
(02:43):
borrowing a lot more money to buy a home, and
we need to have a pretty sizeable deposit to secure
a property in the first place.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And I feel like deposit is one of the first
kind of jargony words that we need to explain. So
what is a deposit?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So think of a deposit as a down payment on
the purchase of a property. So it's the amount of
money you need to have upfront to secure a home
or apartment. So most people will borrow the majority of
the purchase price from the bank or from a lender,
but deposits aren't usually something that people borrow from financial institutions,
(03:19):
so really they need to have that amount saved up
and ready to go before they want to buy a place. Typically,
banks want to see that you've been able to save
a twenty percent deposit. That's a kind of benchmark amount
that lenders like to see that you have saved before
they will approve you for a home loan, and that
tells them that you're at a low risk of not
(03:40):
being able to repay your mortgage, of defaulting on your payments.
So that has been the benchmark. It's not the case
across all lenders and banks. Some lenders and banks will
do a home loan with a ten percent deposit.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I was going to say, I always think of ten
percent as kind of what you definitely need.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, and at least here in New South Wales. It
depends on each state and territory. But you know, a
property contract will say a twenty percent deposit, you have
a right to negotiate that. You might negotiate that down
to ten or in some cases five percent. But when
we're talking about twenty percent, that's really about how safe
are you as a bet for a financial institution to
lend hundreds of thousands of dollars too. But that benchmark
(04:20):
changes today for first home buyers.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Okay, got it, So that's why we are talking about
this today. What exactly are those changes?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So first home buyers can now purchase a property with
a five percent deposit, lower than that usual down payment
of twenty percent, and this was a scheme that was
going to be rolled out next year, but Labor have
brought it forward. The government announced in August that it
was bringing this scheme forward and it's described the move
as a game changer for aspiring homeowners.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And so that five percent is that available to all
first home buyers or is it restricted because usually there
is kind of a cap on these kind of first
home buyers schemes.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
So any buying their first home is eligible for this
five percent scheme, but the price of the property they
want to purchase matters here. So anyone can get the
five percent if it's their first home and if it
falls under a specific price. Those prices depend on the
city or region you're buying in, So for example, a
(05:19):
home in Sydney or Newcastle will be capped at one
point five million dollars. So you're a first home buyer,
you want to access the five percent deposit scheme, you
need to buy something that costs one point five million
or less. Say you buy something that's one point six million,
you won't be eligible for the five percent deposit. In
regional Western Australia, homes will be capped at six hundred
thousand dollars for the five percent scheme. So that gives
(05:42):
you a bit of a sense of the kind of
dynamic capped pricing that the government's rolling out in different
states and territories and regions.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And just doing some quick mass here. So if there
is that cap of six hundred thousand dollars in Western
Australia with a five percent deposit, that means that you
need up to thirty thousand dollars in order to purchase
that property exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So in your savings account, thirty thousand dollars ready to go,
compared to, let me do some quick maths, one hundred
and twenty thousand dollars to purchase the same property. Got it.
The government is also, as part of this scheme announcing
that it will cover lenders mortgage insurance.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yes, another jargony word. What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So banks and lenders usually require buyers who don't have
a twenty percent deposit to pay for lenders mortgage insurance. So,
like I said previously, first time home buyers have been
able to negotiate in some instances a five or a
ten percent deposit, but they would have paid this thing
lenders mortgage insurance. This is basically a safety net full
(06:42):
banks or whoever is providing the loan in case the
buyer struggles to pay off their home loan in the
future or sells their property at a lower value than
when it was purchased. So the bank takes out this
insurance policy itself, but it requires buyers to pay the
insurance bill, which can run into tens of thousands of dollars.
(07:03):
So the government now from today will become a guarranteur
for the lenders insurance, meaning a new homeowner won't have
to pay for it. And in terms of what that
looks like in a dollar value for a one million
dollar property, Treasury figures show the average insurance savings with
a five percent deposit will be around forty one thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Got it, And I know that at the start you
mentioned that there has been some criticism that this could
potentially actually push up the prices, which is kind of
exactly the opposite of what it's trying to do. What
has the opposition said about this announcement?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
There has been a lot of speculation in this area
around this topic. Billy Shadow Housing Minister Senator Andrew Bragg
has called the policy bizarre and ridiculous. He thinks it's
kind of wild that the scheme is open to all
first time buyers, and he has criticized the government's lack
of policy to address supply challenges. Andrew Bragg said, quote,
(07:59):
this is an uncapped scheme which is available to billionaires
or the children of billionaires if they want to use
a government program. The taxpayer is underwriting mortgage insurance schemes
for extremely wealthy people, he said. The Greens have also
criticized Labour's home guarantee scheme. They've said that it won't
ease the housing crisis, but quote it will pour fuel
(08:20):
on the fire.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Those are quite strong words. What do experts say so?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
According to analysis by real estate dot com dot a U,
property prices jumped by up to fifty thousand dollars in September,
which the Real Estate Buyers Agents Association has tied to
this idea of panic buying. It says that that has
been fueled by new first homeowners and investors kind of
(08:45):
rushing to secure property before this scheme is rolled out,
and that industry body is actually predicting increased competition to
continue between first home buyers and investors. This very competitive
sector of the property market looking for entry level family homes.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Is there any modeling that has been done to suggest
that this increase in prices will continue?
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So Labor is forecasting that the five percent deposit guarantee
will lift national prices by about half a percent over
six years. But as the Coalition flagged, the Reserve Bank
of Australia as well has noted that there isn't really
an adequate supply of housing stock to meet current demand,
let alone a surgeon demand that could come from this scheme.
(09:31):
So most estimates, including from Treasury, suggest that the policy
will bring forward more purchases and increase the borrowing capacity
for first home buyers. So RBA Governor Michelle Bullock has
said that Australia really needs a better response to the
supply issue. Now. The government has a target to build
one point two million new homes by twenty twenty nine,
(09:52):
but the latest figures expect that that is going to
be missed. That target will be undercut by about three
hundred thousand dwellings by twenty twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
And I know you just mentioned the RBA. Have they
said anything about if there will be an economic impact,
Because if we have more people buying, we then have
more people borrowing from banks exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So the RBA's Assistant Governor, Brad Jones, he has said
that the Central Bank is forecasting the overall housing credit
now that's the total value of home loans provided by
financial lenders, to increase by one to two percent, So
we will be borrowing and expected one to two percent
more in terms of the total pool of home loans.
(10:35):
He told a parliamentary committee last month. Quote you may
see a little more upward pressure on house prices in
the short term, recognizing the first home buyers account for
about twenty percent of the flow of new housing credit.
Greenshousing spokesperson Senator Barbara Pocock has called it reckless for
the government to encourage first home buyers to spend more
than they can realistically afford. So she said, quote, borrowing
(10:58):
ninety five percent of a mortgage when homes at eight
times the average household income is a recipe for financial stress,
not stability.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Well, so there is a lot of criticism about this
policy that is now in effect. Yeah, where does it
kind of leave us?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
So there is really a lot of talk about the
short term implications of this change. So you know, this weekend,
analysts will be watching really closely to see if house
prices increase nationally. You know how auction clearance rates may
or may not be impacted. But in the medium term,
Treasury estimates an uplift in housing supply in response to
(11:33):
the extra demand, which would hypothetically see house prices stabilize.
But that really is a big if. Ultimately, the government
says this is all about leveling the playing field for
a new generation of home buyers. The Housing Minister, Clare
O'Neil says that these smaller deposits will mean more people
can get into their own home sooner. But I want
(11:53):
to finish on this quote from the National Housing Supply
and Affordability Council chair Susan Lloyd Hurwitz. She really summed
it up when she told the ABC the policy could
have an upwards impact on prices, but that it probably
needs to be tested to see what happens to demand
and therefore what happens to prices. Billy, there is a
lot of uncertainty, but we will just have to wait
(12:16):
and see.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
I feel like we end every podcast by saying, well,
there's a lot to keep an eye on, and this
is no different. There is a lot to keep an eye.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Exactly, and I think you know, we've got all sides
of politics with very strong opinions on this meantime, you know,
we know that housing is in a crisis state across
the country. I don't think anyone disagrees that something needs
to be done, but it's how we do it that's
really in contemption.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
It is such a fine balancing act to get this right.
And thank you so much for explaining it. Thank you,
and thank you so much for listening to this episode
of The Daily Oz. We'll be back this afternoon with
your evening headlines, but until then, enjoy your home day.
My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda
(13:00):
Banjelung Calkatin woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily Oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torrestrate
island and nations. We pay our respects to the first
peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Already and this this is the Daily This is the
Daily OS.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Oh, now it makes sense. Good morning, and welcome to
the Daily OS. It's Wednesday, the first of October. I'm
Emma Gillespie.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Pinch and a punch for the first day of the month.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
But who are you.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm Philly fit Simons.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Buying your first home just got easier. The government hopes
its new home ownership scheme comes into effect from today,
allowing first time purchasers to secure a home with a
five percent deposit, down from the standard twenty percent. There
will no longer be income tests or limited places for
first home buyers under the scheme, but there will be
(00:47):
a limit on how much you can spend on a property,
with value caps depending on where you live. The government
says it wants to ensure more renters own a home,
but some experts are warning the initiative has already prompted
a property price search. We will explain everything you need
to know about this scheme in today's Deep Dive, right
after a quick word from our sponsor.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
So m it is the first of October, and so
we have this new first home Buyers scheme coming into
effect as of today. Now I'm sure the listeners don't
need reminding about how the property market is and how
hard it is. Your barrier of entry is very high.
But for anyone who does need a reminder, do you
want to just give us some quick context.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
In case you've been living under a ros or you've
just traveled here from the year nineteen eighty. Australia's property
market has skyrocketed in recent years, even in recent decades,
I think we can say, especially in our capital cities.
So the median dwelling price in Australia now sits at
around eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That's according to
(01:53):
the latest figures from Totality.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
And when we say dwelling, that's apartments or homes.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Exactly property that you would live in home verus, apartment, townhouse,
semis whatever. Recent analysis by Finder of prop Track and
ABS loan data shows households with an average before tax
income of about one hundred thousand dollars per year are
currently priced out of eighty three percent of Australian suburbs.
So around the country, if you earn about one hundred grand,
(02:20):
you can maybe save up to buy in less than
twenty percent of the suburbs in the country. The average
home now costs almost ten times what the average Australian earns,
and to be able to afford a home in Sydney,
where property prices are the most expensive, you would need
to be earning close to two hundred and fifty k
after tax. Wow, all of this means that we are
(02:43):
borrowing a lot more money to buy a home, and
we need to have a pretty sizeable deposit to secure
a property in the first place.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And I feel like deposit is one of the first
kind of jargony words that we need to explain. So
what is a deposit?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So think of a deposit as a down payment on
the purchase of a property. So it's the amount of
money you need to have upfront to secure a home
or apartment. So most people will borrow the majority of
the purchase price from the bank or from a lender,
but deposits aren't usually something that people borrow from financial institutions,
(03:19):
so really they need to have that amount saved up
and ready to go before they want to buy a place. Typically,
banks want to see that you've been able to save
a twenty percent deposit. That's a kind of benchmark amount
that lenders like to see that you have saved before
they will approve you for a home loan, and that
tells them that you're at a low risk of not
(03:40):
being able to repay your mortgage, of defaulting on your payments.
So that has been the benchmark. It's not the case
across all lenders and banks. Some lenders and banks will
do a home loan with a ten percent deposit.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I was going to say, I always think of ten
percent as kind of what you definitely need.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, and at least here in New South Wales. It
depends on each state and territory. But you know, a
property contract will say a twenty percent deposit, you have
a right to negotiate that. You might negotiate that down
to ten or in some cases five percent. But when
we're talking about twenty percent, that's really about how safe
are you as a bet for a financial institution to
lend hundreds of thousands of dollars too. But that benchmark
(04:20):
changes today for first home buyers.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Okay, got it, So that's why we are talking about
this today. What exactly are those changes?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
So first home buyers can now purchase a property with
a five percent deposit, lower than that usual down payment
of twenty percent, and this was a scheme that was
going to be rolled out next year, but Labor have
brought it forward. The government announced in August that it
was bringing this scheme forward and it's described the move
as a game changer for aspiring homeowners.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
And so that five percent is that available to all
first home buyers or is it restricted because usually there
is kind of a cap on these kind of first
home buyers schemes.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
So any buying their first home is eligible for this
five percent scheme, but the price of the property they
want to purchase matters here. So anyone can get the
five percent if it's their first home and if it
falls under a specific price. Those prices depend on the
city or region you're buying in, So for example, a
(05:19):
home in Sydney or Newcastle will be capped at one
point five million dollars. So you're a first home buyer,
you want to access the five percent deposit scheme, you
need to buy something that costs one point five million
or less. Say you buy something that's one point six million,
you won't be eligible for the five percent deposit. In
regional Western Australia, homes will be capped at six hundred
thousand dollars for the five percent scheme. So that gives
(05:42):
you a bit of a sense of the kind of
dynamic capped pricing that the government's rolling out in different
states and territories and regions.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
And just doing some quick mass here. So if there
is that cap of six hundred thousand dollars in Western
Australia with a five percent deposit, that means that you
need up to thirty thousand dollars in order to purchase
that property exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So in your savings account, thirty thousand dollars ready to go,
compared to, let me do some quick maths, one hundred
and twenty thousand dollars to purchase the same property. Got it.
The government is also, as part of this scheme announcing
that it will cover lenders mortgage insurance.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yes, another jargony word. What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So banks and lenders usually require buyers who don't have
a twenty percent deposit to pay for lenders mortgage insurance. So,
like I said previously, first time home buyers have been
able to negotiate in some instances a five or a
ten percent deposit, but they would have paid this thing
lenders mortgage insurance. This is basically a safety net full
(06:42):
banks or whoever is providing the loan in case the
buyer struggles to pay off their home loan in the
future or sells their property at a lower value than
when it was purchased. So the bank takes out this
insurance policy itself, but it requires buyers to pay the
insurance bill, which can run into tens of thousands of dollars.
(07:03):
So the government now from today will become a guarranteur
for the lenders insurance, meaning a new homeowner won't have
to pay for it. And in terms of what that
looks like in a dollar value for a one million
dollar property, Treasury figures show the average insurance savings with
a five percent deposit will be around forty one thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Got it, And I know that at the start you
mentioned that there has been some criticism that this could
potentially actually push up the prices, which is kind of
exactly the opposite of what it's trying to do. What
has the opposition said about this announcement?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
There has been a lot of speculation in this area
around this topic. Billy Shadow Housing Minister Senator Andrew Bragg
has called the policy bizarre and ridiculous. He thinks it's
kind of wild that the scheme is open to all
first time buyers, and he has criticized the government's lack
of policy to address supply challenges. Andrew Bragg said, quote,
(07:59):
this is an uncapped scheme which is available to billionaires
or the children of billionaires if they want to use
a government program. The taxpayer is underwriting mortgage insurance schemes
for extremely wealthy people, he said. The Greens have also
criticized Labour's home guarantee scheme. They've said that it won't
ease the housing crisis, but quote it will pour fuel
(08:20):
on the fire.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Those are quite strong words. What do experts say so?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
According to analysis by real estate dot com dot a U,
property prices jumped by up to fifty thousand dollars in September,
which the Real Estate Buyers Agents Association has tied to
this idea of panic buying. It says that that has
been fueled by new first homeowners and investors kind of
(08:45):
rushing to secure property before this scheme is rolled out,
and that industry body is actually predicting increased competition to
continue between first home buyers and investors. This very competitive
sector of the property market looking for entry level family homes.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Is there any modeling that has been done to suggest
that this increase in prices will continue?
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So Labor is forecasting that the five percent deposit guarantee
will lift national prices by about half a percent over
six years. But as the Coalition flagged, the Reserve Bank
of Australia as well has noted that there isn't really
an adequate supply of housing stock to meet current demand,
let alone a surgeon demand that could come from this scheme.
(09:31):
So most estimates, including from Treasury, suggest that the policy
will bring forward more purchases and increase the borrowing capacity
for first home buyers. So RBA Governor Michelle Bullock has
said that Australia really needs a better response to the
supply issue. Now. The government has a target to build
one point two million new homes by twenty twenty nine,
(09:52):
but the latest figures expect that that is going to
be missed. That target will be undercut by about three
hundred thousand dwellings by twenty twenty nine.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
And I know you just mentioned the RBA. Have they
said anything about if there will be an economic impact,
Because if we have more people buying, we then have
more people borrowing from banks exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So the RBA's Assistant Governor, Brad Jones, he has said
that the Central Bank is forecasting the overall housing credit
now that's the total value of home loans provided by
financial lenders, to increase by one to two percent, So
we will be borrowing and expected one to two percent
more in terms of the total pool of home loans.
(10:35):
He told a parliamentary committee last month. Quote you may
see a little more upward pressure on house prices in
the short term, recognizing the first home buyers account for
about twenty percent of the flow of new housing credit.
Greenshousing spokesperson Senator Barbara Pocock has called it reckless for
the government to encourage first home buyers to spend more
than they can realistically afford. So she said, quote, borrowing
(10:58):
ninety five percent of a mortgage when homes at eight
times the average household income is a recipe for financial stress,
not stability.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Well, so there is a lot of criticism about this
policy that is now in effect. Yeah, where does it
kind of leave us?
Speaker 2 (11:13):
So there is really a lot of talk about the
short term implications of this change. So you know, this weekend,
analysts will be watching really closely to see if house
prices increase nationally. You know how auction clearance rates may
or may not be impacted. But in the medium term,
Treasury estimates an uplift in housing supply in response to
(11:33):
the extra demand, which would hypothetically see house prices stabilize.
But that really is a big if. Ultimately, the government
says this is all about leveling the playing field for
a new generation of home buyers. The Housing Minister, Clare
O'Neil says that these smaller deposits will mean more people
can get into their own home sooner. But I want
(11:53):
to finish on this quote from the National Housing Supply
and Affordability Council chair Susan Lloyd Hurwitz. She really summed
it up when she told the ABC the policy could
have an upwards impact on prices, but that it probably
needs to be tested to see what happens to demand
and therefore what happens to prices. Billy, there is a
lot of uncertainty, but we will just have to wait
(12:16):
and see.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
I feel like we end every podcast by saying, well,
there's a lot to keep an eye on, and this
is no different. There is a lot to keep an eye.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Exactly, and I think you know, we've got all sides
of politics with very strong opinions on this meantime, you know,
we know that housing is in a crisis state across
the country. I don't think anyone disagrees that something needs
to be done, but it's how we do it that's
really in contemption.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
It is such a fine balancing act to get this right.
And thank you so much for explaining it. Thank you,
and thank you so much for listening to this episode
of The Daily Oz. We'll be back this afternoon with
your evening headlines, but until then, enjoy your home day.
My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda
(13:00):
Banjelung Calkatin woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily Oz acknowledges
that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the
Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torrestrate
island and nations. We pay our respects to the first
peoples of these countries, both past and present.
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