The 2022 Federal Budget had a key focus of reducing the cost of living with rising housing prices and increased rents becoming a common issue for many Australians.

The Home Guarantee Scheme and infrastructure spending were welcomed by many in the property industry, however, there was still little in the budget to tackle long-term housing affordability and supply.

The main focus of the budget was to help first home buyers and single parents to enter the property market and encourage new buyers to invest in regional Australia.

Home Guarantee Schemes

The Federal Government’s various Home Guarantee Schemes will be continued and be expanded under the 2022 Federal Budget. 50,000 new properties will be added across the three major schemes in a bid to help more Australians enter and, in some cases, re-enter the property market.

Lenders generally require borrowers to have saved a 20 per cent deposit to avoid Lender's Mortgage Insurance (LMI), which is increasingly prohibitive given the sharp increase in property prices.

Under the Federal Government schemes, eligible first-home buyers can put down a deposit of as little as five per cent, or two per cent for single parents, with the government acting as a guarantor.

First Home Guarantee:

35,000 places for will be made available for eligible first-home buyers who are able to access the scheme with a deposit of as little as 5 per cent (also known as the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme).

The 50,000-place expansion of the program will remain in place for three years from 2022-23, before being cut back to 35,000.

Family Home Guarantee:

5,000 additional places for eligible single parents will be made available, allowing them to purchase a home with a deposit of as little as 2 per cent. Eligible single parents do not have to be first home buyers, they can have previously owned a property.

New Regional Home Guarantee:

10,000 places for eligible buyers purchasing in regional Australia. The program is set to kick off in the 2022-2023 financial year. You don’t have to be a first home buyer to participate in the Regional Home Guarantee scheme, however, you can’t have owned property in the last 5 years.

First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS):

The FHSSS allows potential buyers to build a deposit inside their super, giving them a tax cut and boosting the savings they can put towards a deposit.

From July 1, the maximum amount of voluntary contributions that can be released under the FHSSS will be boosted from $30,000 to $50,000.

The Indigenous Business Australia’s Indigenous Home Ownership Program (IHOP)

IHOP will also be extended by a further two years to 2024–25.