First Home Buyer Loans, September 2026

You qualify as a first home buyer if you have not owned a home or land in Australia in the last 10 years, counted from the date the previous property sold to the date you enter the new loan agreement. You can apply alone or jointly with one other person.

There is no single answer. Ratesniffers ranks the live table above by comparison rate, snapshot dated 27 August 2026, and the right loan for a first home buyer depends on deposit size, whether the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme applies, and whether LMI or a guarantor is needed. A sharp rate can still cost more once LMI is added.

Lenders assess a $700,000 mortgage on the repayment at the loan's rate plus a serviceability buffer of at least 3 percentage points, not on the advertised repayment, and then deduct living expenses, dependants, HECS and any card limits. The Ratesniffers income required calculator works the indicative gross income out from the current rate and shows the figure with its date, so the answer moves as rates move.

A $500,000 house is not a $500,000 loan. With a 5% deposit the loan is about $475,000 and with 20% down it is $400,000, and the income a lender needs falls with the loan size. Stamp duty, LMI and settlement costs sit on top of the deposit unless a first home buyer concession removes them. Enter the loan amount you would actually borrow in the Ratesniffers income required calculator for an indicative gross income as at today's rate.

The salary depends on the rate plus the lender's buffer, your dependants and your other debts, so there is no single number. Two incomes combine, which is why a couple can reach a figure that one salary cannot. The Ratesniffers income required calculator answers this exact question with an indicative gross income for a $500,000 loan, single and family, dated to the rate it used.

Most lenders want to see around 5% of the purchase price held or accumulated in your own name over at least three months: regular savings, term deposits, shares held for that period, or in some cases a record of paying rent on time. A cash gift or an inheritance received last week usually is not genuine savings until it has sat in your account for the qualifying period, although a guarantor loan or the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme can change what a lender requires. Confirm the lender's own genuine savings policy before you apply.

Yes, if you meet the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme conditions and buy under the price cap for your location. The scheme has had no income caps and no waitlists since 1 October 2025 and removes the need for Lenders Mortgage Insurance, but you can only apply through a participating lender as part of a home loan application. Outside the scheme, a 5% deposit usually means paying LMI, unless a guarantor or a profession-based LMI waiver applies.

It lets eligible first home buyers purchase with as little as a 5% deposit and no Lenders Mortgage Insurance, with the government guaranteeing the remaining gap up to 15%. Since 1 October 2025 the scheme has had no income caps and unlimited places, though property price caps still apply and vary by state and region, see the panel above for your state's current cap.

Not automatically. Ratesniffers doesn't promote an LVR-specific headline rate from the dated verified snapshot because that source doesn't establish first-home-buyer eligibility on its own. A handful of lenders price specifically for first home buyers or waive LMI for certain professions, but most of the market prices the loan the same way regardless of FHB status, deposit size and LVR band matter more than being a first-time buyer.

Yes, through the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS). Eligible savers can contribute up to $15,000 a year, capped at $50,000 total, of pre-tax salary into super, then withdraw it plus earnings for a deposit, taxed concessionally instead of at marginal income tax rates. See our FHSSS glossary entry for the full mechanics and a worked example.

Every state and territory offers a full or partial stamp duty exemption for first home buyers below a property value threshold, on top of the federal deposit scheme. Thresholds and grant amounts vary significantly by state, use the state panel above to see your own state's current cap, grant amount and any state-specific low-deposit lender.

The table above shows the rates available in this comparison view and is sorted by comparison rate. Filter for your purpose, repayment type and LVR, then confirm eligibility and product conditions before relying on a displayed rate.

There is no single bank with the best rate for everyone, the sharpest advertised rates usually come from online-direct lenders and challenger brands rather than the Big Four, but the rate you actually qualify for depends on your deposit (LVR), whether you're owner-occupier or investor, and the loan features you need. The lender at the top of the table above has the lowest comparison rate today; sort and filter to match your situation.

A good rate is one at or near the top of the comparison table above for your specific situation. If you're paying noticeably more than the cheapest comparable loans, particularly with a 20%+ deposit and clean credit, it's worth asking your lender for a discount or refinancing.

The interest rate (or headline rate) is the cost of the loan before fees. The comparison rate folds in most standard upfront and ongoing fees, normalised on a $150,000 loan over 25 years, so two loans with the same headline rate but different fees show different comparison rates. It's a mandatory disclosure under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, and it's the fairer number to rank loans by, which is exactly how the table above is sorted.

Five levers move your rate the most: a lower LVR (a bigger deposit), choosing owner-occupier over investor where it applies, principal-and-interest over interest-only, a clean credit file, and simply asking. Lenders routinely offer existing customers a discount when they call to leave, and a licensed expert can run that negotiation across the whole panel at once, which is the service Ratesniffers connects you to for free.

Yes, and you should. Lenders price new customers more sharply than existing ones, so loyalty often costs you. Call your lender's retention team, quote a cheaper comparable rate from the table above, and ask them to match it. If they won't move, refinancing to a lender that will is usually straightforward, and many pay cashback to switch.

Variable home loan rates track the Reserve Bank's cash rate, so the direction of rates depends on the RBA's decisions, which it reviews roughly every six weeks. We don't make forecasts we can't stand behind, but we do publish a wrap of every RBA decision and what it means for variable-rate borrowers, see our news page. Fixed rates move ahead of the cash rate, based on what the market expects the RBA to do next.

Individual lenders change rates continually, sometimes several times a week, and often within days of an RBA decision or a competitor's move. That's why a comparison table is only useful if it's fresh. Ratesniffers refreshes its rate index daily and stamps every page with the last-updated date so you're never comparing stale numbers.

Variable rates move with the RBA cash rate, so you benefit when rates fall and pay more when they rise; they also tend to come with offset accounts and free extra repayments. Fixed rates lock your repayment for a set term, which buys certainty but usually limits extra repayments and charges break costs if you exit early. Many borrowers split the loan to get some of each, you can filter for fixed, variable or split above.

A deposit of 20% or more (an LVR of 80% or less) gets you the sharpest rates and avoids Lenders Mortgage Insurance, but you can borrow with as little as 5% down. Lower deposits usually mean a slightly higher rate plus LMI, though eligible first home buyers using the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme can avoid LMI even with a small deposit. Use the LVR filter above to see only the loans you qualify for.

Often, yes. Advertised rates are a starting point, and lenders price a well-presented file below their published rate more often than people expect. A licensed expert can put your scenario to the lender and ask for a sharper rate on your behalf, usually at no cost to you. Ratesniffers offers that as a free rate review, and the comparison itself is free and unbiased.

The comparison index was last refreshed on 13 September 2026. We stamp the date on the page so you can assess how current the displayed rates are.

Comparing rates and using the calculators is completely free, with no sign-up or email gate. We don't take paid placement to influence the ranking, loans are sorted by comparison rate, full stop. When you choose to speak to a broker about applying, the lender pays the broker a commission, the same way it would for any mortgage. That's how the service stays free to you.