Help to Buy Gets a Second Broker Lender From 6 October
Teachers Mutual Bank is the second lender to open Help to Buy through brokers, giving eligible low-deposit buyers more pathways to shared equity.
The Help to Buy Scheme is about to become significantly more accessible for mortgage broker clients.
From Tuesday, 6 October, mortgage brokers will be able to lodge Help to Buy Scheme applications through Teachers Mutual Bank Limited (TMBL), making it only the second lender to offer the federal government's shared equity program through the broker channel. MPA Australia reports the rollout begins with a pilot cohort of accredited brokers who have completed TMBL's dedicated Help to Buy training. A second group will be onboarded by the end of October, with broader broker access continuing through 2027.
TMBL joined the scheme as a participating lender in July 2026. Its members can access Help to Buy through its four retail brands: Teachers Mutual Bank, Health Professionals Bank, UniBank and Firefighters Mutual Bank. Chief customer officer Greg Johnson said the training-first approach reflects how different this scheme is from a standard home loan.
How the Help to Buy Scheme Works
Help to Buy targets buyers who have saved a minimum 2% deposit but need more support to reach home ownership. The Australian Government takes an equity stake of up to 30% of the purchase price for existing homes and up to 40% for new builds. This co-ownership arrangement reduces the size of the mortgage the buyer needs to carry — and in most cases removes the need for lenders mortgage insurance entirely.
The scheme opened on 5 December 2025 and has received more than 7,200 applications since then. Each financial year, 10,000 places are available across all participating lenders. Housing Australia has confirmed 10,000 new places for the 2026-27 financial year, and income eligibility thresholds have been raised in every state and territory. With Tasmania joining in June 2026, the scheme now operates nationwide.
For buyers wanting to understand whether they qualify, a borrowing power calculator can model your loan size with and without the government's equity stake. A LMI calculator can also help you estimate what mortgage insurance savings could look like depending on your deposit size.
Why Broker Access Has Been a Sticking Point
Since launch, broker access to Help to Buy has been limited. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), one of three authorised lenders under the scheme, confirmed it would not offer Help to Buy through the broker channel. That left Bank Australia as the sole broker option — until now.
Johnson said the phased, training-first rollout reflects the genuinely different complexity of the scheme compared to a standard home loan.
"The Scheme's eligibility requirements, application process and ongoing conditions are different from a traditional home loan and we're focused on making sure our accredited brokers have the right training before working with their customers to submit applications for the Scheme," Johnson said.
The Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) has consistently pushed for broker channel access to Help to Buy since the scheme launched. MFAA chief executive Anja Pannek welcomed the development while reaffirming the advocacy position.
"We have consistently advocated for Help to Buy to be accessible through brokers from day one, and we will continue to press for this," Pannek said. "Consumers should be able to access government housing initiatives through their channel of their choice."
Research commissioned by the MFAA and conducted by YouGov, surveying 2,057 Australians looking to buy a home or get a loan, found that 58% trusted a mortgage broker compared with 48% who said they would turn to a bank or other lender for guidance. The expectation that government housing programs should be accessible through the broker channel reflects where borrower trust already sits.
What This Means for Eligible First-Home Buyers
TMBL's entry adds genuine competition and lender choice for eligible broker clients. The scale of the broker industry makes this access question important: MFAA data shows brokers settled 81.6% of all new home loans in the June 2026 quarter. When the vast majority of new lending flows through brokers, limiting access to government programs creates a real information gap for the buyers who most need guidance.
First-home buyer lending has been growing as a share of owner-occupier lending — reaching 29.0% of all owner-occupier lending in recent data, slightly above the decade average of 27.6%, partly driven by the expansion of the 5% Deposit Scheme. Housing Australia is also running a request for proposal process to expand the lender panels for both Help to Buy and the 5% Deposit Scheme, meaning further options are likely ahead.
For eligible buyers, the practical checklist includes confirming income eligibility under the updated thresholds for your state or territory, comparing Help to Buy against the 5% Deposit Scheme or a traditional low-deposit loan, and thinking ahead to how you would buy out the government's equity stake over time.
If you're ready to explore your options, the first-home buyer hub covers current products and programs. A refinance savings calculator can also model what the transition from shared equity to full ownership could cost you down the track.
The gate to Help to Buy is opening wider this week. For broker clients who have been waiting for access, now is a good time to start the conversation.