Help to Buy Scheme

Eligibility Criteria

Home buyers need to meet eligibility criteria to qualify for Help to Buy. These include:

• Minimum age - must be at least 18 years old.
• Deposit - minimum 2% of the home purchase price.
• Citizenship - all applicants must be Australian citizens.
• Single and joint applicants - you can apply to the Scheme either alone or together with one other person, provided you both meet the eligibility criteria.
• Income^ - must have an annual taxable income at or below $103,000 for individual applicants or $165,000 for single parents and joint applicants, as shown on the ATO Notice of Assessment (NOA) for the previous financial year (FY26).
• Owner-occupier - you must live in the home as your principal place of residence whilst a participant of the scheme (investment properties are not eligible and renting out any part of the property is not allowed).
• Property ownership - cannot own or beneficially own any property in Australia or overseas. There are exceptions for single parents who own property jointly with someone else and want to buy out the other person's share or intend to sell their existing ownership.
• Other Australian Government assistance - cannot receive help from other schemes, including shared equity schemes, loans or guarantees provided by States or Territories to support the purchase. However, you can still benefit from stamp duty concessions, grants and other exemptions.

Use the Help to Buy Eligibility tool for a quick check of the main eligibility criteria to help you understand if you are eligible.

Please note that other eligibility criteria applies and ongoing eligibility requirements apply. Please refer to our FAQ section for further details.

^ Income and other thresholds are wage indexed annually. Please refer to the income and threshold updates for further information.