If you live in regional Australia, the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG) is an Australian Government initiative to help you buy or build your first home sooner. At IMB, we’re proud to be a participating lender in this initiative. It is administered by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) under the Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS).
 

There are 10,000 RFHBG places available nationally this financial year (and each year until June 2025). Eligible borrowers can use the RFHBG in conjunction with other government programs like the First Home Super Save Scheme, and relevant state and territory first home owner grants and stamp duty exemptions (find out more about those here).

 

How does the RFHBG work?

If you’re eligible for the RFHBG you can buy or build your first home with a low deposit of 5%, without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). Usually, first homebuyers with less than a 20% deposit need to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance. Through the Scheme, NHFIC will “guarantee” the difference in deposit for the lender, which means Lenders Mortgage Insurance is not required.

 

What type of home can I buy?

For a property to be eligible it must be a residential property. Eligible residential properties generally include:

  • an existing house, townhouse or apartment
  • a house and land package
  • land and separate contract to build a home
  • an off-the-plan apartment or townhouse.

Property price caps also apply, based on where you buy. Search the property price threshold for a suburb or post code at the  National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) website.

 

How do I apply for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee?

Check your eligibility

The section titled "Eligibility Criteria" below details the main eligibility criteria. You can find out more at the NHFIC website to check your eligibility.

Get in touch with us

Book an appointment online, by calling 133 462, or at your local IMB branch.

Submit your home loan application

Once you have received conditional approval from IMB, we will collect the documents required for eligibility and reserve your Guarantee.

Buy a home

You now have 90 days to purchase your first home after you’re approved for the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee..

 

Eligibility criteria

To apply for the RFHBG, you will be subject to the following eligibility criteria. You need to be able to provide documentation of your eligibility to secure your Guarantee place.

Eligibility criteria includes:

  • Australian citizens who are at least 18 years of age and live in regional Australia. Permanent residents are not eligible.Applicants (or at least one of the applicants, where applying as a couple) must provide satisfactory evidence that they have lived in the regional area or an adjacent regional area for the preceding 12-month period (assessed from the home loan agreement date). Go to NHFIC’s RegionalChecker where you can enter the postcode of your current home and the postcode of where you would like to purchase to see if you may be eligible for the RFHBG.
  • Individual applicants with a taxable income of up to $125,000 per annum or couples with a taxable income of up to $200,000 per annum (as shown on the Notice of Assessment issued by the Australian Taxation Office). 
  • Couples must be married or in a de-facto relationship. Other persons buying together, including siblings, parent/child or friends, are not eligible.
  • Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee assists individual applicants and couples who have between 5% and 20% of the value of an eligible property saved as a deposit.
  • Applicants must intend to be owner-occupiers of the purchased property. Investment properties are not supported by the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee.
  • Your purchased property must be an acceptable property type and within the property price threshold for the suburb and postcode. Find out the acceptable property type and price cap for your area on the NHFIC website.

 



Fact sheets and information guides

For complete information on eligibility, property types and more from NHFIC, click on the information guide links below or head to nhfic.gov.au.

 

Ready to get started?

Our team of specialists are ready to help you with your application. Book an appointment online or give us a call on 133 462. We can even come to you.

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