More than 4,700 Australians have been helped into home ownership through the Albanese Government's Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee in its first six months.
4,716 Australians across 2,997 households - from every eligible state and territory - have taken advantage of the scheme, which provides a government guarantee of up to 15 per cent for eligible first home buyers.
This allows regional Australians with a deposit of as little as 5 per cent to avoid paying lenders' mortgage insurance.
Minister for Housing Julie Collins said the launch of the program had been brought forward by three months to help more regional Australians into home ownership sooner.
"We know it's been increasingly hard for Australians living in regional areas to save for a sufficient deposit," Minister Collins said.
"Our targeted support is helping people get over that hurdle, getting more Australians into their own homes and helping ease the pressure on our regional rental markets."
Minister Collins said that since its launch on October 1, the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee has now helped:
- 1,915 Australians in Queensland
- 1,597 Australians in New South Wales
- 779 Australians in Victoria
- 230 Australians in Western Australia
- 113 Australians in South Australia
- 77 Australians in Tasmania
- 5 Australians in the Northern Territory
"It's just one part of our ambitious housing agenda to ensure that more Australians have a safe and affordable place to call home," she said.
This builds on other measures that the Albanese Government has already delivered to help tackle housing and homelessness challenges in Australia.
This includes:
- Unlocking up to $575 million to immediately invest in social and affordable housing by widening the remit of the National Housing Infrastructure Facility.
- The National Housing Accord, with $350 million in additional Federal funding to deliver 10,000 affordable homes over five years from 2024. State and territory governments have agreed to build on our additional commitment with up to 10,000 new homes as well, delivering up to 20,000 new affordable dwellings in total.
- Establishing the interim Supply and Affordability Council, which has already met.
- Delivering a $67.5 million boost to homelessness funding to states and territories over the next year.
- Investing $91.7 million into youth homelessness through the Reconnect program over the next three years.
