Can you buy a first home in Australia with a tiny deposit? Sometimes. One private door starts at about 2.5% of the purchase price. A registered second mortgage (an equity facility / other liability, not a home loan in the usual sense) bridges up to about 17.5%. A normal first mortgage then sits at about 80%. The aim is no Lenders Mortgage Insurance on that first loan, because it sits at 80%.

That structure is not a government scheme. It is not Help to Buy. It is not the 5% First Home Guarantee. One concrete product in this lane is HAS SmartShare from Home Affordability Solutions (hasloans.com.au). The rest of this page is about the door itself: when it helps, and when to leave it alone.

If a cheaper, simpler path is open, start there. Check which door is actually open. For the wider high-income, thin-cash map, see high income, small deposit.

How the structure works

You put in about 2.5%. The equity facility bridges the rest of the cash gap as a registered second mortgage. Your first lender holds the first mortgage. The facility provider is not a co-owner. You own the home. They hold second-mortgage security for the shared equity facility.

Live products in this lane often work up to about $1.6m. Confirm the live terms before you treat that as a hard cap.

What cash you still need

The 2.5% does not always have to be "genuine savings." Some providers allow a gift, an inheritance, the sale of an asset, or a bonus. The source still has to be verified.

You still need cash for stamp duty (unless a concession applies), conveyancing, inspections, and compulsory independent legal advice. That legal advice is often a few hundred dollars. You pay it. It usually cannot be rolled into the facility.

So the slogan is 2.5%. The real cash number is 2.5% plus buying costs. Keep stamp duty in that number.

Growth share, losses, and the lock-in

These facilities typically share in growth above a threshold (often 10%), at an agreed percentage set when the facility starts. They do not share losses. If prices fall, you still owe the facility in full.

There is usually a multi-year minimum term (often three years). Refinance or sell inside that window and an early exit fee applies. The dollar amount is not always published. After the minimum term you can often refinance the facility out if the first lender will let you. Many customers aim around year 3 to 3.5. The right timing depends on equity, serviceability, and what the first lender will do.

The facility can stay fixed and interest-only for several years. Payment assistance in the early years can hold repayments down, then repayments step up. There is no public rate card like a bank comparison rate. Do not shop this product on a brochure monthly figure. Model the step-up.

When it helps

This door is worth a proper look when the cheaper doors are actually shut.

  • High income, tiny Australian cash.
  • The 5% scheme is closed for you (price over the postcode cap, or you cannot get to 5%).
  • Your job is not on a clean LMI-waiver list.
  • First home, or re-entering with income but not 20% cash.

That is the client. Deposit is the hurdle. Repayments are not.

When to leave it alone

Leave it if the 5% scheme or a clean LMI waiver is actually open. Those are usually cheaper and simpler. Start at which door.

Leave it if the first mortgage cannot sit at about 80%. The whole point of the structure is keeping that first loan at 80% so you are not paying LMI on it. If that cannot happen, this is not your product.

Leave it if you need a product that shares losses. This one does not. Falls still leave you owing the facility in full.

Leave it if you cannot service the first mortgage plus the equity facility, including the step-up after payment assistance. Two liabilities. Model both.

Leave it if you thought this was a government scheme or Help to Buy. It is private. Different structure. Different risk.

Before you book

Bring income, the suburb, a rough price, and how much Australian cash you can actually put down plus costs. I will tell you whether this equity-facility door is real for you, or whether you should stay on the 5% scheme / waiver path, or "not yet." Matching the right lender and product comes later. That is the strategy session.

Book a 30-minute strategy session. Thirty minutes on Google Meet.

This is general information, not personal advice. Product features, fees, and lender panels change. Confirm live terms with the provider before you act. For the concrete example named above, start at hasloans.com.au and yourhas.com.au/faq.