Everyone asks the same first question. Will the government help me buy a house in Australia?

Sometimes yes. Often not in the way you think. Help to Buy is the scheme with that name. It is a government shared-equity product, run by Housing Australia. It is not a cash grant. It is not the 5% deposit scheme. It is not for most of the people I sit with.

What Help to Buy actually is

The government puts in money so you can buy with a smaller deposit and a smaller loan. You still own the home. You share some of the value with the Commonwealth.

The official settings, from 1 July 2026:

  • A deposit as low as 2%.
  • The government contributes up to 30% of the price on an existing home, or up to 40% on a new home.
  • 10,000 places a year, nationwide.
  • No Lenders Mortgage Insurance on that structure.

You apply through a participating lender. You cannot apply direct to Housing Australia. Once you are conditionally approved, a place is reserved for up to 90 days while you find a home and sign a contract.

When you sell, or when you buy the government out, they take their share of the value at that time. They share gains. They share losses. That is the deal.

The income line is the whole conversation

From 1 July 2026 the taxable income cap is $103,000 for a single applicant, and $165,000 for joint applicants or a single parent. That is last year's ATO Notice of Assessment. Not this year's package. Not a typical bonus year you hope is lower.

If you work in banking, tech, consulting, or anywhere a base plus bonus is normal, you are usually already over that line. RSUs and a decent base make it worse, not better.

That is not a moral judgement. Help to Buy is built for low to middle income buyers who still cannot quite get there. It is not built for high income and a thin Australian deposit. Those are different doors.

Income is also not a one-off gate. While you are in the scheme you keep meeting the rules: live in the home, keep it insured, and do the reviews. If your taxable income sits over the cap for two financial years running, you may have to start buying the government back out, depending on capacity. Confirm the live terms. Do not treat the cap as a day-one test you then forget.

What it is not

It is not the 5% deposit scheme. That one is a government guarantee on your loan so you can buy with 5% and skip LMI. You own 100%. There is no government equity slice. From 1 October 2025 it has no income cap and unlimited places. In NSW the price cap is $1,500,000 for Sydney and the named regional centres, and $800,000 for the rest of the state.

Help to Buy's NSW price cap is lower: $1,300,000 for the capital city and regional centres, $800,000 for the rest of NSW. Price caps on Help to Buy are not indexed each year. They move only when the government changes them.

It is not a grant you keep. The government's share gets repaid, on sale or when you buy them out.

It is not a way to buy an investment. You have to live in it. You cannot rent it out while you are in the scheme.

It is not open if you already own property, in Australia or overseas. There is a narrow exception for some single parents buying out or selling a shared interest. That is not the usual corporate first-home path.

It is not open to permanent residents. Every applicant has to be an Australian citizen.

It cannot be stacked with other government shared-equity schemes, home-buyer guarantees, or state shared-equity / guarantee products. Stamp duty concessions and first-home grants can still sit next to it. The 5% deposit scheme cannot.

It is not a private second-mortgage product. If the thing you actually need is a way in with less cash and income that is already too high for Help to Buy, start with which door you actually have. I also wrote high income, small deposit.

Places run out. The 5% scheme does not.

Help to Buy has 10,000 places a year. That is a hard ceiling. The 5% scheme does not have a place cap.

If you do qualify on income, treat a reserved place as scarce. If you do not, stop refreshing the Help to Buy page. The useful government help, if any, is probably the 5% scheme, an occupation LMI waiver, or neither.

When to leave it alone

Leave it if last year's taxable income is over the cap. You will not talk it into yes.

Leave it if you can already buy with savings and a normal loan. The scheme is for the gap, not a cheaper structure on a deal you can do anyway.

Leave it if the home you want sits over the Help to Buy price cap. A Sydney purchase at $1.4m can still fit the 5% scheme. It will not fit Help to Buy.

Leave it if you needed a guarantee and a 100% title, not a government co-owner for years.

Before you book

Bring last year's Notice of Assessment, the suburb, and a rough price. I will tell you whether Help to Buy is even a door, or whether the government help you can actually use is the 5% scheme, a waiver, or "not this, not yet."

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

This is general information, not personal advice. Income caps, price caps, places and lender panels change. Confirm the live rules on https://firsthomebuyers.gov.au/australian-government-help-buy-scheme before you act.