The Albanese Labor Government will make it easier to buy a home and bring ownership into reach for more Australians.
From 1 July 2022, five additional lenders will join the Home Guarantee Scheme as participating lenders to offer the Scheme to eligible homebuyers.
The new lenders on the non-major bank lender panel are Credit Union SA, Illawarra Credit Union, IMB Ltd (trading as IMB Bank), Newcastle Permanent Building Society and Unity Bank Limited.
The Home Guarantee Scheme will be expanded to 50,000 places per year to support more aspiring first homebuyers to purchase a home.
This will come to include the new Regional First Home Support Scheme, delivering on a commitment the Albanese Labor Government made before the election.
An expanded lender panel will promote further competition amongst participating lenders and greater consumer choice.
These lenders were appointed following a competitive procurement process facilitated by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC).
They join an existing panel of 25 non-major and 2 major bank lenders. NHFIC administers the Home Guarantee Scheme.
Information on how to apply, eligibility requirements and the full list of participating lenders is available on the NHFIC website. Applications can only be made through participating lenders.
The Albanese Labor Government is committed to introducing a suite of policies that will make it easier for Australians to buy a home, and deliver more social and affordable housing.
This includes:
- The $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund which will build 30,000 social and affordable housing properties in its first five years;
- Help to Buy, a new program to make it cheaper and easier for Australians to own their own home;
- Establishing a National Housing Supply and Affordability Council; and
- Developing a new National Housing and Homelessness Plan.
