First Home Guarantee QLD: Price Caps, Boost to Buy, and the Family Home Guarantee Explained

There are four low-deposit programs available to Queensland first home buyers right now. They have different eligibility rules, property caps, and availability — and one of them (Boost to Buy) is already fully exhausted in South East Queensland. Knowing which programs apply to your situation before you start property hunting will save you from planning a purchase around a scheme you cannot actually access.

First Home Guarantee: the income caps are gone

The First Home Guarantee (FHG) is a federal program administered through Housing Australia. It allows eligible first home buyers to purchase with a deposit as low as 5% without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). The government guarantees up to 15% of the property's value, which removes the LMI requirement entirely.

On 1 October 2025, the program was significantly expanded. The income caps — previously $125,000 for individuals and $200,000 for couples — were removed entirely. There is also no longer an annual cap on the number of places available. Any eligible first home buyer can now access the guarantee, provided they purchase within the property price limits.

Queensland price caps (current):

These caps apply to both new and established homes. You do not need to be buying a new property — unlike the $30,000 FHOG, the First Home Guarantee covers existing homes.

The standard eligibility requirements still apply: you must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, 18 or older, and neither you nor your partner can have previously owned residential property in Australia.

Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee: the residency catch

The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG) runs alongside the standard FHG and targets buyers in regional areas specifically. The program operates under the same 5% deposit, no-LMI structure, with the same $700,000 price cap for regional Queensland.

The critical difference is a 12-month prior residency requirement. To qualify, you must have lived in the regional area where you are purchasing (or an adjacent regional area) for at least 12 months before executing the contract. If you have recently moved to Townsville from Brisbane, for example, you cannot immediately access the RFHBG — you need 12 months of regional residency first.

All Queensland local government areas outside Greater Brisbane are classified as regional for this program.

Boost to Buy: shared equity, but SEQ allocations are exhausted

The Boost to Buy scheme is Queensland's state-operated shared equity program. Under this model, the Queensland Government contributes equity toward your purchase in exchange for an ownership stake:

• Up to 30% of the purchase price for a new home
• Up to 25% of the purchase price for an existing home

This reduces your required deposit to just 2% of the purchase price on properties up to $1,000,000. It also reduces your mortgage size (and therefore your monthly repayments), since you are only borrowing against your share of the property's value.

By early 2026, all South East Queensland allocations had been exhausted. Only regional Queensland allocations are currently available. If you are buying in Brisbane, Gold Coast, or the Sunshine Coast, Boost to Buy is not currently an option. If you are buying in regional Queensland — Toowoomba, Cairns, Mackay, or similar — contact the QLD Treasury or Unity Bank (the primary lending partner) to check current availability.

The 50% regional reservation that is built into the program's structure means regional allocations are more likely to remain available for longer.

Family Home Guarantee: for single parents buying with 2%

The Family Home Guarantee is a federal program designed for single parents and eligible single legal guardians. It allows qualifying buyers to purchase with a deposit as low as 2% without paying LMI, regardless of whether the property is new or established.

For the 2025–26 financial year (1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026), 5,000 places are available nationally. The same Queensland price caps apply as the standard FHG: $1,000,000 in South East Queensland, $700,000 regional.

The applicant must be a single parent or single legal guardian of at least one dependent. You do not need to be a first home buyer under the Family Home Guarantee — the program is open to previous homeowners who do not currently own property.

How these programs interact

These schemes are not mutually exclusive. A single parent buying in regional Queensland could potentially combine:

• Family Home Guarantee (2% deposit, no LMI)
• $30,000 First Home Owner Grant (if buying a new home under $750,000)
• $0 transfer duty (if buying a new home under Queensland's uncapped exemption for first home buyers)

That combination, on a $700,000 new home, could reduce the upfront cash required at settlement to under $20,000 even before accounting for the FHOG payment.

For buyers in South East Queensland, the First Home Guarantee is the most broadly accessible low-deposit program given the absence of income caps and unlimited places. Boost to Buy's SEQ exhaustion means most Brisbane, Gold Coast, and Sunshine Coast buyers will need to rely on the FHG or save a larger deposit.

The Queensland First Home Buyer Guide covers how to apply for each of these schemes in sequence, what documentation lenders require, and the property eligibility checks that can disqualify a purchase after you have already committed.

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