Lower deposits, smaller mortgages: More Tassie first home buyers now eligible for Help to Buy
A federal scheme to assist first home buyers has been expanded in the 2025-26 federal budget, with 40,000 additional households set to benefit from the change, according to Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
Tasmania
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More first home buyers looking to purchase a property in Tasmania will now be able to receive a leg-up on their deposit after the federal government unveiled an expanded Help to Buy scheme.
The program sees the government provide an equity contribution of up to 40 per cent so that new homeowners don’t have to pay as big of a deposit or shoulder as hefty a mortgage.
In his budget speech on Tuesday night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced that the eligibility criteria for the scheme would be broadened, meaning tens of thousands more Australians would be able to enjoy the benefits.
For Tasmanian first home buyers, that means the price cap for a new home eligible for purchase under the scheme has been lifted to $700,000 in Hobart and $550,000 for dwellings elsewhere in the state.
The income caps have also been raised, with the ceiling for individuals hoping to participate in the program having been raised from $90,000 per annum to $100,000, and the limit for joint applicants and single parents going up from $120,000 to $160,000.
Labor is upping its equity investment in the program from $5.5bn to $6.3bn, amounting to an $800m increase.
Dr Chalmers said the supercharged Help to Buy scheme would “help more Australians buy a place of their own”.
“This will help 40,000 Australians buy their first home in the next four years. The changes will mean they can access a bigger range of homes and buy one that suits them,” he said.
More than five million additional properties across Australia will fall under the scheme’s new property price caps.
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said she had a “pretty straightforward goal” when it came to her portfolio.
“[I want] to make sure that ordinary, working-class Australians can buy a home of their own. That’s why we’re expanding Help to Buy so that most first home buyers are eligible.”
Labor will also prevent foreign buyers from purchasing existing homes for two years from April 1, providing the Australian Taxation Office with $5.7m to enforce the ban.
The Treasurer said this would put downward pressure on the housing market, as would a crackdown on land baking by foreign investors.
Ms O’Neil announced $49.3m in funding to support state and territory governments to invest in programs that would encourage the construction of prefabricated and modular homes.
“We’ve got a big goal to build 1.2m new homes in five years and to reach that we need to build homes in new ways – using methods like prefab we can build homes up to 50 per cent faster,” she said.
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Originally published as Lower deposits, smaller mortgages: More Tassie first home buyers now eligible for Help to Buy
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