Where regional Victorians are buying their first homes with government help

Victorians are getting their foot in the door of the property market with as little as a 5 per cent deposit. See which areas are becoming most popular.

Regional Victoria is becoming popular with first-home buyers.

More than 2000 Victorians have got their foot in the door of the property market using the federal government’s regional first homebuyer guarantee.

The initiative enables eligible home buyers with a deposit as little as 5 per cent to avoid paying lenders’ mortgage insurance because the government provides a guarantee up to 15 per cent.

Over the past year, Geelong has been the most popular regional area for couples and single males buyer to snap up homes.

This was followed by La Trobe-Gippsland, where figures show the largest portion of single females bought properties using the scheme.

Other regions in the top five include Ballarat, the state’s northwest and Bendigo.

Housing Minister Julie Collins says it’s fanastick that regional Victorians are taking advantage of the targeted support. Picture: Martin Ollman

Housing Minister Julie Collins said it was fantastic that so many regional Victorians had taken advantage of the targeted support.

“When we were elected, we knew Australians living in regional areas were facing housing affordability challenges, making it hard for locals to save a sufficient deposit,” Ms Collins said.

“That’s why we brought this targeted support forward three months, to assist more regional Australians into home ownership sooner.”

Ms Collins said the guarantee was one part of its broad housing agenda, to ensure more Australians have a safe and affordable place to call home “whether they’re buying, renting or needing a safe space to spend the night.”

The federal government expanded the scheme in July this year to enable eligible friends, siblings, and other family members to make joint applications for properties outside of a capital city.

Victorians who have not owned a property in Australia in the past 10 years, often due to relationship breakdowns or financial crisis, are also now able to apply.

Victorians who have not owned a property in Australia in the past 10 years are now able to apply.

However, they must be able to demonstrate that they have been living in the region, or adjacent region to where they are buying the property, for at least 12 months.

More than 10,000 people in regional Australia have accessed the guarantee in the past year.

This includes 4057 in Queensland, 3736 in New South Wales and 318 in South Australia.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and then-Premier Daniel Andrews in September announced that two uninhabitable public housing towers in Carlton will be demolished and rebuilt as part of the Commonwealth’s $2bn Social Housing Accelerator project.

The state then unveiled its housing statement which included a 7.5 per cent levy on short-term accommodation, as well a commitment to release “surplus” land released for medium density projects, and planning law reforms.