An exciting news for all the Kiwis, looking to buy their 1st home in Australia! The most popular Australian low deposit home scheme has been now opened to the New Zealanders or Kiwis holding Visa in Australia. Here is what you surely need to know.
Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS)
In Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS), Australian citizens & their permanent residents can buy their 1st home with a deposit as low as 5%. For the regional first-home buyers, there is a specially tailored scheme version. In the HGS, the single parents too benefit as it provides them with an opportunity to buy a home with a deposit at an exceptionally low rate of 2%.
In an exciting update, Housing Australia has declared that New Zealand Special Category Visa (SCV) holders are now considered as ‘permanent residents’ for the purposes of HGS eligibility. Let us understand briefly about the scheme and its benefits.
Scheme in Brief
The HGS scheme helps the 1st time home buyers & single parents to buy their own home with lower deposits as compared to the prevalent standard rate of 20%.
Under the subject scheme, for the home buyer’s loan, the government acts as a guarantor. This acts as an added advantage for the home buyers as they need not pay lenders mortgage insurance (LMI). Thus, it can help save them directly on upfront costs, which can vary from $4,000 to $35,000, depending upon the property’s rate and deposit amount.
Scheme Benefits for the Kiwis
Australians & New Zealanders have always enjoyed a special bond. Australians have always welcomed their Kiwi friends from across the ditch.
As per recent survey by Australian Bureau of Statistics, over 41,000 Kiwis have relocated to Australia on an SCV in financial year 2022-23. That means around 3,400 Kiwis arrive in Australia on an SCV every month.
Despite its name, the New Zealand Special Category Visa (SCV) is the primary visa for Kiwis visiting Australia. It allows them to visit, study, stay, and work in Australia and is granted upon arrival, provided they meet specific security, character, and health requirements.
It can also allow them to a pathway that many of the 670,000 Kiwis living in Australia would have completed i.e. directly applying for an Australian citizenship.
Not seeing any information about New Zealanders on the official HGS website?
Here is the good news. We reached out directly to Housing Australia, which administers the HGS, to confirm that Kiwis can apply for the low deposit scheme.
New Zealanders holding a Special Category Visa Subclass 444 (SCV) are now considered permanent residents for the purposes of the subject scheme, thus, making them eligible to apply. Of course, there are other eligibility conditions, including maximum price caps on the home you can buy, which vary across the country.
The most straightforward way to determine if you are eligible for the HGS is to directly call us. We along with a team of our experts can guide you through the scheme & explain whether or not you qualify to apply.
Not All Lenders Participate in the HGS
Whether you are a true-blue Aussie or a Kiwi starting fresh in Oz, it is crucial to know that the HGS is not available through every lender. We can inform you about the banks which have signed up for the subject scheme & help you identify the available loan options from the participating lenders suiting your specific requirements.
Important thing to keep in mind is that places within the scheme are limited, and it is uncertain how long New Zealand SCV holders will be considered as ‘permanent residents’ for the application purposes.
So, contact us today to get the ball rolling and help you own your 1st home in Australia.
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