Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee

Who are you?

Single, or purchasing with a partner, friend, sibling or other family member
Australian citizen(s) or permanent resident(s) over the age of 18
First home buyer or previous home buyer who hasn’t owned a home in the past 10 years
At least one borrower must have lived in the same regional area or adjacent regional area purchasing in for 12 months to home loan agreement date
A taxable income of no more than $125k (single applicants) or $200K (joint applicants) based on prior financial year Notice of Assessment.

You can find more information about the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee (RFHBG) and eligibility criteria on the Housing Australia website.

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What type of home can you purchase?

Any type of residential property in Australia priced below the property price caps. Use the Regional Checker to enter the suburb (or postcode) of your current home and the suburb (or postcode) you’d like to purchase in, to confirm regional status. Properties include:

Existing or newly built property

Off-the-plan property

Vacant land with a contract to construct a residence

House and land package

What type of home loan could you apply for?

You’ll need a home loan for:

An owner occupier as you’ll be living in the home
A term of up to 30 years (this includes the construction phase of up to 2 years if building a new home)
Principal and interest repayments (except during construction phase, if building a new home).

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How do you apply?

1. Start a conversation

Book an appointment and tell us about you. We’ll see how much you could borrow, letting you know before the credit check. There’s no obligation until you accept your rate and loan offer.

2. Loan approval

A Westpac lending specialist will walk you through the entire process, from which guarantee under the Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS) might best suit your situation to the home loan that best fits your needs now and into the future.

You’ll need to purchase your home within 90 days of approval on the Home Guarantee Scheme.

3. On to settlement

Your lender will finalise your loan through to settlement. Accept our loan offer, and that’s it.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI)?

Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) will NOT be applicable if your loan is supported by a guarantee under the Home Guarantee Scheme, but so that you understand what it is, it’s a charge that most lenders require if a home loan deposit is less than 20%. This protects the lender if you can’t repay the loan. It can either be added to your loan or paid upfront.

As you’ll not be required to pay LMI, even though your deposit may be as low as 5%, you’ll make significant savings.

Glossary of other home loan terms

What are principal and interest repayments?

There are two parts to a home loan balance:

The principal amount is how much you have borrowed.
The interest is an amount your lender charges you based on your principal. It's calculated daily as a percentage (your interest rate) of your principal and added to your balance every month.

Principal and interest repayments pay off the amount you borrowed (the principal) and the interest, plus any fees.

By the end of the loan term (up to 30 years), you will have repaid the amount borrowed and the total interest owed, meaning your home will be mortgage-free.

More about home loan repayments

How is home loan interest calculated?

We calculate your interest in two steps.

First, we multiply the balance on your loan by your interest rate and divide by 365 days in a year. This shows your daily interest charges.

We then add together your daily interest charges for every day in each month, which produces the monthly interest charge shown on your statement.

Finally, we divide this up according to your preferred repayment frequency, whether that’s weekly, fortnightly or monthly. This figure is your repayment amount.

If your loan balance was $500,000 with an interest rate of 4.93% p.a. and monthly repayments, the calculation might look like this:

500,000 x 0.0493 / 365 = $67.53 interest per day

$67.53 x 30 days in September = $2,026 interest for September

You can use our Mortgage Repayment Calculator to estimate repayments and interest charges over the life of a loan. You can also use the calculator to check the effect that extra repayments could have on your home loan.

Planning to use an offset account? Calculate how much interest you could save.

Compare home loans and our interest rates

What to consider when deciding between fixed and variable?

Variable interest rate

With a variable rate home loan, your variable rate changes in line with market interest rates. Choose from our basic loan and standard home loan with offset - and get ahead on your home loan with no cap on extra repayments and no associated break costs.

Fixed interest rate

With fixed rate home loans, your fixed rate won’t be affected by interest rate rises during your 1-5 fixed rate period – so you'll know exactly what your interest rate and repayments will be throughout your fixed rate loan term.

Split your home loan account

Or you can get the best of both worlds by splitting your balance into separate variable and fixed rate loan amounts.

Compare home loans and our interest rates

How can I pay off my home loan faster?

Many things affect how fast you can pay down your home loan balance, and how much interest you pay.

Extra repayments. The simplest way to pay off your loan sooner is to make additional repayments on top of the repayments you’re obliged to make. Bear in mind, if you have a fixed rate with us, you can only make up to $30,000 in additional repayments during the fixed rate period, before break costs apply.

Repayment type. You'll need to pay principal and interest repayments (P&I) if you're eligible for one of the guarantees under the Home Guarantee Scheme, meaning you'll pay off both parts of your home loan (the principal loan amount, plus interest). Read more about repayment types. 

Weekly or fortnightly repayments. Choosing the right repayment frequency can make a difference over time, as well – choosing true fortnightly repayments when you apply will allow you to make the equivalent of one extra repayment per year, given there are 26 fortnights in a year.

Offset. If you link an offset account to your Rocket variable home loan, depositing your savings into this account will help to reduce the interest payable on your principal. Calculate how much you could save with an offset account.

More on home loan repayments

What does Home and Contents Insurance cover?

Home (also known as Building) Insurance covers your home’s physical structures and fixtures, including your garage, fences and paved driveways. It also includes built-in appliances like hot water systems and air-conditioners.

Contents Insurance covers personal belongings at your home, like your furniture, carpet, appliances and clothing. It also includes your BBQ, outdoor furniture and kid’s play equipment.

Explore Westpac Home and Contents Insurance

How do I check that the suburb where I want to buy is within an eligible regional area?

If my circumstances change, could my eligibility be affected?

Yes, it could affect your eligibility as during the entire period that the guarantee is in place, you must:

Continue to live in the purchased property as an owner-occupied property
Make principal and interest repayments (except during the construction phase of building a new home)
Not increase the loan term or loan amount.

For more details, please refer to the relevant Information Guide on the Housing Australia website.

Things you should know

Home Guarantee Scheme eligibility criteria apply. Conditions, credit criteria, fees and charges apply. Based on Westpac's credit criteria, residential lending is not available for Non-Australian Resident borrowers. This information has been prepared without taking your objectives, needs and overall financial situation into account. For this reason, you should consider the appropriateness of the information and, if necessary, seek appropriate professional advice.

Key Fact Sheet for Home Loans

Once our allocation of loans under the scheme has been exhausted, standard lending approval criteria, including the need for LMI and LDP where appropriate, will apply.

You can find more information about the HGS on the Housing Australia website.

Lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) is issued to Westpac Banking Corporation ABN 33 007 457 141 (Westpac) and insurers Westpac (it is not insurance you take out). This information does not take into account your personal circumstances. Terms, conditions and limitations apply.

⁺LVR stands for the loan-to-value ratio. LVR is the amount of your loan compared to the Bank’s valuation of your property offered to secure your loan expressed as a percentage. Home loan rates for new loans are set based on the initial LVR and won’t change during the life of the loan as the LVR changes.

^{^^^}Flexi First Option special offer rates with Principal & Interest repayments

Special offers are only available on new Flexi First Option Home and Investment Loans with Principal & Interest repayments. Discounts do not apply to internal refinances or switches within the Westpac Group, which includes refinances from Westpac, St.George, Bank of Melbourne, BankSA and RAMS. Not available to company and trust account holders. Offer may be varied or withdrawn at any time. Interest rates are subject to change:

For a property to live in (Owner occupier): Offer commences 24/11/2023. Includes a 1.64% p.a. discount for two years from the loan settlement date, at the end of the period it will revert to a 1.24% p.a. discount for the life of the loan.
For an investment property: Offer commences 24/11/2023. Includes a 1.89% p.a. discount for two years from the loan settlement date, at the end of the period it will revert to a 1.49% p.a. discount for the life of the loan.

Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee

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