Home Guarantee Scheme

Family Home Guarantee: min 2% deposit and no LMI

About me

• Single parent or single legal guardian with at least one dependent child
• Australian citizen or permanent resident over 18 years old
• First home buyer or previous home buyer who doesn’t currently own property or who doesn't own a separate property when I settle on my new home 
• A taxable income up to $125k based on latest financial year Notice of Assessment

What sort of home can I buy?

Any residential property in Australia priced below the property price caps. Properties include:

• Existing or newly-built property
• Off-the-plan property
• Vacant land with a fixed price contract to construct a residence
• House & land package

What type of home loan can I apply for?

• An owner occupier home loan, for a property you'll live in
• A loan with a term up to 30 years (includes construction phase of up to two years if building a new home)
• A loan on Principal & Interest repayments (except during the construction phase, if building a new home)

Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee: min 5% deposit and no LMI

About me

• Single, or buying with a partner, friend, sibling or other family member 
• Australian citizen(s) or permanent resident(s) over 18 years old
• First home buyer or previous home buyer who hasn't owned a home in the last 10 years 
• At least one borrower must have lived in the same regional area or adjacent regional area they're buying in, for the 12 month period up to the home loan agreement date  
• A taxable income up to $125k (single applicants) or $200K (joint applicants) based on latest financial year Notice of Assessment 

What sort of home can I buy? 

Any residential property in Australia priced below the property price caps. Properties include: 

• Existing or newly built property 
• Off-the-plan property 
• Vacant land with a fixed price contract to construct a residence 
• House & land package 

To confirm its 'regional' status, use the Regional Checker and enter the suburb/postcode of your current home and the suburb/postcode you'd like to buy in.

What type of home loan can I apply for?

• An owner occupier home loan, for a property you'll live in
• A loan with a term up to 30 years (includes construction phase of up to two years if building a new home)
• A loan with Principal & Interest repayments (except during the construction phase, if building a new home)

First Home Guarantee: min 5% deposit and no LMI

About me

• Single, or buying with a partner, friend, sibling or other family member 
• Australian citizen(s) or permanent resident(s) over 18 years old
• First home buyer or previous home buyer who hasn't owned a home in the last 10 years 
• A taxable income up to $125k (single applicants) or $200K (joint applicants) based on latest financial year Notice of Assessment

What sort of home can I buy? 

Any residential property in Australia priced below the property price caps. Properties include: 

• Existing or newly built property 
• Off-the-plan property 
• Vacant land with a fixed price contract to construct a residence 
• House & land package

What type of home loan can I apply for?

• An owner occupier home loan, for a property you'll live in
• A loan with a term up to 30 years (includes construction phase of up to two years if building a new home)
• A loan with Principal & Interest repayments (except during the construction phase, if building a new home)

Your St.George home loan balance comes in two parts:

Your principal = how much you've borrowed.

Your interest = the percentage (using your interest rate) of your principal, which is added to your monthly balance. 

The two repayment types:

• Principal & Interest repayments pay off the amount you borrowed (the principal) and the interest, plus any fees
• An Interest Only repayment term (unavailable under the Home Guarantee Scheme). 

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

We'll calculate your interest in two steps.

1. We'll multiply your loan balance by your interest rate and divide by 365 days in a year, for your daily interest charge. Then we add your daily interest charge for every day in each month, for that month's interest charge shown on your statement.  
2. We'll divide this by your preferred repayment frequency – monthly, fortnightly or weekly – for your regular repayment amount.

Let's say your loan balance is $550k with a 4.98% p.a. interest rate on monthly repayments. The calculation might look like: 

$550,000 x 0.0498 / 365 = $75.04 interest per day

$67.53 x 30 days in April = $2,251 interest for April

This calculation is for educational purposes only and doesn't take into account compound interest.

Play with our home loan repayment calculator for a snapshot of your interest, repayments and any extra repayments over the life of your loan.

Variable rate

A variable interest rate means your monthly repayments will rise and fall with market interest rates. Choose from our basic loan and standard variable loan with offset – and get ahead on your home loan with no cap on extra repayments and no associated break costs.  

Fixed rate 

For those who prefer more certainty, a fixed interest rate means your interest and repayments stay the same for your 1-5 year fixed term – so you'll know what your rate and repayments will be during your fixed loan term.  

Split home loan option

Or split your home loan balance into two separate account to get the best of both worlds.

There are several loan features and options you could use to reduce the interest you’ll have to pay, saving you money in the long run and helping you to pay off your home loan faster.

1. Pay more than the minimum

If you're just paying the minimum monthly repayment and making Principal & Interest repayments, you'll be paying back your home loan within the agreed-upon loan term. For many it’s 20-30 years. But you could make a significant dent by repaying more, even by a small amount each month. 

2. Make extra one-off repayments

By making extra repayments to your home loan account, whether as frequent additional amounts above the minimum or as a lump sum, you'll pay off your loan faster and build up funds that could come in handy in case anything unexpected happens. With a variable rate home loan, you can make unlimited extra repayments. With a fixed rate loan, the maximum you can pay in extra repayments per fixed term is limited to up to $30,000 if you want to avoid break costs. 

If you’re ahead on repayments and have already registered for redraw, you’ll have ‘Available’ funds in your home loan which you can tap into whenever you need it. 

3. Pay your repayments more frequently

By simply changing your repayment frequency from monthly to fortnightly or weekly, you could significantly reduce your loan term and your total interest. For example, if you changed to fortnightly, it’s like paying 13 months of repayments a year, instead of 12.

4. Set up or link an offset account

Your Standard Variable home loan comes with a full interest offset facility – designed to save you thousands in interest and reduce the life of your loan. That's because every dollar in a linked transaction account counts towards paying off your home loan. 

Use the Regional Checker: enter the postcode/suburb of your current home, and the postcode/suburb you'd like to buy in.

Yes, it could. You’ll no longer be eligible for your guarantee when: 

• Your loan’s no longer owner-occupier (you rent out the whole property)
• You increase your loan balance 
• You sell your home 
• You refinance your loan to a lender who doesn’t offer the Home Guarantee Scheme
• Or your loan’s principal balance reduces below 80% of the value of their property at the time of purchase.

Think your situation might change?

Talk with us about your plans first – so we can guide you through any changes e.g. you may need to pay lenders mortgage insurance.