Does the Fraser Coast Qualify for the First Home Guarantee in 2026?

If you’re buying your first home on the Fraser Coast, there’s a good chance you can buy with as little as a 5% deposit and skip Lenders Mortgage Insurance entirely — thanks to the federal government’s First Home Guarantee scheme. Here’s what it actually means for buyers in Hervey Bay and Maryborough.

What the scheme does

Normally, if your deposit is under 20% of the purchase price, lenders charge Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) to cover their risk. LMI can add thousands of dollars to your upfront costs. Under the First Home Guarantee, the government guarantees the portion of the loan above 80% of the property value, so participating lenders waive LMI for eligible buyers with as little as a 5% deposit.

Does Fraser Coast property qualify?

Price caps under the scheme vary by region. Queensland properties outside Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast — which includes the whole Fraser Coast — currently sit under a $700,000 price cap. Given that’s well above typical purchase prices across Hervey Bay and Maryborough, price cap generally isn’t the sticking point for buyers here that it can be in South East Queensland.

What changed recently

Scheme settings are reviewed periodically by government, and it’s worth knowing the current state of play rather than assuming settings from a few years ago still apply:

• No income cap currently applies — earlier versions of the scheme capped eligibility at $125,000 for singles and $200,000 for couples; that income test has since been removed.
• No annual place limit currently applies — the scheme used to allocate a limited number of guarantees each financial year, which meant missing out if you applied too late in the cycle. That cap has also been removed.

Because these settings are set by government and can be revised again, we always confirm the current caps and criteria as part of a free assessment rather than relying on what applied last year — or what a blog post (including this one) said at the time it was written.

What you still need to check

Qualifying for the scheme isn’t just about price caps. You’ll also need to meet standard first-home-buyer criteria (not having owned property before), pass the participating lender’s own serviceability assessment, and intend to live in the property. Not every lender participates, and places with each lender can be limited even when the overall scheme isn’t capped.

Talk to someone before you assume either way

Whether you assume you qualify or assume you don’t, it’s worth checking properly before you start house-hunting or before you rule the scheme out. If you’re looking in Pialba, Urangan, or across in Maryborough West, we can check your eligibility as part of a free assessment for first home buyers.