The national Help to Buy housing scheme has launched in Western Australia in an effort to help more Australians in the western state enter the property market. But with the potential to increase competition among buyers, its market impact is still up in the air.
"It's hard to say what will happen. But my guess would be that it will be similar to when the government increased the caps on the first home buyers [Home Guarantee] Scheme and it created extra demand and then pushed prices up," Claire Viskovich, founder and director of Perth-based Beez Neez Finance, told Australian Broker. "I had clients with pre-approvals, and then all of a sudden they couldn't get anything. It created more competition and then they can't get anything anyway. And now a lot of clients are building. And that is pushing up the land and build prices as well. It's the same sort of issue.
"It's a tricky one," the broker continued. "Because obviously, we want to help people get into the market. But it does ultimately end up pushing up prices, which can make it more difficult to enter the market as well. But yes, definitely for some people it helps. If they don't have enough for the deposit, it's a good way to get into the market."
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Help to Buy housing initiative started in other parts of the country on 5 December. The scheme works by partnering with Housing Australia, the national housing authority, to help up to 40,000 eligible Australians over the next four years enter the property market.
The Help to Buy (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2025 passed through the Western Australian Parliament in December, allowing the program to operate in the western state. WA also has the Keystart program, which was established in 1989 and recently updated to include low-deposit loans for modular homes and a $210 million shared equity scheme.
Both schemes were launched with the intention of helping more Australians enter the housing market at a time when property prices are climbing, living costs are rising and the national housing shortage continues unabated.
"There’s rapid demand, shortage of stock," Viskovich said. "Even the government slowly releases land, even though they could do it quicker, which creates scarcity."
The broker said the most effective approach is to educate borrowers and help them set realistic expectations.
"It sort of depends on their deposit and borrowing capacity," she explained. "If clients are wanting to build, I'll say, be mindful. If something is advertised as a $700,000 land to build, it's probably closer to $800,000, because they have to factor in [hidden costs]. They have to be prepared to pay rent when building. They may want to have a chat with a real estate agent first to see what their options are. It's just sort of educating them to be honest."
Under the Help to Buy scheme, borrowers can purchase property with as little as a 2% deposit. The government contributes 40% of the purchase price for new homes, or 30% of existing homes for eligible owner-occupiers with a mortgage. No ongoing, regular payments are required, but homeowners can repay the government shares by making regular payments or selling the home in order to increase their equity in the property.
To qualify, individual borrowers must not make more than $100,000 annually, or $160,000 for joint applicants. Both first-time buyers and existing homeowners can apply for the program. Spaces are limited; 10,000 borrowers will be selected nationally each year, or roughly 1,100 in WA. House price caps are determined by local markets. In WA, price caps are $850,000 for Perth and central areas, with the rest of the state at $600,000.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Bank Australia are the two initial lenders of the program, but over time other lenders will be added to the scheme, Housing Australia said.
