First Home Guarantee property price caps by state and territory
The Home Guarantee Scheme's property price caps for all eight states and territories in one table, current as at July 2026.
First Home Guarantee property price caps by state and territory
To use the First Home Guarantee (the 5% Deposit Scheme), the property you’re buying has to be priced at or under a cap set for its location. The cap depends on which state or territory the property is in, and whether it’s in a capital city or a major regional centre, versus the rest of that state. The table below covers all eight jurisdictions, current as at July 2026.
A price cap here means the maximum purchase price a property can have for a guarantee place to apply to it — it isn’t a cap on your loan size, your deposit, or your income; it’s specific to the property itself. Meeting the price cap is only one criterion among several — see our guide to First Home Guarantee eligibility for the full list, and our guide to how the 5% Deposit Scheme works for the guarantee mechanism itself.
| State/territory | Capital city & regional centres | Rest of state |
|---|---|---|
| NSW | $1,500,000 | $800,000 |
| VIC | $950,000 | $650,000 |
| QLD | $1,000,000 | $700,000 |
| WA | $850,000 | $600,000 |
| SA | $900,000 | $500,000 |
| TAS | $700,000 | $550,000 |
| ACT | $1,000,000 | — (one cap territory-wide) |
| NT | $750,000 | $600,000 |
As at July 2026. These are Home Guarantee Scheme caps — not Help to Buy caps, which differ. Source: firsthomebuyers.gov.au.
Why does the cap change between capital cities and the rest of the state?
Property prices vary enormously within a single state — a house in a capital city or a major regional centre generally costs more than the same size property further out. The scheme sets a higher cap for capital cities and nominated regional centres, and a lower cap for everywhere else in that state, so the price limit roughly tracks local prices rather than applying one number state-wide. The ACT is the exception: because Canberra is effectively the whole territory, there’s a single cap with no second tier.
Is “regional” here the same as the old Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee?
No — and this is worth being precise about. “Regional” in the table above is only a price-cap tier: it decides which dollar figure applies to a property in a regional centre. It is not the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, which was a separate guarantee stream that existed before 1 October 2025 and is now closed. If a source describes a live “regional” guarantee stream distinct from the price-cap tier above, that source predates the restructure.
Are these the same caps as Help to Buy?
No. Help to Buy is a separate federal scheme, and it runs its own set of price caps. Several of its figures line up with the Home Guarantee Scheme caps in the table above, but not all of them — for example, Help to Buy’s capital city cap for New South Wales is $1,300,000, not the $1,500,000 shown above, and its Northern Territory cap is a flat $600,000 rather than the $750,000/$600,000 split above. The two schemes’ caps are not interchangeable — check which scheme a cap belongs to, and its current figure, before relying on it.
What if the property I want is close to the cap?
A property priced right at, or just under, the cap for its location still qualifies — there’s no buffer required beyond staying at or below the figure. A property priced just over the cap doesn’t qualify at all, regardless of how strong the rest of your application is, which is why it’s worth checking the exact location tier (not just the state) a property falls into before you get too far into the process.
Whether a cap-adjacent property is worth pursuing depends on factors this table can’t weigh for you — how firm the price is likely to be at contract, what else is available under the cap in the same area, and how much flexibility your own budget has. A licensed mortgage broker or a conveyancer familiar with the area can help you check a specific property against the current figures before you commit to it. And if the cap is only part of what you’re weighing, see our guide to how much deposit you need for a first home in Australia for the rest of the picture.
