First Home Deposit QLD: How Much You Need in 2026
Written by Written by Victor Kalinowski, Mortgage Broker and Founder of Blackk
Written by Written by Victor Kalinowski, Mortgage Broker and Founder of Blackk
Forget the old 20% rule. As a first home buyer in Queensland, your minimum deposit is 5% of the purchase price when you use the Australian Government's 5% Deposit Scheme. The scheme swaps Lenders Mortgage Insurance for a government guarantee, so you skip the LMI bill entirely. Without the scheme, most lenders will still take 5% to 19%, but you'll pay LMI on top. At 20% or more, no LMI applies.
Here's the bit a lot of buyers miss. If your first home is $700,000 or less in QLD, transfer duty is usually $0 under the first home concession. So the actual cash you need is your deposit plus roughly $3,000 to $5,000 for conveyancing, building and pest, and loan setup.
And this isn't fringe behaviour. APRA's December 2025 figures show 32.2% of new residential loans had an LVR of 80% or higher. Roughly a third of buyers are getting in with less than 20% down.
| Pathway | Deposit needed | LMI
|
|---|---|---|
| 5% with First Home Guarantee | 5% of price | None (government guarantee) |
| 10–15% standard loan | 10–15% of price | Yes (capitalised or paid upfront) |
| 20% deposit | 20% of price | None |
The dollar figures across the price points most QLD first home buyers are looking at. The stamp duty column uses the QLD stamp duty for first home buyers rules under the QRO first home concession.
| Purchase price | 5% deposit | 10% deposit | 20% deposit | QLD FHB stamp duty | Total cash at 5% (incl. ~$3k costs)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $500,000 | $25,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 | $0 | ~$28,000 |
| $600,000 | $30,000 | $60,000 | $120,000 | $0 | ~$33,000 |
| $650,000 | $32,500 | $65,000 | $130,000 | $0 | ~$35,500 |
| $700,000 | $35,000 | $70,000 | $140,000 | $0 | ~$38,000 |
| $800,000 | $40,000 | $80,000 | $160,000 | ~$15,925 | ~$58,925 |
| $900,000 | $45,000 | $90,000 | $180,000 | ~$30,850 | ~$78,850 |
| $1,000,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 | $200,000 | ~$38,025 | ~$91,025 |
QRO's worked examples confirm $0 duty on a $650,000 first home, $6,555 on a $730,000 home, and $24,100 on an $850,000 home. Figures above assume an existing home and that you meet the first home concession criteria. New builds work differently and can land at $0 duty even at higher values.
This is the route most QLD first home buyers take now. From 1 October 2025, Housing Australia removed place limits and lifted QLD property price caps to $1,000,000 for Brisbane, Gold Coast, and Sunshine Coast, and $700,000 for all other Queensland locations. You buy with a 5% deposit, the government guarantees the rest, and you skip LMI altogether.
Two things worth knowing before you commit. The scheme replaces LMI with a guarantee, it doesn't waive the risk, and you're limited to a smaller panel of approved lenders. Sometimes a non-scheme loan with LMI gets you a sharper rate or better features overall, and the maths is worth running both ways. Second, properties sitting right at the price cap attract scheme buyers all chasing the same stock. Aim around $50,000 below the cap if you can, so you've got some negotiating room. Scheme loans are also principal and interest only, so factor that into your repayments.
Not getting into the scheme isn't the end of the world. A 10–15% deposit with Lenders Mortgage Insurance is a perfectly valid route, especially if you want wider lender choice. LMI is a one-off premium that protects the lender (not you) when your deposit is under 20%. In QLD premiums typically run from around $5,000 to $30,000 depending on price and deposit size, and most lenders let you capitalise the cost into the loan so it doesn't come out of your cash on settlement.
LMI makes sense when a bigger lender pool gets you a sharper rate, when you want offset or redraw features the scheme lenders don't always offer, or when you simply don't qualify for the scheme. Here's how Lenders Mortgage Insurance works in more detail.
The traditional 20% deposit means no LMI, lower repayments and access to every lender on the market. The catch is the time it takes. A 20% deposit on a $700,000 Brisbane home is $140,000. On a $1,000,000 home it's $200,000. With QLD prices where they are, most first home buyers we talk to in 2025 aren't waiting that long. They get in earlier with 5% or 10% and put extra cash toward repayments later.
Your deposit doesn't have to be all cash in one savings account. Most lenders will accept a mix of:
- Cash savings in your own name (the cleanest source)
- $30,000 First Home Owner Grant for new builds in Queensland valued under $750,000, for contracts signed before 30 June 2026
- First Home Super Saver Scheme: the ATO allows you to release up to $15,000 of voluntary super contributions per financial year, capped at $50,000 across all years
- Family gifts, usually with a statutory declaration confirming the money isn't a loan
- Inheritance
- Guarantor loans, where a parent uses equity in their home so you can borrow up to 100% without LMI
One thing about guarantors. It's a team effort, and the guarantor's position needs stress-testing too. If their property is in a softer market or their income varies, the bank may want a buffer on their equity, which can reduce the benefit.
Most lenders want to see evidence you've saved at least 5% of the purchase price yourself, over a period of three months or more. That's the genuine savings rule. It exists because lenders want proof you can manage repayments, not just that money has landed in your account.
What usually counts: regular deposits into a savings account, term deposits, and shares held in your name. What usually doesn't: one-off gifts, inheritance, tax refunds and bonuses. The useful exception is rent. Many lenders will accept 12 months of consistent rent payments as genuine savings, which is how a lot of renters already qualify without knowing it. Most people are closer to the threshold than they think once we pull the rent ledger into the conversation.
QLD has one of the more generous first home buyer concessions in the country. For contracts signed on or after 9 June 2024, the QLD first home buyer concessions mean $0 transfer duty when your first home is valued at $700,000 or under. Above that, duty climbs on a sliding scale. QRO's examples: $6,555 at $730,000, $24,100 at $850,000.
The first home new home concession is the underused one. It can reduce duty to $0 with no cap on the home value where the property is residential land only, and QRO has shown $0 duty on a $1.23m new home for eligible first home buyers. On top of duty, budget roughly $3,000 to $5,000 for conveyancing, building and pest inspections, and loan setup fees.
Worked example: a $650k Brisbane home
Let's run the numbers on a $650,000 established home in Brisbane.
5% pathway with the First Home Guarantee:
- Deposit: $32,500
- Stamp duty (FHB concession): $0
- Buying costs: ~$3,000
- Total cash on day one: ~$35,500
- Loan amount: $617,500, no LMI
20% pathway:
- Deposit: $130,000
- Stamp duty: $0
- Buying costs: ~$3,000
- Total cash on day one: ~$133,000
- Loan amount: $520,000
The cash difference is roughly $97,500. Not nothing, but for most buyers it's the difference between getting in this year and getting in five years from now. The 5% pathway does mean higher monthly repayments because you're borrowing more, so the next conversation is serviceability. You can work out your borrowing power in a couple of minutes to see what the repayments actually look like for your income.
FAQs
No. The minimum is 5% when you use the First Home Guarantee, which replaces LMI with a government guarantee. Without the scheme you can still buy with 5% to 19%, but you'll pay LMI. APRA's December 2025 data shows roughly a third of new loans have an LVR of 80% or higher, so sub-20% is now the norm rather than the exception.
At 5% you'd need $35,000, plus around $3,000 in buying costs. Stamp duty is $0 at $700,000 for eligible first home buyers under the QLD first home concession. At 10% it's $70,000. At 20% it's $140,000. The $700,000 figure is also the price cap for the First Home Guarantee in QLD outside Brisbane and regional centres.
At 5% the deposit is $50,000. The First Home Guarantee covers QLD homes up to $1,000,000 in Brisbane and regional centres from 1 October 2025, so a 5% deposit can work without LMI. Stamp duty on a $1m purchase is roughly $38,000 for eligible first home buyers, taking total cash needed to around $91,000.
Yes, with conditions. The $30,000 First Home Owner Grant from QRO applies to new builds, units or townhouses under $750,000, for contracts signed between 20 November 2023 and 30 June 2026. Most lenders accept the grant as part of your deposit at settlement, but you'll usually still need to show some genuine savings of your own.
It removes the cost to you, yes. To be precise though, it replaces LMI with a government guarantee rather than waiving it. The trade-off is a smaller lender panel and principal and interest repayments only. Sometimes a non-scheme loan with LMI on a sharper rate works out better over the life of the loan, which is worth checking.
Yes. A parent can use equity in their home as security, letting you borrow up to 100% of the purchase price without LMI. The guarantor's financial position gets stress-tested too. If their property has dropped in value or their income varies, the bank may require a buffer on their equity. It's a real commitment for them, so it's worth a proper conversation upfront.
For a $650,000 home, 5% is $32,500. A couple saving $1,000 a week gets there in around 8 months. The First Home Super Saver scheme can speed this up by letting you contribute up to $15,000 per year into super (capped at $50,000 total) and release it for your deposit. Worth getting pre-approval before you shop so you know your number before you commit to a savings timeframe.
Yes, through the First Home Super Saver Scheme. The ATO lets you make voluntary super contributions of up to $15,000 in any one financial year, up to $50,000 across all years, and withdraw them (plus associated earnings) for your first home deposit. The tax treatment is generally favourable compared to saving in a normal account, but the release process takes a few weeks, so plan ahead.
Know your number? Let's check it against the lenders.
In the last financial year, 99.6% of the loans we submitted got approved. That's not luck. It's knowing which lender fits which buyer, and structuring the loan around your deposit rather than the other way round. Have a free 20-minute call with Victor and the team at Blackk, your Brisbane mortgage broker, and you'll walk away with your deposit, borrowing power and scheme eligibility mapped out in one conversation.
References
Victor Kalinowski
Mortgage Broker and Founder of Blackk
I’m Victor Kalinowski and a Brisbane Mortgage Broker at Blackk Mortgage Brokers. I’ve helped thousands of people get loans for their homes and investment properties.
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