Where can first-home buyers find a home under the First Home Loan Deposit scheme cut-off?

First-home buyers hoping to take advantage of a new government scheme will have to look to the outer city fringes to find a free-standing house, new analysis shows.

But, they will be able to choose from up to 40 per cent of all properties, including units in each capital city.

The federal government’s First Home Loan Deposit scheme, introduced at the start of this year, helps first home buyers to purchase a property under various price caps.

Designed to enable the purchase of a modest residence, homes worth up to just $700,000 are eligible for Sydney, while the cut-off is $600,000 in Melbourne, $475,000 for Brisbane, $500,000 in Canberra and $400,000 in Perth.

It lets buyers avoid paying lenders mortgage insurance even with a deposit as low as 5 per cent, for singles on an income of $125,000 or less, or couples with a combined income of $200,000.

The government then goes guarantor for the rest of the deposit, in effect allowing people to take out low-deposit loans without paying lenders mortgage insurance or going to the “Bank of Mum and Dad” to top up their deposit.

Only 10,000 loans are available nationwide per financial year, and since the scheme was introduced at the start of this year, 6500 of those spots have already been snapped up.

So, where can these buyers find a home under the price caps for each capital city?

An analysis by Domain of reported property sales in each capital city from July to December last year showed just where first-home buyers had the best chance of jumping onto the property ladder.

Brisbane had the highest percentage of any capital city of property sales under its threshold of $475,000 – with more than 13,500 of its 33,315 sales meeting the price cut off.

The lowest percentage of sales under the threshold was in Canberra, which saw 34 per cent of total properties sold under its cap of $500,000 – and only 13 per cent of properties were houses.

Domain economist Trent Wiltshire said the scheme was designed to target a “modest home”.

“I think the price caps seem pretty reasonable, when you look at all the capitals you can buy around 30 to 40 per cent of all properties put up for sale in the second half of last year,” Mr Wiltshire said.

He said houses in the inner and middle suburbs that met the price caps were hard to come by, but that in the outer suburbs there were more options.

“It’s pretty obvious that it’s going to be hard to buy a house in the inner city,” he said. “Also, in all the capitals, quite a high proportion of units are available.”

Melbourne and Darwin also saw a low number of house sales that met their price caps of $600,000 and $375,000 respectively.

Areas with the most house sales in Melbourne included the statistical areas of Wyndham – which included suburbs Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and Point Cook – Casey South (Cranbourne, Hampton Park, Narre Warren South) and Whittlesea-Wallan (Bundoora, Mill Park, Mernda). More than half of all house sales in these areas were for less than $600,000.

First National Westwood agent Rob Westwood said his agency, based in Werribee, purposefully put properties on the market on Christmas Eve last year in the hopes of catching the eye of First Home Loan Deposit scheme punters.

“We definitely noticed the difference straight away,” Mr Westwood said. “That first Saturday back after New Year’s, there was a big influx of first-home buyers.”

In Sydney, 30 per cent of houses were under the $700,000 cut-off, while 48 per cent of units were cheap enough to make the grade.

The Wyong area on the Central Coast saw the most house sales under the threshold – 1812 of the area’s 2325 houses.

Chris Smith from McGrath Toukley said he had seen potential buyers wait to see if their application for the scheme was approved before buying a home.

“There’s definitely been a giant increase in first-home buyers,” Mr Smith said. “Why buy an hour and a half from the beach in Campbelltown when you can buy 10 minutes from the beach for the same price?”

The most house sales in Brisbane were in the Brown Plains statistical area, which included suburbs Chambers Flat, Boronia Heights and Marsden. The most units were sold were in the Brisbane inner area, which included Brisbane City, Fortitude Valley and New Farm.

LJ Hooker Browns Plains agent Scott Brannigan said he had seen more first home buyers interested in taking advantage of the home loan scheme.

“It’s a good time to get in, especially if you’re a first-home buyer, with all the incentives available.”

Canberra’s price cap has been set at $500,000, and in nearly all districts except Weston Creek, 30 to 40 per cent of properties sold were under the threshold, the analysis found.

But first-home buyers may need to look for an apartment, with very few houses sold below the price point in most regions.

Perth, Adelaide and Hobart all had cut-offs of $400,000.

In Perth, the areas south of the city were most accessible, with 82 per cent of homes sold in Kwinana below the price cap. Rockingham offered 66 per cent of homes under the cut-off, with 61 per cent in Mandurah.

For Adelaide, Onkaparinga near the Mclaren Vale wine region had the most house sales that would suit first-home hopefuls.

In the northern suburbs, 87 per cent of homes in Playford were below $400,000, and 76 per cent in Salisbury.

In Hobart, the North West area was the most popular for houses under $400,000.

Some 72 per cent of sales in the Brighton region were accessible, while the inner suburbs proved a challenge with only 12 per cent of homes below the threshold.