By Chaice Paterson, CEO & Founder, Low Deposit Homes | Updated June 2026

If you grew up with the South African property system, buying a first home in Australia can feel familiar in places and completely foreign in others. This is the plain-English guide to how it actually works — from deposit to keys — written for South Africans. The headlines you need up front: you can buy a brand-new home with a 5% deposit and no Lenders Mortgage Insurance through the federal 5% Deposit Scheme; permanent residents qualify for almost every scheme from the day PR is granted; 76% of South African-born residents are citizens, which also unlocks Help to Buy; and one rule sits behind everything — these schemes lower your deposit, but your income still has to service the loan. Here’s the whole process.

Step 1: Work out what you can actually borrow

Everything starts with serviceability — how much a lender will lend based on your income, minus your commitments and living expenses. This is the real constraint, and it’s worth understanding before you fall in love with a house. A few South-African-specific points:

• The schemes mainly reduce your deposit, not your loan. The 5% Deposit Scheme and Family Home Guarantee cut the deposit you need — and because they waive LMI and can come with a competitive scheme interest rate, they can also lift your borrowing capacity a little. Only Help to Buy reduces the loan itself (via government equity).
• Sensible limits apply. A responsible loan rarely exceeds roughly 6.5 times a single income, or 6 times where you support dependants.
• Your income type matters. If you’re a registered nurse, most lenders count overtime and allowances at 100%. If you’re an NDIS or support worker across multiple casual jobs, the right lender aggregates all your streams — the wrong one counts only your main job. Our finance partners match you to the lender that treats your income most generously.
• Commitments count. Remittances to family in South Africa, and parents living with you (who count as dependants), reduce capacity — but never disqualify you.

Step 2: Build your deposit

With the 5% Deposit Scheme, your target is just 5% of the package — for example about $36,000 on a ~$720,000 package in one of Victoria’s more affordable growth corridors, or about $44,000 on an $880,000 Brisbane growth-corridor home. You can build it from:

• Australian savings.
• The First Home Super Saver Scheme ($15,000/yr counted, $50,000 lifetime per person) — built inside super.
• A stokvel payout — documented and disclosed.
• A gift — with a gift statutory declaration.
• Accessible South African savings — moved through compliant channels and documented (retirement funds are a separate, specialist question).

The universal rule: every dollar of your deposit must be evidenced and disclosed. Never leave an unexplained lump sum on a bank statement.

Step 3: Get a full approval BEFORE you choose a home

This is where the Australian new-build process — and the way we do it — protects you. You get a full bank approval before you’re placed on any package. You never sign for a home you’re not approved to finance. Your finance is handled by our finance partners, who are licensed mortgage brokers — they review your borrowing capacity and match you to the right lender.

Step 4: Choose the right new-build package

For a house-and-land package, you’re buying land plus a build contract. Our standard is a 4-bed, 2-bath, 2-car home with a multi-purpose room — the best layout for your family within budget, with no upselling into a bigger house than you need. Low Deposit Homes builds right across Queensland and Victoria, and we match you to the corridor that suits your work, family and budget — not the other way around. As examples of where the value is strong, many of our South African clients buy in Brisbane’s Ipswich and Logan growth corridors (Collingwood Park, Redbank, Redbank Plains, Ripley, plus Logan; packages typically $830,000–$1 million) or Victoria’s western, northern and south-eastern growth corridors (and Geelong) (packages frequently $650,000–$850,000). These are examples, not the only places you can buy.

Step 5: Understand settlement vs handover

This trips up almost every first home buyer. Settlement is not handover.

• Settlement is when the land title transfers into your name — the legal and financial completion of the land purchase.
• Handover is when you get the keys to the finished home — often months later, after the build is complete.

In a new-build estate, your deal may sit as “conditional, awaiting registration” while the land is being formally registered. That’s completely normal, not a problem. The build then proceeds through stages — slab, frame, lock-up, fixing, completion — to handover.

How do the schemes fit together?

Permanent residents (189/190/186) qualify for everything except Help to Buy from the day PR is granted; citizens add Help to Buy. Temporary visa holders (e.g. 482) are excluded and should transition to PR first.

A typical journey, end to end

You book a free consultation. We assess your serviceability and confirm which schemes your visa unlocks. You build your 5% deposit from savings, FHSSS, a stokvel or a gift. A licensed broker secures your full approval, and our finance partners match you to the right lender. We match you to a new-build package your income comfortably services — say a ~$720,000 home in one of Victoria’s more affordable growth corridors with the full Victorian stack, net cash in around $30,000. You sign, the land registers (settlement), the build runs its stages, and months later you collect the keys (handover). At no point do you stretch beyond what your income carries — and the corridor is an example of the value on offer, not the only place you can buy.

How does Low Deposit Homes help?

We guide every step: serviceability, scheme selection, deposit structuring, full approval through our finance partners (licensed brokers, who match you to the right lender), package selection, and the build journey to handover — with no upselling. We build across Queensland and Victoria — from the Ipswich and Logan growth corridors in Brisbane to Melbourne’s western, northern and south-eastern growth corridors and beyond — and match you to the area that fits your life, not the other way around. Our job is to get you into the right home with the least cash and the least stress.

Frequently asked questions

How much deposit do I really need?
With the 5% Deposit Scheme, 5% of the package plus some fees — far less than 20%, and no LMI.

Do the schemes let me borrow more?
Mostly they lower your deposit rather than your loan — but because they waive LMI and can come with a discounted scheme interest rate, they may lift your borrowing capacity slightly. Help to Buy goes further and lowers the loan itself. Your income is still the main driver of how much you can borrow.

Why do I need approval before choosing a home?
So you never commit to a package you can’t finance. It protects you, and it’s how we work.

What’s the difference between settlement and handover?
Settlement transfers the land title; handover is when you get the keys to the finished home, often months later.

Can a permanent resident do all this?
Yes — everything except Help to Buy, from the day PR is granted.

Do I have to buy in a particular suburb?
No. The corridors mentioned are examples of where we build and where the value is strong — we build across Queensland and Victoria and match you to the area that suits your work, family and budget.

Your next step

Book a free 15-minute consultation and we’ll walk you through your numbers and the whole process.

Book your free call → Book your free call | 1800 920 172

Related reading: South African First Home Buyer Guide (pillar) · First Home Buyer Schemes by Visa for South Africans · How Low Deposit Homes Works · Where South Africans Buy in Brisbane.

Related guides: Queensland first home buyer guide · Victoria first home buyer guide · Grant Eligibility Calculator · Borrowing Power Calculator

Low Deposit Homes operates under Winning Homes Australia Pty Ltd (ACN 633 321 758). All calculations indicative. Not financial advice.