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Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) has become the final major bank to join the lender panel of the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme.
The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme enables eligible first home buyers to purchase a home with a deposit as low as 5 per cent and single parents or legal guardians with a deposit as low as 2 per cent without the need to pay lenders mortgage insurance.
Since 2022, the program has assisted more than 200,000 first home buyers into home ownership.
The deposit scheme was previously available through a panel of three major bank lenders (excluding ANZ) and 37 non-major lenders, however, as part of the expansion, the government has been onboarding more lenders. Additional lenders are expected to be announced later this month.
ANZ has told brokers it is currently working through the system updates, policy and process changes to be able to offer the guarantee scheme loans to borrowers - with further details on an official launch date expected shortly.
The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme (previously called the Home Guarantee Scheme) was expanded in October 2025 to remove placement caps and income limits.
In the first month that the scheme was expanded, 5,778 first home buyer guarantees were issued under the scheme, 48 per cent higher than the 3,901 guarantees issued in October 2024.
Between then and December 2025, more than 21,000 first home buyers have bought a home under the expanded scheme.
Given the rising demand under the expanded scheme, Housing Australia - the body which administers the scheme - has been working to expand the number of lenders available on panel.
Speaking to Broker Daily, Finni broker Eva Loisance welcomed the addition of ANZ to the government scheme, noting that the limited pool of lenders offering the loans had led to turnaround time blowouts.
Indeed, Beyond Bank announced in November last year that it was temporarily pausing its acceptance of pre-approvals following a “recent surge” in application volumes
The Sydney-based broker said that the limited number of lenders meant “people would apply and sometimes have to wait quite a while before they were… pre-approved [and could] go and buy [a] property”.
“Which often is a problem because people tend to be very excited once they've seen a property; they want the property and only come to you [the broker].... So there's always a bit of a stressful moment there where I'm happy to lodge it right now but the bank won't look at it for quite some time.
“So, that adds a bit of competition there and obviously if there's more banks doing it, the rates might may be more competitive,” Loisance added.
Other brokers have taken to social media to welcome the addition, with Melbourne mortgage broker at ZARALEND, Stephanie Jordan, stating on Instagram: "ANZ has finally joined the Australian Government’s 5% deposit guarantee scheme... They were the only major bank not participating; so this is a big win for first home buyers, with more lender choice and the ability to buy with just a 5% deposit and no LMI.
"It’s not live with ANZ just yet as they finalise things on the back end, but announcements should be coming soon."
[Related: Government provides update on 5% Deposit Scheme]