Low deposit home loan in WA: 2% with Keystart or 5% with the scheme?

Short answer: there are two real options for a low deposit home loan in WA. Most first home buyers qualify for at least one. Keystart lends with a 2 per cent deposit. Your income needs to be under its limit and the home under its price limit. The Australian Government’s 5% Deposit Scheme has no income limit and works through regular lenders. The price cap is $850,000 in Perth and $600,000 elsewhere in WA (firsthomebuyers.gov.au, checked 31 August 2026). Neither charges lenders mortgage insurance. On a $600,000 home the difference in deposit is $12,000 versus $30,000. Which one is right depends on three things: what you earn, what you are buying, and where. This guide lays them side by side.

What is a low deposit home loan in WA, and who offers one?

The reason both exist is the same. Saving 20 per cent of a Perth house price takes years, and rents in WA make saving slow. Both schemes let you start with what you have. You build equity in your own home instead of paying someone else’s mortgage. The 2 per cent and 5 per cent are minimums. If you have more, you can put more in.

The 5% Deposit Scheme changed on 1 October 2025. A lot of what you will read online is out of date. There are now no income caps and no limit on places. If a mate missed out because of salary, or because places ran out, that was the old scheme.

Who qualifies for Keystart’s 2 per cent deposit?

Keystart’s Low Deposit Home Loan asks for the higher of 2 per cent or $2,000. There is no lenders mortgage insurance. You can buy an established home, build new, or buy a modular home. If you build, the $10,000 First Home Owner Grant can go towards your deposit. You need a stable income or regular employment for at least six months, and some Centrelink payments count as income.

Two numbers decide it: the income limit and the price limit. Keystart reviews both against REIWA data. As at April 2026 the Perth metro settings were reported as $155,000 for a single and $228,000 for a couple or family, with a price limit of $860,000. Regional WA and the North West have higher price limits and higher deposit requirements. If you are over the income limit, that is good news of a different kind: the 5% Deposit Scheme has no income cap at all, and it is your door.

Who qualifies for the 5% Deposit Scheme in WA?

The scheme’s own page lists the rules. You can apply alone or with one other person, and that person does not have to be a partner. The loan has to be principal and interest, up to 30 years. Builders get up to three years extra. Once you are pre-approved you have 90 days to find a home and sign a contract. Both the price and the lender’s valuation must sit at or below the cap.

The price cap is the thing to check first. $850,000 covers a lot of Perth. $600,000 covers a lot of regional WA but not every house in Bunbury, Busselton or Albany, where prices have moved. If you are building, land plus build has to come in under the cap.

Side by side

How to read the table

Under Keystart’s income limit and price limit? You can choose. Over the income limit? The 5% Deposit Scheme is built for you. Owned before but own nothing now? Keystart is open. The scheme is too if that ownership was more than 10 years ago. That covers most people in a couple of lines. The rest is cost, and the cost is smaller than most people expect.

The deposit is the smallest number on the page, and the one the schemes have already changed for you.

What does a low deposit home loan in WA actually cost to set up?

Reading the cost table

Two things stand out. First, on the $650,000 Perth home the deposit gap between the two schemes is $19,500. The duty is the same either way, because the first home owner rate does not care which loan you use. Second, the new build is where Keystart’s 2 per cent does the most work. The grant can go towards the deposit, and land under $450,000 attracts no duty. Building? Our guide to a house and land package loan covers how the build finance runs.

Settlement costs sit on top of both columns of any low deposit home loan in WA. Conveyancing, registration, the lender’s fees, and building and pest inspections on an established home. Budget a few thousand for those on any purchase. And remember what the table does not show, which is the loan behind it. A 2 per cent deposit means a bigger loan and higher repayments than 5 per cent on the same house. Keystart’s rate is commonly above what a sharp lender offers under the scheme, and Keystart itself expects buyers to refinance out once they have equity. So the 2 per cent door gets you in sooner, the 5 per cent door often runs cheaper, and plenty of people use one then the other. Know both numbers before you pick.

Which low deposit home loan in WA suits you?

Three people, three answers

A nurse on $95,000, renting in Rockingham, $20,000 saved, looking at an established home around $550,000. She is under Keystart’s income limit and under both price caps. Keystart takes her now with $11,000 down. The scheme wants $27,500. She can buy this year with Keystart. Or she can save a while longer and go to the scheme with a wider choice of rate. Both work. The rent she is paying while she saves is the number that decides it.

A couple on $240,000 combined, $45,000 saved, looking at $700,000 in Ellenbrook. They are over Keystart’s couple limit, so the scheme it is. Their 5 per cent is $35,000. The duty on $700,000 is $16,150 at the first home owner rate. Settlement costs come out of what is left. They are close. A lender who counts their rental history as savings could be the difference. That is why the broker matters.

A FIFO operator on $160,000, single, who owned a unit in Kalgoorlie eight years ago and sold it. He is over Keystart’s single limit and inside the scheme’s 10-year window, so these two are not his path. He has others: a standard loan with the deposit his income supports, or a guarantor, and a FIFO income on $160,000 gives lenders plenty to work with. Our guide to Keystart or a bank for your first WA home covers what a bank looks for.

What are the steps to get a low deposit home loan in WA?

Six steps

1. Check your income against Keystart’s live limit. Under it, both doors may be open. Over it, the 5% scheme is your path.
2. Check the price cap for where you want to buy. $850,000 in Perth and $600,000 elsewhere for the scheme. Keystart’s limits differ by region. The cap is on the home, not on you.
3. Count what you have. Savings, the grant if you are building, and any rent history a lender may treat as savings. Our guide on rental history as genuine savings explains how that works.
4. Get your borrowing capacity done properly. A HECS debt, a car loan or a credit card limit all move the number. The rules on HECS changed in 2025. Our guide on HECS debt and borrowing power has the detail.
5. Get pre-approved under the scheme you are using. Under the 5% scheme the 90-day clock to sign a contract starts here, so time it with your search.
6. Call us before you pick a door. We compare the options across the panel and give a solid recommendation based on your circumstances. On a first home that means running Keystart and the scheme side by side, repayments included, so you choose with the numbers in front of you.

Choosing who runs it

Both schemes are simple on paper. The detail is where a broker earns their keep: keeping a valuation under the cap, timing a pre-approval to your search, lodging the grant on time. Our list of questions to ask a mortgage broker in WA is a good start. Add one for this guide: ask how many first home buyers they have placed under each scheme this year. A broker who answers with numbers has done this before. That is who you want on a low deposit home loan in WA.