From July 1, 2026 the 5% Deposit Scheme gave Darwin its own $750,000 property price cap, while the rest of the Northern Territory stays at $600,000. Caps in every other state are unchanged. See the current caps for your state.
Updated 1 October 2026
One property price cap under the Australian Government's 5% Deposit Scheme changed on 1 July 2026. Darwin now has its own cap of $750,000, up from the $600,000 that previously applied across the whole Northern Territory. The rest of the Territory stays at $600,000. Caps in every other state and territory are unchanged from the levels set when the scheme expanded in October 2025.
The 5% Deposit Scheme (formerly known as the First Home Guarantee, part of the broader Home Guarantee Scheme) lets eligible first home buyers purchase with as little as a 5% deposit and skip Lenders Mortgage Insurance, provided the property is priced under a cap set for their state or region.
Until 30 June 2026 the Northern Territory had a single cap of $600,000, which meant Darwin buyers were assessed against a limit that did not reflect the capital's higher prices. From 1 July 2026, Darwin moved to $750,000 while the rest of the Territory kept $600,000. That is a $150,000 lift for Darwin buyers and the only cap change on that date.
Each state has a higher cap for its capital city and designated regional centres, and a lower cap for the rest of the state. The ACT has one cap for the whole territory.
| State or territory | Capital and regional centres | Rest of state |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | $1,500,000 | $800,000 |
| Victoria | $950,000 | $650,000 |
| Queensland | $1,000,000 | $700,000 |
| Western Australia | $850,000 | $600,000 |
| South Australia | $900,000 | $500,000 |
| Tasmania | $700,000 | $550,000 |
| Australian Capital Territory | $1,000,000 | Same |
| Northern Territory | $750,000 | $600,000 |
Housing Australia publishes the cap that applies to every location, and it is worth checking the figure for your specific postcode before you get too attached to a property, since caps can differ meaningfully between a capital city and the surrounding region.
Price caps exist so the scheme targets homes that a genuine first home buyer would realistically purchase, rather than the top end of the market. When median prices in a city climb faster than the cap, fewer properties remain eligible and the scheme becomes less useful in practice. The Darwin change follows that logic: prices there had moved differently from the rest of the Territory.
The last broad increase came in October 2025, when the scheme also removed its income limits and place caps. If you're hoping for higher caps in your state, there is no announced date for the next review, so plan around the current figures.
Avoiding Lenders Mortgage Insurance can be a meaningful saving on its own. For a buyer with a genuine 5% deposit, the LMI premium avoided can run into the tens of thousands of dollars depending on loan size.
Use these tools to see how the scheme might apply to your situation: