Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) has partnered with Homes Victoria on the First Peoples Home Ownership Program - designed to assist with upfront costs and requirements of buying a home for Indigenous people living in the state.
Up to $20,000 to bolster house deposits and $10,000 to cover stamp duty costs is now available for eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victorians to support home ownership.
The initiative includes deposit-matching dollar for dollar up to $20,000, land transfer (stamp) duty grants matching up to a maximum $10,000 in costs incurred, and a $2,500 'boost' to aid legal and administrative fees.
First Peoples Home Ownership Program, which opening for applications in November, is itself part of the Victorian Government's $5.3 billion Big Housing Build investment announced in 2020, and delivered in partnership with Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations.
Homes Victoria sits within the state's Department of Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
Indigenous Business Australia, a federal government organisation for supporting First Nations Australians in personal and business investments, already delivers home buying services, including loans.
"IBA is proud to partner with Homes Victoria to improve access to home ownership for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, through combining the access to grants with IBA's financing options and tailored home purchase support services," IBA chief executive officer David Knights said.
"We know from our own impact studies that home ownership is a foundation for community wellbeing, intergenerational wealth creation, and long-term stability.
"By addressing systemic barriers such as high upfront costs and lack of tailored support, this partnership empowers First Nations people to make informed decisions and achieve their housing aspirations."
The support comes at a time when many Australians, particularly younger generations, are facing difficulties entering the market for the first time.
In its own State of the Housing System 2025 report, the federal government's National Housing Supply and Affordability Council acknowledged "Australia is still very much in a housing crisis that has been decades in the making", noting "deterioration of housing affordability and low levels of new housing supply in 2024".
In November last year it announced round 3 of the Housing Australia Future Fund, including a dedicated First Nations funding stream aimed at improving housing outcomes. It includes $600 million in funding, concessional loans, a 10 per cent First Nations tenancy target, a new First Nations concierge within Housing Australia, and Closing the Gap priority target mandates.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data released in October showed, in 2024-25, more than one in four (26 per cent) of all Australian households were spending more than 30 per cent of their disposable income - an income-to-cost percentage commonly used as the threshold constituting 'housing stress'.
It also showed at a time an estimated 31 per cent of all households were renters, with advertised rental pricing having increased by approximately 48 per cent.
2022 ABS data showed the likelihood of home ownership had steadily decreased across recent generations, with less than one third as many 'millennials' (aged 25-39 in 2021) owning their home outright in comparison to 'baby boomers' (aged 55-69 in 2021) - 5.7 percent compared to 19.4 per cent.
Less pronounced differences appeared to those owning a home with a mortgage, though younger generations were less likely to be doing so, and more likely to be renting, compared to 'generation X' (aged 40-54 in 2021).
Last year a long-term study from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) revealed almost one in eight, or 45,700, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households had unmet housing needs.
It also found 79 per cent of First Nations households with very low incomes face rental stress, and around one-quarter of First Nations households depend on social housing.
Victoria's First Peoples Home Ownership Program comes with eligibility requirements, including that applicants do not already own a home, currently live and intend to buy in Victoria, have pre-approval from a financial provider, have a yearly household income no more than $245,000, alongside a confirmation of Aboriginality.
Those intending to buy a newly constructed home or build also have an additional $5,000 on top of the deposit-match available.
