WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Since 2023, more than 50,000 immigrants have accessed a government home loan scheme that Australian citizens are not entitled to.
OUR VERDICT
False. The government home loan scheme is not exclusively available to immigrants.
AAP FACTCHECK - An Australian government home loan scheme is not exclusively available to immigrants, despite claims online.
More than 300,000 citizens and permanent residents have accessed the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme since 2020.
The claim appears in a Facebook post featuring a video of a man speaking.
"Over 50,000 immigrants have been given home loans and zero interest business loans to help them settle here in Australia," the post caption reads.
"All of born and bred here get NOTHING and if you can't pay, you're in a tent like thousands of other Aussies [sic]," the post reads.
"How can it be, that our taxes are used to help foreigners and not support our own born and bred families."
In the video, the man claims citizens have been excluded from more than 50,000 housing loans and cheap houses given to migrants since 2023, as well as interest-free business loans.
"And what's even more disgusting is not only are they [getting] access to this cheap home loan, they're also getting interest-free business loans … You or I can't get that as Australians," the man says.
He does not name the housing or business loan programs.
However, the same user later shared a screenshot of a news article about the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme as evidence for his claim.
The scheme provides a government guarantee to approved banks and lenders, allowing eligible first home buyers to purchase a home with a five per cent deposit without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance.
Normally, buyers with a deposit of less than 20 per cent are required to pay lenders mortgage insurance to protect the lender from a loan default.
The article headline and standfirst in the screenshot state that 48,000 migrant first-home buyers have used the scheme since 2023.
It appears to be a News.com.au article, which does not state that citizens are excluded from the government scheme.
The program was exclusive to Australian citizens at its 2020 launch under the coalition government before expanding to permanent residents in 2023.
It allowed 10,000 first home buyers on low and middle incomes each year to buy a property with a five per cent deposit without requiring them to pay lenders mortgage insurance.
The Labor government expanded the scheme to permanent residents in July 2023.
It then removed the yearly caps on participant numbers and income in October 2025.
The false claims online followed Opposition Leader Angus Taylor's proposal to restrict the scheme to citizens.
Housing Australia, the authority operating the scheme, said the claim in the Facebook video was incorrect.
"Housing Australia does not implement or administer any Australian Government programs that are restricted to immigrants or non‑citizens," a spokesperson told AAP FactCheck.
More than 300,000 people have accessed the loans, including 48,000 permanent residents, according to a March 2026 Housing Australia statement.
During the 2025 election campaign, Labor announced a separate policy to build 100,000 homes exclusively for first-home buyers.
Only Australian citizens would be eligible to purchase them, Housing Minister Clare O'Neil told ABC's Insiders program (timestamp five minutes 19 seconds; 10:15).
AAP FactCheck found no evidence of any government program offering zero-interest business loans exclusively to migrants.
The Department of Social Services confirmed that it offered a No Interest Loans Scheme for all Australian residents on low incomes or impacted by family and domestic violence to purchase vehicles and essential goods and services, but these don't cover business costs.
In April 2026, the government also announced a $1 billion Economic Resilience Program to provide zero-interest loans to all eligible business owners impacted by the fuel crisis, not just migrants.
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