First-time homebuyers are missing out on thousands of dollars by not using a little-known scheme that helps save them money for the deposit.
The First Home Super Saver Scheme lets them take advantage of their superannuation account’s favourable tax status.
“The scheme has been around since July 2017 but it’s not that well known out there,” says Sydney-based Bridges Financial Services financial planner Dominic Sgro.
“People probably don’t use it so much.
“There’s a really good tax benefit to accumulating via this strategy.”
Prudence Sterling used the scheme to help save for a deposit on a $600,000 property she bought with her partner near Gympie, just north of Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, in 2025.
“I didn’t really think it was going to happen, at my age,” the 27-year-old tells AAP
“It’s a nice feeling, to have a place of your own.”
Ms Sterling contributed an extra $10,000 a year to her super for three years to help get the deposit together.
It was money more lightly taxed than if she had kept it outside her super fund.
It was reassuring knowing she couldn’t touch those funds until she was buying a home, the dietitian says.
The scheme saved her thousands in taxes.
Ms Sterling heard about it from her brother-in-law, who works in the superannuation industry.
Everyone she’s mentioned it to, though, hasn’t.
Under the First Home Super Saver Scheme, would-be homebuyers can make additional contributions up to $15,000 a year to their fund to put towards a house deposit.
When they’re ready to buy, they can withdraw as much as $50,000 from their super, plus the associated earnings on those contributions.
It’s a tax-advantageous strategy for anyone making over $45,000 a year, because their marginal tax rate is at least 32 per cent, including the Medicare levy, while super contributions are only taxed at 15 per cent.
That difference means a $15,000 contribution to one’s super would reduce a median-wage worker’s take-home pay by only $10,200 while growing their super fund by $12,750, leaving them $2,550 better off.
That equates to an $8,500 tax benefit for someone who takes full advantage of the scheme’s $50,000 limit.
The benefit would be even greater for couples and those in higher tax brackets, such as the 39 per cent rate (including the Medicare levy) for those earning over $135,000 annually.
“And then the earnings of course are taxed concessionally,” Mr Sgro says.
“Whatever it generates will give you a better after-tax outcome than if it was invested outside of super.”
Mr Sgro says given its limit of $50,000 or $100,000 for a couple, the scheme is likely to be just part of a solution for first-time homebuyers, rather than the whole answer.
Craig Day, the director of technical services at Colonial First State, says it’s also important to understand that only voluntary superannuation contributions can be accessed through the scheme.
The mandatory 12 per cent contributions made by one’s employer aren’t eligible to be withdrawn.
Voluntary contributions can be made via salary sacrifice.
That means informing your employer to deduct additional super contributions from your pay cheque or simply sending additional tax-deductible funds to a superannuation provider.
A financial planner can help Australians strategise how best to take advantage of the scheme, Mr Sgro says.
“Yes, it can be costly to engage with the financial planner.
“But it’s also an investment into your actual future and making sure that you’ve got most appropriate strategies to get yourself forward.”
Ms Sterling says she wouldn’t have heard about the First Home Super Saver Scheme had it not been for her brother-in-law.
More Australians should be aware of it, she adds.
“Just know that it’s available and how the scheme actually works.
“It was a really helpful way to be able to save, to get some benefits.”
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