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About Kooky and Shaka →First home buyers hoping to use Queensland's shared equity scheme to buy in Brisbane or on the coasts either side of it are, for now, too late. Queensland Treasury's Boost to Buy page, as updated on 30 September 2026, carries a notice that reads "South East Queensland allocations are now exhausted", and adds that regional Queensland allocations remain available. The scheme's overview page, updated the same day, describes South East Queensland appointments as fully allocated.
Unity Bank, the only lender approved to deliver the scheme, says the same thing from its side. Its Boost to Buy page states that its round two South East Queensland appointments are exhausted and that it is accepting applications for regional Queensland places only.
Queensland Treasury, Boost to Buy pages, updated 30 September 2026; Treasury newsroom, 23 January 2026.
What the notice covers
Boost to Buy divides its places between two regions and an applicant is approved for one of them. Treasury's overview page says places are split evenly between South East Queensland and regional Queensland, and that applications are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. It is the South East Queensland half of the current round that has run out.
The page defines the south-east for this purpose as Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan and Beaudesert, Moreton Bay and the Sunshine Coast. Regional Queensland is every other part of the state, and Unity Bank's page puts it the same way: locations outside those six areas.
| Region | Areas | New appointments |
|---|---|---|
| South East Queensland | Brisbane, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Logan and Beaudesert, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast | Exhausted |
| Regional Queensland | All other areas of the state | Available |
Queensland Treasury, Boost to Buy overview, updated 30 September 2026; Unity Bank, Boost to Buy page.
Neither page gives the date on which the last south-east appointment was taken, or the number of regional places still open. The notice also concerns new appointments, not people already in the system. Under Treasury's rules a buyer with provisional approval has six months from that approval to find an eligible home, make an offer and sign a contract, so purchases under south-east places already granted will continue for some months.
Related readFirst home buyers in regional Queensland: caps, places and a State loanHow the places were released
Boost to Buy is a shared equity scheme. The State pays up to 30 per cent of the price of a new home, or up to 25 per cent of an existing one, and holds a matching share of the property until the buyer repays it. The buyer needs a deposit of at least 2 per cent, and the home can cost up to $1 million.
Treasury describes the scheme as a $330 million program expected to assist up to 2,000 first home buyers, with half of all places kept for homes outside the south-east. The funding was doubled to that figure on 12 December 2025, when applications opened for 500 initial places through Unity Bank.
Round two followed on 23 January 2026. Treasury's announcement that day offered 500 additional places and said half of them were reserved for regional Queensland, which leaves 250 for the south-east. Those are the places the 30 September notice describes as gone.
By 23 June 2026, according to a ministerial statement by the Treasurer and Minister for Home Ownership, David Janetzki, more than 100 participants had moved into their first homes through the scheme. The gap between places allocated and homes settled is normal for a scheme of this kind: an appointment leads to a provisional approval, and the buyer then has months to find and contract a property before a settlement period of at least 30 days.
On Treasury's own figures, the two rounds together account for 1,000 of the up to 2,000 places the scheme is expected to provide. Treasury's pages do not say when a further round will open or how it would be divided. When the scheme was expanded in December 2025, Treasury said additional lenders were expected to join in early 2026; its application page still names Unity Bank as the only one.
Related readQueensland adds a citizenship or residency test to first-buyer duty reliefWhy the south-east went first
The even split is a policy choice, not a reflection of where first buyers are. Most Queenslanders live in the south-east corner, so half the places go to the region where most first buyers are looking. The reservation exists to make sure regional buyers are not crowded out, and the 30 September notice shows it doing that: the regional half remains open after the south-east half has filled.
The scheme's terms also suit south-east prices. The price cap is $1 million everywhere, and the State's contribution is a percentage, so the dollar value of the help is greatest on dearer homes. On Treasury's own example of a $750,000 existing home the State contributes $187,500 and the buyer $15,000, leaving a loan of $547,500.
Competition for homes in that range has been strong. Broker News reported on 10 April 2026 that Queensland prices had risen 14.1 per cent in the year to March 2026 and Brisbane's 17.7 per cent, and quoted James Green, the Brisbane director of the brokerage Flint Group, on the pace of sales in outer suburbs popular with first buyers: "We're still seeing some houses sell within 48 hours of an open home."
Speed is a particular problem for a Boost to Buy buyer. The scheme does not allow purchases at auction, and it requires a conditional contract with a finance clause of at least 14 days, because final approval of the State's contribution comes after the contract is signed.
What still applies in the regions
For a first buyer outside the south-east, nothing has changed, and the conditions are the ones on Treasury's eligibility page. An applicant must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident aged 18 or over, and neither the applicant nor their spouse may own or have owned property in Australia. Income for the 2026 taxable year can be up to $155,000 for a single adult, or $232,000 for two adults or for a single adult with dependants. The deposit of at least 2 per cent must come from the applicant's own savings.
Related readFirst home duty concessions in Queensland: thresholds and new homesThe home must be a completed house, townhouse, unit or apartment in Queensland priced at no more than $1 million. Off-the-plan purchases and vacant land are excluded.
A regional place can only be used to buy in regional Queensland
Treasury's rules say the property must be bought in the region the applicant was approved for. A buyer who takes a regional appointment cannot later use that approval for a home in Brisbane, the Gold Coast or the Sunshine Coast.
The cap gives the State's scheme an edge in regional cities. The federal Help to Buy scheme, the other shared equity option, limits purchases outside Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast to $700,000, according to the price cap table on the First Home Buyers website. Boost to Buy accepts homes up to $1 million in Townsville, Cairns, Toowoomba or anywhere else in the regional half, and its income limits are higher.
Options for a south-east buyer now
A first buyer in the south-east who missed an appointment has not lost access to help, but the help on offer is of different kinds.
| Scheme | What it does | Main limits |
|---|---|---|
| Help to Buy (federal) | Government pays up to 30% or 40% of the price for a share of the home | Income up to $103,000 single, $165,000 joint; citizens only |
| 5% Deposit Scheme (federal) | 5% deposit with no lenders mortgage insurance | No income limit; price up to $1,000,000 |
| First home duty concessions | Reduce or remove transfer duty | Set by the Queensland Revenue Office |
First Home Buyers website for the federal schemes; Queensland Revenue Office for transfer duty concessions. Price cap shown is for Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
Help to Buy is the closest substitute, because it is also shared equity and also asks for a 2 per cent deposit. It has 10,000 places a year nationally. Its income limits, though, are well below Boost to Buy's. A single buyer earning between $103,000 and $155,000, or a couple earning between $165,000 and $232,000, qualified for the State scheme on income and does not qualify for the federal one. For that group the exhaustion of south-east places removes the only shared equity option they had.
The 5% Deposit Scheme has no income limit and no cap on places. It lowers the deposit but not the loan: a buyer borrows up to 95 per cent of the price and has to pass the lender's assessment on the whole of it, at a time when the Reserve Bank has just lifted the cash rate again, on 29 September.
Neither federal scheme can be held together with Boost to Buy, so a buyer who takes one of them now is choosing it in place of the State scheme, not as a stopgap before it.
What is not yet known
Three questions are open, and Treasury's pages do not answer them. The first is whether and when further south-east places will be released from the remainder of the 2,000 the scheme is expected to provide. The second is how many regional places remain in the current round. The third is whether more lenders will be approved, which would change how appointments are offered.
The pages do say how the State keeps track of demand: appointments are booked through the lender by region, and Treasury posts availability on the scheme's main page. That page is the place a south-east buyer will see any change first.
In the meantime the notice redraws the practical map of the scheme. For buyers in the regional half of Queensland it remains what it was on 29 September. For buyers in the south-east it has become, for now, a scheme that helps only those who secured an appointment in time.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
