Australia's Best Suburbs for First-Home Buyers Under the 5% Deposit Scheme

 

Where affordability, growth and demand line up for buyers under the 5% Deposit Scheme

The 5% Deposit Scheme has thrown the door open for first-home buyers, but with prices still climbing, not every suburb offers the same opportunity. We conducted a new index study ranking suburbs nationally and state-by-state on affordability, growth and demand to reveal where buyers can still get ahead.

We scored 1,189 eligible suburbs nationally that met the scheme's price cap for their region, across four weighted measures: affordability ratio (median house price divided by the state's annual median household income, 40 per cent), 12-month price growth (30 per cent), days on market (15 per cent), and buyer demand (15 per cent). Each measure was converted to a percentile rank within the eligible pool and combined into a single composite score out of 100.

The findings name Zuccoli in Greater Darwin as the best suburb for first-home buyers, driven by the suburb's median house price of $715,000, sitting comfortably under the territory's $750,000 scheme cap, and 12-month price growth of 34.9 per cent, the second-highest of any suburb in the national top 10, after Gray (36.1 per cent). Homes in Zuccoli are also the fastest-moving, with a median of just 14 days on market.

Two Victorian suburbs, Newcomb and Corio, are the only suburbs from outside the Northern Territory to make the national top 10, ranking the Northern Territory as the best region in Australia for first-time buyers.

"The data highlights how much opportunity sits outside of the traditional east-coast capitals that usually dominate the conversation about first-home buyers," says Luke Rainsbury, General Manager of CooperandCo.com.au.

"The findings suggest Zuccoli, Woodroffe, and Anula, all in NT's Greater Darwin, are where some of the best opportunities for first-time buyers are, with prices sitting comfortably under the cap, strong price growth, and homes not staying long on the market. With homes in the top 10 selling in as little as 14 days show these are hot markets for first-time buyers who can move quickly. And as a homewares brand, we're watching that shift closely. We'd expect first home buyers moving into these suburbs to be furnishing from scratch, so demand for considered, affordable pieces likely follows wherever that activity is concentrated."

Australia's 10 best suburbs for first-home buyers

Composite Score (0–100) weights affordability 40 per cent, 12-month price growth 30 per cent, days on market 15 per cent, and buyer demand 15 per cent, ranked within the 1,189 suburbs nationally that are both scheme-eligible and had sufficient sales volume to rank reliably.

Northern Territory dominates the top 10 national ranking

The 5% Deposit Scheme's price cap for Greater Darwin* sits at $750,000, a threshold that 30 scheme-eligible suburbs in this study fall under, giving first-home buyers a wide pool of eligible properties to consider.

Zuccoli tops the national ranking with a score of 89.6, the highest of any scheme-eligible suburb in the study. Its median house price of $715,000 sits comfortably under the cap, backed by strong price growth of 34.9 per cent over the past 12 months. Homes here are also the fastest-moving, spending just 14 days on the market, with 821 buyers circling.

Woodroffe takes second place with a score of 87.5. It offers a more affordable median price of $605,000, paired with solid 12-month growth of 32.2 per cent, a quick 15-day turnaround, and 462 interested buyers.

Anula rounds out the top three with a score of 86.2. This suburb saw notable price growth of 25.9 per cent over the past year, with a median house price of $680,000, 19 days on market, and 550 buyers, showing strong buyer demand.

The pattern across the top three suburbs is striking: each one sits at least $35,000 under the $750,000 cap, highlighting that buyers don't have to trade off growth or demand to stay within scheme limits, and that there's still room to spare.

Victorian suburbs squeeze into the national top 10

Two Geelong-area suburbs hold their own under Victoria's considerably higher $950,000 scheme cap.

Newcomb takes the top spot outside the Northern Territory, scoring 83.6 out of 100 and placing eighth nationally. Buyer demand backs that up, with 1,636 interested buyers, the strongest of any suburb in the top 10. At a median price of $630,000, it sits more than $300,000 under the cap, while still delivering solid 13.5 per cent price growth and a brisk 19-day time on market.

Corio isn't far behind at 83.2, the more affordable of the two Victorian entries at $575,000. It draws the second-highest buyer interest in the top 10 (1,579) and 17.4 per cent price growth. Its 28-day median time on market, the longest in the top 10, hints at slightly less competitive conditions.

Both Victorian suburbs suggest that even with a cap $200,000 higher than the Northern Territory's, first-home buyers can still find suburbs where affordability, growth and demand line up well below the threshold, within a bustling city.

The full state-by-state breakdown

Northern Territory's 10 best suburbs for first-home buyers

Composite Score (0–100) weights affordability 40 per cent, 12-month price growth 30 per cent, days on market 15 per cent, and buyer demand 15 per cent, ranked within the 30 suburbs in the Northern Territory that are both scheme-eligible and had sufficient sales volume to rank reliably.

Victoria's 10 best suburbs for first-home buyers

The 5% Deposit Scheme's price cap for Victoria sits at $950,000 for Melbourne and regional centres, a threshold that 223 scheme-eligible Victorian suburbs in this study fall under, giving first-home buyers a wide pool of eligible properties to consider.

Newcomb emerges with the best opportunity for first-home buyers, earning a score of 83.6, the highest of any scheme-eligible suburb in the state. Its median house price of $630,000 sits well under the cap, backed by solid growth of 13.5 per cent over the past 12 months. It also draws the third-strongest buyer interest in the top 10, with 1,636 buyers circling, while spending a brisk 19 days on market.

New South Wales' 10 best suburbs for first-home buyers

The 5% Deposit Scheme's price cap for New South Wales sits at $1.5 million for Sydney and regional centres, a threshold that 463 scheme-eligible NSW suburbs in this study fall under, giving first-home buyers a wide pool of eligible properties to consider.

Windale emerges with the best opportunity for first-home buyers, earning a score of 76.6, the highest of any scheme-eligible suburb in the state. Its median house price of $772,778 sits well under the cap, backed by strong price growth of 36.2 per cent over the past 12 months, the third-highest behind Bar Point (74.2 per cent). It also draws solid buyer interest, with 896 buyers circling, while spending 28 days on the market.

Western Australia's 10 best suburbs for first-home buyers

The 5% Deposit Scheme's price cap for Western Australia sits at $850,000 for Perth and regional centres, a threshold that 84 scheme-eligible Western Australian suburbs in this study fall under, giving first-home buyers a wide pool of eligible properties to consider.

Gosnells emerges with the best opportunity for first-home buyers, earning a score of 79.3, the highest of any scheme-eligible suburb in the state. Its median house price of $742,000 sits well under the cap, backed by solid growth of 17.2 per cent over the past 12 months. It also draws the second-strongest buyer interest in Western Australia's top 10, with 1,754 buyers circling, while spending 26 days on the market.

South Australia's 10 best suburbs for first-home buyers

The 5% Deposit Scheme's price cap for South Australia sits at $900,000 for Adelaide and regional centres, a threshold that 122 scheme-eligible South Australian suburbs in this study fall under, giving first-home buyers a wide pool of eligible properties to consider.

Davoren Park emerges with the best opportunity for first-home buyers, earning a score of 80.5, the highest of any scheme-eligible suburb in the state. Its median house price of $610,000 sits well under the cap, backed by solid growth of 18 per cent over the past 12 months. It also draws the third-strongest buyer interest in the South Australian top 10, with 841 buyers circling, while spending 22 days on the market.

Queensland's 10 best suburbs for first-home buyers

The 5% Deposit Scheme's price cap for Queensland sits at $1 million for Brisbane and regional centres, a threshold that 158 scheme-eligible Queensland suburbs in this study fall under, giving first-home buyers a wide pool of eligible properties to consider.

North Booval emerges with the best opportunity for first-home buyers, earning a score of 79.9, the highest of any scheme-eligible suburb in the state. Its median house price of $725,000 sits well under the cap, backed by solid growth of 23.3 per cent over the past 12 months. It also draws 753 interested buyers, while spending just 18 days on the market, the fastest among the suburbs.

Methodology

We set out to identify the strongest opportunities for first-home buyers across Australia under the federal 5% Deposit Scheme. Starting from the ABS Suburbs and Localities 2021 list of 15,353 suburbs nationally, we filtered down to the 4,263 suburbs whose ABS Statistical Area Level 4 corresponds to a Housing Australia Capital and Regional Centre region.

Each eligible suburb was profiled via realestate.com.au for median house price, 12-month price growth, days on market and buyers interested, with currency, growth and insight-card figures parsed into clean numeric values. The 5% Deposit Scheme price cap was then applied by state and territory: NSW $1,500,000; VIC $950,000; QLD $1,000,000; WA $850,000; SA $900,000; TAS $700,000; ACT $1,000,000; NT (Greater Darwin) $750,000.

A minimum sales-volume threshold of 10 properties sold in the preceding 12 months was applied, along with completeness filters, after which 1,189 suburbs entered the final ranking. Each suburb was scored on the four weighted measures, converted to a percentile rank within the eligible pool, and combined into a single 0–100 composite score. Suburbs were ranked nationally and within their own state, surfacing the national top 10 and the top 10 in each of the eight states and territories, for 80 ranked suburbs in total.

Limitations: the scheme's higher-tier and lower-tier boundary was approximated using ABS Statistical Area Level 4 regions rather than a postcode-by-postcode lookup against Housing Australia's official tool, and the affordability ratio uses state-level median household income rather than suburb-level income. Data was collected in June 2026 and reflects a single point-in-time snapshot. It is accurate as of then but subject to change.

Furnishing your first home, without blowing the budget

Our findings show just how much opportunity is out there for first-home buyers willing to look beyond the traditional east-coast capitals, with the Northern Territory and regional Victoria offering some of the strongest combinations of affordability, growth and demand under the 5% Deposit Scheme.

If you're one of the buyers about to pick up the keys to a first home in one of these suburbs, furnishing it from scratch doesn't need to stretch the budget further. At Cooper & Co., we design furniture and homewares that feel considered and put together, without the price tag of a full interior fit-out. Explore our furniture and home decor collections to start styling your first home with pieces that work as hard as you did to get there.