After being the only major bank not to be part of the government’s 5% Deposit Scheme, the big four bank will soon join the lender panel.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) has become the final major bank to join the lender panel of the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme (formerly known as the Home Guarantee Scheme).
The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme enables eligible first home buyers to purchase a home with a deposit as low as 5 per cent and single parents or legal guardians with a deposit as low as 2 per cent without the need to pay lenders mortgage insurance.
While the scheme, which was first launched in 2022, previously had the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), National Australia Bank (NAB) and Westpac on its panel - along with 37 non-major banks - ANZ had not taken part in the initial formations of the scheme.
However, the scheme was expanded in October 2025 to remove the cap on the amount of people that can apply to the scheme, and to increase property price caps, giving rising house prices.
Given the growth in the size of the scheme, Housing Australia - the body which administers the scheme - has been calling on more lenders to join the lender panel (and the panel of the new Help to Buy scheme) given blowouts in turnaround times. Indeed, Beyond Bank announced in November last year that it was temporarily pausing its acceptance of pre-approvals following a “recent surge” in application volumes.
ANZ had applied to join the expanded lender panel last year and has now been accepted onto the scheme.
It has said it is currently working through the system updates, policy and process changes to be able to offer the guarantee scheme loans to borrowers - with further details on an official launch date expected shortly.
ANZ loan book has been shrinking
The move comes as ANZ experiences a retraction in its lending portfolio.
According to figures from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s (APRA) Monthly Authorised Deposit‑taking Institution Statistics for January 2026, ANZ has seen its book shrink for two consecutive months.
ANZ’s total housing loan book edged down by $50 million (‑0.01 per cent) over the month to $321.5 billion, making it the only bank of the 10 largest banks to record an aggregate decline in January.
The modest fall follows ANZ’s owner‑occupier portfolio slipping backwards in December, while most rivals grew strongly.
In January, ANZ’s owner‑occupier balances dropped by $360 million (‑0.17 per cent) to $214.3 billion, partly offset by a $320 million (0.30 per cent) rise in its investment loans to $107.1 billion.
The figures suggest that softer owner‑occupier demand and stronger competition from other lenders continue to outweigh gains in the investor segment, even as system‑wide housing credit grinds higher.
[Related: First home buyers flock to use refreshed 5% deposit scheme]
