The reserve isn’t the price your schemes check

You're scrolling listings on a Thursday night. A three bedroom place in Hoppers Crossing has its reserve right there on the ad. $590,000.

Your first thought is probably "we can do that." Your second should be "and what happens if it goes past it?"

Because the reserve is the vendor's number. The first home schemes don't care about it. They care about the price you actually sign at.

The reserve is where bidding starts to count

Under Victoria's new reserve disclosure rules, the reserve has to be published at least seven days before an auction or fixed date sale. That's a big win for buyers. You're no longer guessing what the vendor will accept.

But a home can still sell above the reserve. Sometimes well above it.

So the useful question isn't "can we afford the reserve?" It's "where are the scheme lines, and how close is this home to one of them?"

There are three lines worth knowing in Melbourne. $600,000, $750,000, and $950,000. Here's what each one does.

The $600,000 and $750,000 stamp duty lines

As a first home buyer in Victoria, you pay no stamp duty if the dutiable value of your home is $600,000 or less.

Between $600,001 and $750,000 you get a concession, so you pay some duty, and it grows as the price climbs. Above $750,000 the first home buyer benefit stops and you pay the standard rate.

Here's the detail most people miss. The State Revenue Office works out duty on the dutiable value, which is the greater of the price you paid and the market value. So the test is what the home is worth and what you paid, never the reserve.

Picture that $590,000 reserve. If the hammer falls at $598,000, there's no duty. If it falls at $640,000, there's a duty bill, and it comes out of your savings, not your loan.

Want to see where your own numbers sit against these lines before the weekend? Book a chat and we'll walk through it together.

The $750,000 grant line

The First Home Owner Grant is $10,000, and it's for new homes only. That means a house and land package, a new build, or an off the plan apartment or townhouse.

The home has to be worth $750,000 or less. For off the plan purchases, the State Revenue Office uses the contract price.

So if you're buying an established place at auction, this line doesn't apply to you at all. If you're buying new, $750,000 is the edge where both the grant and the duty concession fall away at once.

The $950,000 scheme line

The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme lets you buy with a 5% deposit and no Lenders Mortgage Insurance. In Melbourne and Geelong, the property price cap is $950,000. In the rest of Victoria it's $650,000.

Help to Buy uses the same caps in Victoria. $950,000 in Melbourne and Geelong, $650,000 elsewhere.

Go over the cap and the scheme can't be used on that purchase. That changes everything about the loan. A 5% deposit without the scheme usually means paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance, which can add thousands to what you borrow.

For a lot of homes this line sits well above the reserve. Still, it's worth knowing exactly where it is if you're looking at bigger homes or closer in.

What this looks like on auction day

None of this tells you what to bid. That depends on your income, savings, loan and what the home is worth to you.

What it does do is show you the trade offs before you're standing on the footpath with your hand up.

• Just under a line. Each extra bid might only cost the bid itself.
• Just over a line. One bid can bring a duty bill, a lost grant or a lost scheme with it.
• Savings matter as much as borrowing. Duty and costs come from cash, so a bigger price can run out of savings before it runs out of borrowing.

The reserve tells you where the vendor sits. These lines tell you where your costs jump. You want both in your head before the auctioneer starts.

We've helped over 100 first home buyers into the market, and the couples who feel calm on auction day are the ones who knew their lines going in. If you'd like to map yours out, book a chat.

Let's get you into a home.

Figures verified 14 October 2026 against sro.vic.gov.au (first home buyer duty exemption or concession, First Home Owner Grant), housingaustralia.gov.au and firsthomebuyers.gov.au (5% Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy price caps), and published coverage of Victoria's reserve price disclosure rules.