How SmartShare works: buying with a 2.5% deposit, step by step
SmartShare lets eligible buyers purchase a home with access to a minimum 2.5% deposit plus purchase costs, instead of the 20% a conventional loan asks for. Home Affordability Solutions contributes 17.5%, your primary home lender provides the remaining 80%, and because the deposit reaches 20% there is no Lenders Mortgage Insurance to pay.
That is the whole structure in one paragraph. Most people read it twice, because it sounds like something is missing.
Nothing is missing. But the reason it works is not obvious from the summary, and the questions people actually have — who owns the home, what happens when I sell, what is HAS getting out of this — are not answered by a diagram. So here is the long version.
The problem SmartShare is built for
There is a specific kind of buyer who cannot get into a home, and it is not the one most lending is designed around.
They earn enough. Their income would comfortably service a mortgage — a lender running the numbers on repayments alone would say yes. What they cannot do is produce a lump sum of $150,000 or more while paying rent, and no amount of budgeting discipline changes that quickly.
This is a deposit problem wearing the costume of an affordability problem. The two get treated as the same thing and they are not. Serviceability is about whether you can carry the repayments. The deposit is about whether you can produce a large amount of cash at a single moment. Plenty of households clear the first test and fail the second one for years.
SmartShare addresses the second problem and leaves the first one exactly where it was. Your serviceability is still assessed on its merits by your lender. Nothing about SmartShare makes an unaffordable loan affordable, and it is not designed to.
The structure, in numbers
On a $700,000 home, the arithmetic looks like this:
Primary home lender (80% LVR): $560,000
HAS deposit contribution (17.5%): $122,500
Your contribution (2.5%): $17,500
= a 20% deposit, no LMI
Three things in that table do a lot of work.
The first is that your lender's loan sits at 80% of the property value. To a credit team, an 80% LVR application with a full deposit reads very differently from a 95% LVR application leaning on mortgage insurance. It is a more conservative file.
The second is that there is no LMI. On a high-LVR purchase, Lenders Mortgage Insurance commonly runs into five figures, it is usually added on top of the loan rather than paid upfront, and you then pay interest on it for the life of the loan. It insures the lender against your default. It does not protect you, and you never see the money again.
The third is the phrase "your contribution" rather than "your savings". SmartShare does not require genuine savings. Money from a family gift, a settlement, an inheritance or the sale of an asset all counts. For a lot of buyers this is the difference between qualifying and not, because the funds exist but have not sat in an account for six months.
What you own, and what HAS holds
This is the question everyone asks, so it gets a plain answer.
You own 100% of the home. The property is titled in your name. Not jointly with HAS, not partly. Yours.
HAS holds a second mortgage over the property as security for its contribution, in the same way your primary lender holds a first mortgage as security for theirs. A second mortgage is a security interest, not a share of ownership. It is the standard mechanism a lender uses to secure money it has advanced, and it is the same instrument sitting behind your main home loan.
HAS shares in a percentage of the growth in your home's value — not in the value of the home itself. That distinction matters more than any other sentence on this page. If your home is worth $700,000 and grows to $850,000, the $150,000 of growth is what the arrangement touches. The $700,000 is not shared, and never was.
You can live in the home, renovate it, refinance it or sell it. It is your house.
What happens at the end
The arrangement is settled at exit — when you sell, refinance out of it, or buy out HAS's position directly. At that point you repay HAS's original contribution plus its agreed share of the growth. You keep the rest of the growth, and you keep the equity you have built through your own repayments.
If you want the specific percentages and the worked exit maths, they are set out on the How SmartShare Works page and in your loan documents. They are not something to take from a blog post — you should be reading them in the contract, and you should be reading them with your own adviser.
What actually happens when you apply
The process is more ordinary than people expect.
You keep your own lender. SmartShare sits alongside a first mortgage from a primary home lender, it does not replace one. Your loan, your lender, your broker relationship if you have one — all intact.
You start with a conversation, not an application. Ten minutes on your actual situation tells you whether the structure fits before anyone fills in a form. It is the step people skip and then wish they had not.
Your income is assessed normally. Standard serviceability. If the repayments do not work, SmartShare does not make them work, and you should be told that early rather than late.
Your contribution needs to be available, not saved. 2.5% plus purchase costs — and purchase costs are real money. Stamp duty alone is commonly around 4% depending on your state and whether any concession applies. Budget for the full picture, not just the deposit line.
Then it settles like any other purchase. Same conveyancer, same settlement, same set of keys.
Who it tends to suit
Across the buyers HAS has worked with since 2016, a few patterns repeat. Essential workers on solid, stable incomes who cannot outrun rent. People rebuilding after a separation, who often have income and no deposit at the same time. Business owners whose money is in the business rather than a savings account. Single-income households. FIFO workers whose employment pattern reads as unconventional to a standard lender.
What they have in common is not their circumstances. It is that the deposit, and only the deposit, is what stands between them and a home.
SmartShare is available for purchase or build, on properties between $600,000 and $1.6 million, and it is not restricted to first home buyers.
Some plain facts about HAS
Home Affordability Solutions has operated since 2016 and has helped more than 380 Australians into homes. It holds Australian Credit Licence 486 005 and is a member of both the MFAA and the FBAA. It has recorded no client defaults in over 10 years of operation.
That last figure is worth pausing on, because it is the one that answers the "too good to be true" instinct. A structure that put buyers into homes they could not sustain would show up as defaults. Over more than a decade, it has not.
Frequently asked questions
Do I own the home, or does HAS own part of it?
You own 100% of the home and the title is in your name alone. HAS holds a second mortgage over the property as security for its contribution, the same way your primary home lender holds a first mortgage for theirs. A second mortgage is a security interest, not part-ownership.
Is my home's value shared with HAS?
No. HAS shares in a percentage of the growth in your home's value. The value of the home itself is not shared.
How much do I actually need to have?
A minimum of 2.5% of the purchase price, plus purchase costs. Purchase costs include stamp duty, which is commonly around 4% depending on your state and any concession you qualify for.
Do I need genuine savings?
No. SmartShare does not require genuine savings, so a gift, a settlement, an inheritance or funds from a sale can be used.
Will I pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance?
No. Because your contribution and the HAS contribution together bring the deposit to 20%, your primary home lender's loan sits at 80% LVR and LMI does not apply.
Is SmartShare only for first home buyers?
No. It is available to first home buyers and to buyers who have owned property before, including people re-entering the market after a separation.
What kinds of property does it cover?
Purchase or build, on properties valued between $600,000 and $1.6 million.
Can I sell whenever I want?
Yes. You own the home. On sale you repay the HAS contribution and its agreed share of the growth, and keep the balance.