How first-home buyers choose between a risky deposit or nothing at all

Single mum Pia Pynnonen could only afford a two per cent deposit on her new home – but knew if she didn’t buy with a government scheme today, she may not get a property at all. “I know the housing market fluctuates,” she said. “It went really high, and was probably unsustainable. My thinking is with schemes like this, if I don’t get in, things aren’t gonna get much easier. “I’d rather get into it now and hold on; it’s not gonna stay like this forever.” Single mum Pia Pynnonen knew she might never have bought a home if she did not enter the market soon, and took the leap to buy with just a two per cent deposit. Picture: John Gass Ms Pynnonen bought her new home under the federal government’s five per cent deposit scheme, which allowed her to enter the market for a smaller fee. This fee can shrink to just two per cent for single mothers like Ms Pynnonen, who worked with First Home Specialists to snag a property using the Help to Buy scheme. “[Without them], I probably would have given up on the process in the early stage,” she said. “Originally when I looked at what I was eligible for, I was only able to purchase $560,000 … with kids, I wouldn’t be able to get a house that could fit ...