What is the Home Equity Access Scheme? It is a loan from the Australian Government that lets people of Age Pension age draw on the equity in property they own in Australia, without selling it. Plenty of retirees have never heard of it. Others confuse it with a bank's reverse loan.
How it works
You can take the loan as a fortnightly payment, as lump sum advances, or both, within limits. Your fortnightly loan and any pension you receive together cannot exceed one and a half times the maximum pension rate. You do not need to receive a pension to use it. The loan is secured against real estate you own, which can be your home or another property.
What it costs
Interest is charged on the loan and compounds fortnightly, so the balance grows even if you draw no more; Services Australia publishes the current rate. You can repay at any time. Otherwise the loan, interest and costs are repaid when the property is sold, or from your estate. A no negative equity guarantee means you or your estate will not owe more than the property is worth, under the scheme's conditions.
Who it can suit
It can suit someone with plenty of equity who wants to stay in their home and needs more income to live as they want. For someone who is asset rich and cash poor, it is a way to use the home as a source of income without moving.
A widow of 74 on a part pension owns her home outright and wants to stay in it. She takes a fortnightly loan to lift her income. Ten years later the balance, with interest compounding every fortnight, has used part of her equity. She has lived the decade as she wanted, and her children knew from the start.
Who this does not suit
It does not suit someone who wants to leave the home intact to their family, because the loan comes out of the estate. Because interest compounds, the longer the loan runs, the more of the home it uses. It is also a decision to make with your family in the conversation, not as a surprise to them later.
Beside the other routes
The scheme sits beside the other ways of turning wealth into income: holding, selling down, downsizing, and income from super. Each changes the picture differently, and some can be combined. Seeing them together, with your own figures, is what Position and Pathways is for.
Four questions to put to your own figures:
- How much income do you need above what you have now?
- How much of your equity would the loan use over ten or twenty years?
- Does your family know what you are considering?
- Would selling down an investment property free income instead?
Nicholas Lockhart
General information only. No advice is given. Scheme rules as at 10 October 2026; Services Australia can confirm your eligibility and the current rate.