The Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme is meant to help ADF members and veterans into homes. Right now it locks them into one of three banks at rates that can be well above what the rest of the market charges for the same product. Some veterans get nothing at all because they do not fit those three banks' credit policies. Opening the panel fixes both problems. More lenders means more competition and lower rates. A wider pool of lending criteria means more veterans can actually use the entitlement they have earned. Stanford Financial is the mortgage brokerage leading the campaign to make that happen. This page sets out where the campaign is up to, who has picked it up, and what comes next.
Last updated 4 June 2026
DHOAS pays an eligible borrower a monthly subsidy into their home loan account. The catch is that the loan has to be with one of three lenders the Commonwealth has appointed: NAB, Australian Military Bank and Defence Bank.
That panel has not changed since 2008. The three lenders can charge interest rates above the broader market for the same product. The gap is up to 100 basis points. On a typical $830,000 owner-occupier loan, that costs the borrower approximately $156,000 in additional interest across the 25-year DHOAS subsidy period. Borrowers who do not refinance after the subsidy ends pay more again.
The rate gap is one cost. Access is the other.
Each of the three panel lenders has its own credit policy. A veteran who does not fit any of them is shut out of the scheme entirely, regardless of years of service or the size of their entitlement.
We act for veterans missing out on over $1,000 a month in subsidy because no lender on the panel will take their loan. Over the maximum 25-year subsidy period that is more than $317,000 in entitlement they will never see. The closed panel is the only reason.
The mechanics make it harder to justify. DVA pays the subsidy directly into the veteran's loan account once they are approved. The lender holds the loan. DVA handles the entitlement. There is no operational reason the two need to come from the same place, and no reason the panel needs to be closed. The administration runs through DVA regardless of which lender writes the loan.
Independent Senator David Pocock put our figures to the Department of Defence at Senate Estimates.
Senate Estimates, 2 June 2026. Rates as advertised 11 May 2026, before the RBA's 5 May 2026 decision was passed through.
Click Here to Watch the full Senate Estimates exchange →
Network 10 News covered the closed DHOAS panel and the cost it places on serving and former ADF members. The segment features Stanford Financial's founder Logan Stanford alongside the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and veterans directly affected by the scheme.
The campaign has been picked up by the trade and mainstream press.
On Tuesday 26 May 2026 the Shadow Minister for Defence Industry and Defence Personnel Phillip Thompson OAM MP raised DHOAS reform in the Federation Chamber.
When young Australians put on the uniform and commit to defending this nation, we make them a promise: that their sacrifice will be honoured. The Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme is one of the ways we keep that promise, by helping ADF members into homes. But, right now, that promise is being broken.
First home buyers choose from 33 lenders under the Commonwealth scheme. Our veterans get three. We need to do right by those who serve.
Phillip Thompson OAM MP, House of Representatives Hansard, 26 May 2026
This is the second time Thompson has named the closed panel as a problem on the parliamentary record. In his second-reading speech of 8 November 2022 he called for the panel to be opened to more lenders to drive competition and reduce costs (Hansard, 8 November 2022, p. 2523). Three and a half years on, the architecture is unchanged.
On 11 May 2026 Logan Stanford of Stanford Financial wrote to the Treasurer, the Shadow Treasurer and the crossbench. The letters set out the case for opening the panel under section 78 of the DHOAS Act, with rate parity written into the deeds of agreement on the same terms Housing Australia applies to the First Home Guarantee. No legislation required. A procurement decision the Government can make today.
Read the press release (PDF, 11 May 2026)
The standard defence of the closed panel is that the subsidy makes DHOAS worth taking even at the panel rate. The numbers add up, so what is there to complain about.
That misses the point.
The subsidy is the entitlement, paid by the Commonwealth out of consolidated revenue. The rate is the loan, paid by the borrower to the bank. One does not justify the other. Veterans should not be charged more than the market charges everyone else for the same product, with their own entitlement quietly making up the difference.
We owe a Best Interests Duty to the ADF members and veterans we act for. We see what the closed panel costs them on every family we work with. These are people who signed up to serve their country. They deserve a fair go on their home loan.
The procurement now in market, AusTender DRH 25/26 DHOAS, will appoint the new panel from 1 July 2026 for an initial term of seven years. If nothing changes before that procurement closes, the existing architecture is locked in until 2033.
The model already exists. Housing Australia administers the First Home Guarantee across 33 accredited lenders, with rate parity built in. Two changes apply that model to DHOAS.
Accreditation opens to any lender meeting published criteria. This competition, along with rate parity being written into the panel deeds of agreement, will mean DHOAS borrowers receive the standard owner-occupier rate the lender would offer any other borrower. Veterans do not have to make sacrifices to access their entitlement.
The subsidy formula under sections 49 to 53 of the DHOAS Act does not change. The Commonwealth's cost does not change. The value of the subsidy reaches the borrower instead of being absorbed by an above-market rate. And the veterans currently blocked from the scheme can use the entitlement they have earned through their service.
Three things to watch.
We will update this page as each of those moves.
Stanford Financial acts for ADF members and veterans on home loan applications, including DHOAS files. If you want to talk through how the current panel affects your own circumstances, or what reform could mean for a loan you already hold or are planning, we are here for that conversation.
Book a chat with our DHOAS team
The closed panel means veterans can be charged above-market rates, and those who do not fit the credit policy of any of the three lenders are shut out entirely. Opening the panel drives competition on rates and gives more veterans access to the entitlement they have earned. The Commonwealth's own First Home Guarantee already runs this way across 33 accredited lenders.
The Commonwealth pays the subsidy. The borrower pays the rate. They are separate costs. With an open panel, veterans would receive the standard market rate and the full value of the subsidy, instead of one quietly offsetting the other.
No. Section 78 of the DHOAS Act 2008 allows the Secretary to declare home loan providers. Rate parity can be written into the panel deeds of agreement. The reform is a procurement decision.
The procurement currently in market, AusTender DRH 25/26 DHOAS, is expected to appoint the new panel from 1 July 2026 for an initial term of seven years.
The First Home Guarantee is administered by Housing Australia across 33 accredited lenders. Participating lenders offer eligible borrowers their standard owner-occupier rate. DHOAS borrowers get neither open accreditation nor rate parity.
Speak to your federal member or senator. Stanford Financial can also walk you through how the current panel affects your situation and what to watch if reform changes the field.
Stanford Financial's Managing Director, Logan Stanford, is an Australian Army veteran. Our team understands the unique challenges of ADF home ownership: frequent postings, deployment cycles, HPAS timing, and the interaction between DHOAS, the First Home Guarantee, and Queensland stamp duty concessions.
Getting the most out of DHOAS requires more than a calculator. It requires knowing when to activate your certificate, which tier you're approaching, whether the lump sum makes sense at your loan stage, and which HLP product best suits your financial profile. That's a conversation we're built for.
Ready to maximise your DHOAS entitlement?
Book your defence loan assessment today
Or call us on 0483 980 002.
