Nearly 1,500 properties bought using first home buyers’ 5% deposit scheme converted into investments

Australia’s 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers ‘shouldn’t benefit the wealthy and property investors’, the Greens say. Photograph: Sam Mooy/AAP

The government’s 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers has enabled the purchase of nearly 1,500 properties that were turned into investments, new data shows.

The scheme is also helping hundreds of Australians earning more than $300,000 a year, after Labor stopped excluding high-income borrowers.