The DHOAS lender panel: what the 2026 reform talk means for ADF members

Status as at 02-09-2026. The scheme's news feed at dhoas.gov.au carries no announcement of a new or expanded panel, and its Home Loan Providers page still describes a panel of three. We will update this page when that changes.

What the DHOAS panel actually is

The Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme pays an eligible serving or former ADF member a monthly subsidy towards the interest on a home loan. The entitlement comes from the Commonwealth, but it can only be used with a lender Defence has appointed. The scheme puts it plainly: "Defence has appointed a panel of three Home Loan Providers to offer a choice of DHOAS-approved loans", and those providers "have the exclusive right to provide DHOAS home loans".

The panel in place today took effect on 01-07-2017, after Defence re-tested the market through an open tender when the previous panel expired, and it has been three ever since. The official list of providers is published on the DHOAS site.

Why 2026 turned into a reform debate

On 27-05-2026 The Adviser reported a broker campaign pressing the Government to open the panel, under the headline "Broker calls for urgent action on 'uncompetitive' defence home loan scheme".

It carried comments made in Parliament in May 2026 by Phillip Thompson OAM MP, who put the difference starkly: "First home buyers across Australia can choose from more than 30 lenders but our veterans are stuck with three." He also said that "in many cases, the panel rate swallows the subsidy entirely", and that "some personnel are locked out altogether because they don't fit any of the three lenders' credit policies".

We have left the dollar figures from that campaign out. They model one hypothetical loan, and we do not publish savings estimates on this site.

What a closed panel means in practice

For a borrower, the panel size shows up in four practical places, all set out on dhoas.gov.au:

• Your certificate only works on the panel. A subsidy certificate is needed to take out a DHOAS home loan with one of the Defence-nominated providers. It cannot be taken anywhere else.
• A certificate is not an approval. The scheme states that approval of your home loan application "is at the discretion of your Home Loan Provider, based on their lending criteria". If your circumstances do not fit any provider on the panel, there is no fourth door.
• Certificates expire. A certificate is valid for 12 months only, and there is no discretion under the DHOAS Act to extend it in any circumstances.
• After separation you get one shot. Serving members can hold an unlimited number of certificates, one at a time. After separation you can apply once only, and that opportunity is expended as soon as DVA receives a correctly completed application, whatever the outcome.

None of that is new. It matters more when the pool of providers is small, because the loan, its features and the credit policy behind it come as a package with the subsidy.

What has changed, and what has not

What has changed is the process. On 27-06-2026 the ABC reported that the agreement between Defence and the three providers was due to expire and that Defence had gone to tender to appoint new lenders. The Minister for Defence Personnel, Matt Keogh, was quoted as saying: "The 10-year contracts that were there have come up now, and so we're going through that tender process, and I hope to see more banks come into the program."

What has not changed, as at 02-09-2026, is the panel itself. No outcome has been announced on the scheme's news feed. Your entitlement has not changed either: tiers are still tied to length of service, and the subsidised loan limits are still recalculated each financial year as a share of the national weighted average housing price.

What a member can do now

Waiting on a tender outcome you cannot influence is rarely a plan. As general information only, a few things are worth doing whatever happens to the panel:

• Work out what the subsidy is worth to you first. Our DHOAS subsidy calculator takes about a minute and needs no sign-up.
• Time the certificate, do not just grab one. Twelve months goes quickly, and if you have already separated it is a single application.
• Compare the whole loan, not just the subsidy. Structure, offset, redraw and credit policy all affect where you land.
• Check the entitlements that have nothing to do with the panel. State concessions and federal buyer support are assessed on their own rules, and Defence families often qualify for more than they realise.
• Remember the wider market still exists. If no panel provider fits your circumstances, a standard home loan is still open to you, just without the subsidy.

Where we sit on it

We cannot change the panel, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we can do is make sure a Defence family is not leaving anything on the table: the certificate timed properly, the loan the right shape for the posting cycle ahead, and every other entitlement checked before anyone signs. If the panel does open up, more options land on our side of the fence, and we will update this page when Defence announces the result.

There is more on the scheme, the tiers and eligibility on our DHOAS and ADF home loans page.

Sources

• DHOAS, Home Loan Providers, Subsidy certificates and the scheme news feed, all read 02-09-2026.
• The Adviser, "Broker calls for urgent action on 'uncompetitive' defence home loan scheme", 27-05-2026.
• ABC News, "Government to shake up home loan subsidy scheme for Defence force members and veterans", 27-06-2026.

This article is general information only. It is not credit advice or an offer of credit, and it does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Scheme rules change, and the official source is dhoas.gov.au. Consider your circumstances and talk to us before acting.

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