First Home Finance (FLISP) subsidy calculator

First Home Finance is the government subsidy most South Africans still call FLISP. It was renamed in 2022, banks and estate agents use both names, and it is one of the most under-claimed grants in the country. It is once-off, it goes into the deal rather than into your pocket, and it exists for buyers who earn too much for a fully subsidised RDP house and too little to get a home loan comfortably on their own.

Enter your gross monthly household income and this reads the official National Housing Finance Corporation scale and shows where you land on it. The amount slides: the less the household earns inside the qualifying band, the larger the grant. It runs from R169,265 at the floor down to R38,911 near the ceiling, dropping by about R7.24 for every extra rand of monthly income. Below R3,501 a month you fall under the band, where a fully subsidised home may apply instead. Above R22,000 the subsidy no longer applies on income.

Two things to bring:

• your gross monthly household income, before deductions, with every buyer's pay added together, since a couple is assessed as one household
• honest answers to four eligibility facts: citizenship or permanent residence, being 18 or older, being a genuine first-time buyer, and never having taken a government housing subsidy before

The result gives the subsidy your income points to, a verdict on whether you sit in the band, and a sliding-scale bar showing your position between the largest grant anyone gets and the smallest. All four criteria have to be yes for the amount shown to be claimable.

The figures are the NHFC scale as at June 2026, from the table in force since 1 April 2023. The NHFC can change them, applications run in annual windows tied to the government financial year, and only the NHFC can confirm eligibility. Check the current window and amount at fhf.nhfc.co.za before you commit to anything.

Money Cat is an information tool, not financial or legal advice, and is not connected to the NHFC. Confirm the current band, amount and process with the NHFC or your bank.