Home loan borrowers and people saving for a deposit are largely unaware of the growing range of alternative home ownership strategies, a new report reveals. According to Helia’s latest Home Buyer Sentiment Report, based on a survey undertaken by CoreData, awareness of “alternative pathways” is low. Even awareness of lenders mortgage insurance as a way to bridge the deposit gap is low. Among respondents, 62 per cent of first home buyers said they were familiar with the Home Guarantee Scheme. Among all home buyers and refinancers, 61 per cent per cent said they were familiar with LMI, 40 per cent said they were familiar with rent-to-own schemes, 30 per cent with government shared equity products, 19 per cent with co-ownership products, 16 per cent with commercial shared equity arrangements and 7 per cent with deposit gap loans. Two-thirds or more of respondents who were familiar with these strategies said they were likely to use them. Forty-two per cent of first home buyers said they had assistance from the bank of mum and dad, most often in the form of a gift of money for all or part of the deposit. This is bad news for the lenders and fintechs that have been developing a range of alternative home loans over the past couple of years. Their message is not getting out to the market. Most recently, AFG launched an interest-only mortgage, Retro Thrive, for older borrowers who want to refinance investment property loans and reduce monthly repayments. Earlier in the year, a new lender Midkey launched a reverse mortgage for people still working who want to unlock home equity for such purposes as funding a renovation, purchasing another property, paying large costs such as school fees, financing a small business or meeting unexpected expenses. Last year, a number of companies, including Bricklet, Home Owners’ Partnering Equity, OSQO, FrontYa and OwnHome launched shared equity or deposit gap products.