FAQs
A home loan deposit (sometimes called a house deposit) is your initial contribution to the property purchase price. The deposit is what you use to secure a home loan.
The size of your deposit affects your loan-to-value ratio (LVR), which in turn affects your home loan options. This impacts your interest rates and ongoing repayments, and may also mean you need to pay lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI).
In Australia, most buyers aim for a 20% deposit. This will give you access to an 80% loan-to-value ratio (LVR).
This gives you access to lower interest rates, and means you can avoid lender’s mortgage insurance.
If you don’t have a 20% deposit, there are some low deposit and no deposit home loan options, including:
- Lender’s mortgage insurance (LMI), which is a once-off fee based on the property price, how much deposit you have, and your home loan amount
- First home owner grants
- Guarantor loans
With OwnHome, you can purchase a property with just 1-2%* upfront. An OwnHome Deposit Boost Loan can cut the upfront costs of homeownership by 5 times.
Your borrowing power, also known as borrowing capacity, is calculated based on your financial situation. This calculation takes into account your income, number of dependents, debts and other liabilities (e.g. credit card limits, HECS, car loans), and ongoing expenses. Different lenders have different ways of calculating this. It is also impacted by interest rates.
Your deposit impacts your borrowing power in that it affects which home loan options you are eligible for. This is because banks give different interest rates based on different LVRs. Generally, the higher your LVR, the higher your interest rate. This will lower your borrowing power, as well as increasing your ongoing repayments. In addition, you may also need to pay LMI if your LVR is above 80%.
Many banks offer home loan repayment calculators, which you can use to understand the ongoing impact.
The two biggest upfront costs are deposits and stamp duty.
There are other, smaller costs, including, but not limited to
- Mortgage establishment fees and registration fees
- Conveyancing fees
- Home loan application fees
- Building and pest inspections
If you don't have enough for a 20% deposit, you may also need to pay lender's mortgage insurance.
You can also get an OwnHome Deposit Boost loan to reduce the upfront costs of homeownership - and no LMI. Check out the OwnHome upfront costs calculator to see how we stack up against traditional loan options.
Each state and territory has different rates of stamp duty (also known as land transfer duty). You can find more information about stamp duty on owner-occupied properties at our state-based calculators:
In many states, first home buyers are eligible for concessional rates of stamp duty, which also differ from state to state.
There may also be other additional government fees on top of stamp duty, such as mortgage registration fees and transfer fees. See our stamp duty, transfer fee and registration fee calculator for more.
If you are a foreign owner, you will also be required to pay a surcharge, which differs by state.
It is important to know if you qualify as a foreign owner or not, because many states charge a significant duty surcharge for foreign owner purchases of property.
Each state also has different criteria for who qualifies as a foreign owner, and who counts as an Australian owner. In all states, Australian citizens, Australian permanent residents, and special category visa NZ citizens are not foreign owners. However, some states have additional exceptions, such as New South Wales.
In addition, some states have exceptions for foreign owners who are jointly buying with their spouse, while other states will still require the foreign owner to pay the surcharge on their portion of the property.
This calculator is for working out how much you may need to pay in upfront costs. Repayments are your ongoing home loan costs.
Home loan repayments are affected by factors such as your loan type, whether you are refinancing, whether you are on a fixed rate or variable interest rate, fortnightly or monthly repayments, extra repayments, loan term, and other home loan options such as offset accounts.
For a personalised breakdown, we recommend consulting a home loan specialist or mortgage broker.
You can also use mortgage repayment calculators provided by various banks, which take into account their specific lending criteria and eligibility criteria. Check each bank’s T&Cs for more.
OwnHome Services Pty Ltd ACN 664 492 059, ABN 77 648 597 184. The calculator on this website is provided for your information only and is to illustrate scenarios. The calculator results are intended as a guide only and are an estimate or approximate guide only, based on the information you input. The calculator should not be relied upon for the purposes of entering into any legal or financial commitments.
The results should not be taken as a substitute for professional advice, and do not constitute professional advice. You should consider seeking independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice for your unique circumstances.
All reasonable care has been taken in preparing and designing the calculator; however, OwnHome Services Pty Ltd provides no warranties and makes no representation that the information provided by the calculator is correct, appropriate for your particular circumstances, or indicates you should follow a particular course of action. Calculations are for buying owner-occupied homes, and do not apply to land nor to investment properties. Other fees and charges may also apply.
OwnHome Technologies Pty Ltd is a related body corporate of OwnHome Services Pty Ltd ACN 664 492 059, ABN 77 648 597 184, which is a corporate authorised representative (#547794) of Allied Financial Consulting Pty Ltd, ACL 393845.
