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Home loans · From $150,000
Home lending, compared properly
Purchase, refinance, construction and investment. We assess your position against our panel and set out what each lender will actually do — not just the headline product.
Home lending is where the difference between lenders is widest. Two lenders can look at the same income and reach materially different borrowing capacities, because they assess overtime, bonuses, rental income, HECS and living expenses differently.
That's the work: matching your circumstances to the lenders whose policy actually fits them, rather than putting the same application to whoever is advertising hardest this month.
What it typically covers
- First home purchase
- Refinancing an existing mortgage
- Investment property lending
- Construction and renovation lending
- Upsizing, downsizing and bridging
- Self-employed and contractor income
What you get from us
Capacity first
We establish what you can borrow before you commit to a property, not after.
Policy, not just price
The cheapest lender is irrelevant if their policy won't accept your income structure.
Self-employed welcome
Two years of returns opens most of the panel; there are options with less.
Refinance review
If you haven't reviewed your mortgage in two years, it's usually worth an hour.
Eligibility
What lenders look at
- You're 18 or over and an Australian citizen or permanent resident
- You have some regular income — from work, self-employment, superannuation, investments or a pension
- You're borrowing an amount you can service comfortably — most of our panel starts around $10,000
- You can comfortably meet the repayments alongside your existing commitments
Every lender on the panel weighs these differently, so none of it is a fixed cut-off — send the enquiry and we'll tell you honestly what is and isn't available. If money is already tight, the National Debt Helpline offers free, independent financial counselling, with nothing to sell you.
Enquire about home loans
Two minutes. No credit check.
Rates
Why there's no rate on this page
Home loan pricing moves with the cash rate and with your loan-to-value ratio, so a published figure goes stale quickly and would be misleading. Comparison rates for home loans are also calculated on a different basis to personal lending — a $150,000 loan over 25 years. We quote you a live rate from the panel against your actual deposit, income and property.
Rates for our unsecured and secured personal lending, including comparison rates and a representative example, are set out in full at the bottom of every page.
Common questions
Before you enquire
How much deposit do I need?
Commonly 20% to avoid lenders mortgage insurance, though many lenders will lend above that with LMI. Some government schemes reduce the deposit required for eligible first home buyers.
Can I get finance if I'm self-employed?
Yes. Most lenders want two years of tax returns and financials. Some will consider one year, and a smaller group assess on alternative documentation with different pricing.
Is a pre-approval binding?
No. A pre-approval indicates what a lender is likely to do based on the information provided. It's typically valid for three to six months and remains subject to valuation and final assessment.
How long does a refinance take?
Usually two to six weeks depending on the lender, how quickly documents are supplied, and how fast the outgoing lender discharges.
Get a straight answer
Tell us the position and we'll come back with what the panel can realistically do — including if the answer is no.
Start an enquiryWhat actually decides your home loan rate
Advertised rates are the number a lender will give its strongest applicant on its tightest product. What you are offered depends on four things, and only one of them is the lender.
Loan to value ratio
The proportion of the property's value you are borrowing. Below 80% you avoid lenders mortgage insurance entirely and access the sharpest pricing. Between 80% and 90% you will pay LMI, a one-off premium that can run into five figures and protects the lender, not you. Above 90% the product range narrows sharply and the pricing follows.
Owner-occupied or investment
Investment lending is priced higher than owner-occupied lending, and interest-only is priced higher again. The gap between an owner-occupied principal-and-interest loan and an investment interest-only loan is routinely more than a full percentage point.
Serviceability, assessed at a buffer
Lenders do not assess your capacity at the rate you will pay. They add a buffer — APRA's guidance has sat at three percentage points — and test whether you could still meet repayments at that higher figure. This is the single most common reason a borrower who feels comfortable is declined. Existing commitments, including credit card limits you never draw on, reduce that capacity.
Your file and your deposit's history
Beyond the credit file itself, lenders look at genuine savings: money accumulated over three to six months rather than deposited last week. A gifted deposit is workable but usually needs a statutory declaration confirming it is not a loan.
Fixed, variable, or split
A fixed rate buys certainty and costs flexibility. Break costs on a fixed loan are not a fee — they are a calculation based on how rates have moved since you fixed, and they can be substantial. Fixed loans also commonly limit extra repayments and may not offer a full offset account.
A variable rate moves with the market and generally comes with an offset account, unlimited extra repayments and free redraw. A split loan fixes part and leaves the rest variable, which is the compromise most borrowers land on when they want some certainty without giving up an offset entirely.
Offset versus redraw
An offset account is a transaction account whose balance is subtracted from your loan balance before interest is calculated. Redraw is money you have already paid into the loan that the lender allows you to take back. They look similar on paper. They differ in access, in tax treatment for investors, and in the lender's ability to restrict redraw at its discretion.
Refinancing is worth checking, not automatic
Loyalty is expensive in Australian mortgages. Existing borrowers routinely sit on rates well above what the same lender advertises to new customers, and the difference on a $600,000 balance is thousands a year.
Before switching, count the whole cost: discharge fees, new application and settlement fees, a possible new valuation, LMI that does not transfer between lenders, and break costs if you are fixed. Then compare that against the saving over the time you actually intend to hold the loan. Sometimes the answer is to call your current lender and ask them to match. That call is free.