Do I meet the genuine savings requirement?

’Genuine savings’ is what lenders use to describe savings you’ve built up yourself over a period of around three to six months and haven’t been earned through one-offs like work bonuses, selling a household item, inheritance or gifts from family.

‘Genuine’ savings are things like:

• Savings held for three months or more
• Term deposits with terms lasting more than three months
• Funds salary sacrificed under the First Home Super Saver Scheme
• Shares or managed funds you’ve held for at least three months
• Equity in your current property

The bigger the deposit, the less genuine savings you’ll generally need, but you should still try to have some. Lenders look to genuine savings to see how responsible you are with money. Someone who has genuinely saved over the months and years is more likely to get approval compared to someone who can’t save but received a small fortune through winning at the pokies, for example.

Our genuine savings calculator is designed to help you work out whether your savings are considered to be ‘genuine savings’, and whether a lender is likely to accept you or not based on your deposit size and savings habits.

Although every lender has its own genuine savings requirements, you can get a rough idea of whether your savings qualifies by entering the following information:

• The price of the property
• The loan amount
• How much savings you’ve held for more than three months
• Other savings you’ve held for less than three months (e.g. recent gifts/inheritance, sales of assets, tax refunds, bonuses, grants)
• If you own a property, the property’s value and loan balance

Remember though, each lender will do a thorough dive into your finances during your application, so this calculator is no guarantee of approval or rejection.