Home Loan Deposit Calculator

Before you move into that new home, you’ll need to pay a deposit for it. And that deposit can be very expensive, often $100,000 plus.

Our home loan deposit calculator can help you work out how much you’ll need, and what you can afford.

What is a house deposit?

A house deposit is the initial down payment made to the seller of the house before you take out a home loan. This is the first portion of the property that you pay for, and you gradually pay for the rest as you pay off your home loan.

Deposits are important lenders because they provide a buffer against potential losses should the borrower default on the loan. Lenders can also look at the size of the deposit to assess your reliability as a borrower. Someone who can afford to save a large amount for a deposit is also more likely to be able to afford to keep meeting their repayments.

How much do you need for a house deposit?

That’s where the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) comes into it.

In a lot of cases, you can take out a home loan with a deposit as small as 5% of the property's value. A 5% deposit means you still have to borrow 95% of the home’s value from the lender, meaning you have an LVR of 95%.

In order to avoid the expensive Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI), you’ll typically require a deposit of at least 20%, or an 80% LVR. This can be quite a lot of money. On a $500,000 home, a 20% deposit is $100,000 in savings.

You’ll also need to factor in the other upfront costs associated with purchasing property, like conveyancing fees, stamp duty costs, bank fees and more. Together these can easily cost $10,000+ at a conservative estimate, which is why it can be useful to use a house deposit calculator to find out how much you’ll need in savings.

Home loan deposit calculator

A home loan deposit calculator, such as the one on our website, can work out how much of your existing savings can be put towards a home of a certain value after all the upfront costs have been considered.

Savings.com.au’s house deposit calculator lets you input the following bits of info to find out the kind of deposit you’d need to have:

• The estimated value of the property you want to buy
• Your current savings
• Which state the property is located in
• Whether you’re buying the property to live in or as an investor
• Whether you’re a first home buyer and buying through a scheme
• Whether the home is established or new

Let’s say for example you’re looking to buy a $650,000 established property in NSW, and have built up $80,000 in savings. After factoring in upfront costs, you’d have around $35,000 left for a deposit, which would give you an LVR of 95%.

If you wanted to have a lower LVR, then this house deposit calculator could help you figure out just how much more savings you need.

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