One of the first questions that you ask as a first home buyer is how much deposit do I need to buy a house?

The general consensus is that lenders typically look for 5% of the property price to be saved over three months from your income. This gives them the peace of mind to say that you can actually save money and that gives them the confidence to lend you money.

The 5% deposit is actually not going to cover all costs for your house purchase. This is because you have other costs involved (government stamp duty, lender’s mortgage insurance, solicitor’s fee, moving home costs and so on) that will not be included in the home loan. This means that you will need more than the 5% ‘genuine savings’ required by your lender.

If you only have the minimum 5%, then you may consider no deposit home loans or low deposit home loans where by lenders allow you to borrow with the minimum savings you have. For investors, the minimum deposit required can be anywhere between 5% and 10% of the purchase price.

Each bank has their own credit policies on how they consider your deposit. If you are unsure, please contact us on (03) 9005 3983 to see how we can help you.