Building Your New Home?
Building a Home? Finance is tailored to the stages of construction.
Learn more about construction loans in our Construction Loan FAQ.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Stages of Construction (Progress Payments)
This is an amount to help you lay the foundation of your property. It can cover the leveling of the ground, possibly concrete slab, as well as the plumbing and waterproofing of your foundation.
This is an amount to help you build the frame of your property. It can cover partial brickwork, the roofing, trusses and windows.
Lockup relates to the funding necessary to construct external walls, and fit windows and doors (thus the term 'Lockup', meaning your house is lockable and more secure).
The Fitout or fixing is an amount relates to the funds necessary to install the internal fittings and fixtures of your property. It can cover plastering or rendering, the part-installation of cupboards and benches, plumbing, electricity and gutters.
This is an amount for the conclusion of contracted items (such as final payments for builders and equipment), as well as any finishing touches such as plumbing, electricity, and overall cleaning.
General FAQs
A Risk Fee is a once-off charge payable by you when the amount of money you borrow for the purchase of a home or asset if higher than that lender's acceptable . For a home loan, this is usually 80% of the value of the home (80% LVR). The fee is charged to reduce the… [ Learn More ]
Most lenders have moved away from the no-deposit home loan, although there are a few products available with very strict criteria. Excluding the no-deposit opportunities made available to the and other high-income and lower-risk professional groups, you should demonstrate a near-perfect credit record and very stable employment history. As we'll come to describe, the tends… [ Learn More ]
When you apply for a home loan, a lender will take a large number of factors into consideration when deciding whether or not to approve your application. The Serviceability assessment determines if you can comfortably "service" the loan repayments after considering all of your income, expenses and liabilities. Each lender has its own risk assessment… [ Learn More ]
Conveyancing is the legal process of preparing and organising the required documents involved in the transfer of property from one person to another. The conveyance of a property is undertaken by both those who are selling and those who are buying property, and is conducted by a conveyancer, solicitor, or the individual buying or selling… [ Learn More ]
Low doc (low documentation) home loans can benefit people who don’t have access to the level of information banks and lenders often require for your standard home loans. If you are a business owner, contractor, seasonal worker or freelancer, you may not have all the documentation usually required or the employment history often requested. Your… [ Learn More ]
Buying a house is filled with expenses, some examples being legal fees, stamp duty, application fees, as well as the initial required deposit. On top of these initial costs, there can be additional expenses, especially in that initial year, as you begin to personalise your home and make it your very own. A introductory rate… [ Learn More ]
A 'Split Home loan', 'Split Facility’, or 'Split Mortgage', is a home loan that combines a and a . In essence, a Split Loan allows you to split a home loan into two accounts, both of which attract interest rates and features that are specific to that loan. A split mortgage has two components: fixed… [ Learn More ]
A construction loan, also known as a building loan, is a lending option that provides you funds to pay your Licenced Builder (or fund your Owner-Builder project) throughout each stage of your build or renovation process. It has a vastly different loan structure to home loans designed for people buying an existing home. Building a… [ Learn More ]
A fixed rate loan, as opposed to the , is one where the rate is fixed for a defined time period. Not as popular the variable product, Fixed Rate loans still offer a range of features that make the loan type worthy of consideration, particularly if you're looking for certainty in the first couple of… [ Learn More ]
The Variable Home Loan rate is the most popular home loan type in Australia. An interest (and comparison) rate is set for a particular product and will vary depending upon cash rate changes as dictated by the . The variable rate set by a bank doesn't necessarily move proportionally to official cash rate changes, so… [ Learn More ]
Most home loans are based on principal and interest. That is, you pay off the principal amount (the amount you have borrowed) in addition to the accumulated interest. However, when servicing an interest only loan you will only pay off the interest component for a period of time, thus greatly reducing your monthly obligations. While… [ Learn More ]
A Home Loan Package is a home loan bundled with other financial or banking services and products with the main attractive feature usually being an included discount on the home loan interest rate. At the time of this writing, the interest rate reduction was around 0.8% to 1.4% for a variable rate home loan. Examples… [ Learn More ]
A Basic (or No Frills) Variable Rate Home Loan is a straight forward non-compilated loan with minimal features, a competitive interest rate and no annual or monthly fees. Payment of an establishment or application fee varies between lender with some charging $0. These loans have minimal features (eg no offset accounts) and hence the lower… [ Learn More ]
The Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) is the amount you're borrowing represented as a percentage of the property’s value. The loan amount is divided by the purchase price of the valuation amount, then multiplied by 100 to make a percentage. For example, if you're purchasing a home worth $500,000 and you wish to borrow $400,000… [ Learn More ]
A comparison is the true cost of a loan every year, including fees and charges, and taking the product attributes into account. While an interest rate may be low to lure you into that product, the comparison rate provides a more realistic understanding of the cost of a loan, and allows you to more easily… [ Learn More ]
Pre-approval simply means that the lender has evaluated your property purchase, your basic details, and has obtained other early details, in order for you to start looking for property. It provides you with an informed and reliable estimate of your true borrowing capacity, but it doesn't necessarily fully consider your serviceability or credit history (the… [ Learn More ]
Equity is the value of an asset (e.g house, car) minus any debts attached to that asset. For a property, the equity would be the current market value of the property minus the balance of any loans attached to that property. As an example, say we have a property as follows: The current value of… [ Learn More ]
Lenders assess mortgage applications differently based on the location of the property being offered as security. A lender, or the provider, will apply more rigid lending policies in high-risk locations to limit their risk. This risk assessment often means that your maximum permissible LVR (and your borrowing amount) to be lower. The Lender's LMI Policy… [ Learn More ]
If you’re a first home buyer, you may be eligible to withdraw voluntary super contributions you’ve made to put toward a home deposit. Through the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS), first-home buyers may be able to use Australia’s superannuation system as a tax-effective way to save for part of their home deposit. The FHSSS… [ Learn More ]
Getting into the property market is difficult when you're paying rent because you're still required to save a 5% deposit towards a new home. While the deposit is still usually required, many lenders will accept your rental history as a substitute for your '', meaning that any required deposit may be non-genuine savings. This recognition… [ Learn More ]
Self-Managed Super Funds are often used by investors as a means to take control over their superannuation for the purpose of investing in property of their own choosing. However, Self-Managed Super Funds - particularly when used for investing - is a complex subject that requires the guidance of a suitably qualified professional. A Self-Managed Super… [ Learn More ]
The term Genuine Savings refers to the funds that you have saved genuinely and gradually over time, usually between three to six months. It excludes gifts, tax refunds, one-off payments from the sale of assets, such as you car, , and work bonuses. The term 'Genuine Savings' is one that is quite fluid in that… [ Learn More ]
We believe that former adversity shouldn't impact upon your ability to get a home loan, and we specialise in sourcing suitable products for those that have experienced adversity via a less-than-stellar credit history, bankruptcies, defaults, Part IX debt agreement, or judgments. Sometimes life gets in the way of your wealth creation or home-ownership goals, so… [ Learn More ]
Property prices in Australia are high - particularly in capital cities. While entry to the property market is generally within reach of many, the co-ownership model provides access to property with a shared obligation towards repayments. There are many ways to own a property, including in your private name, as a company or even as… [ Learn More ]
A Guarantor Loan, Family Pledge Loan, Limited Guarantee, or "Equity Guarantor" loan is one where the guarantor enables entry to the property market to a buyer by offering your own fully or partially-owned property as security. You are essentially co-borrowing without the financial commitment; should the borrower fail to meet their obligations you inherit the… [ Learn More ]
When you apply for a home loan your lender will get an independent valuer to assess the bank valuation of the property you wish to buy. For the bank, property valuation risks are their main priority, so the bank valuation is a conservative estimate of the property's value and is different to a market valuation.… [ Learn More ]
Selling your existing home and buying a new home simultaneously can be a little difficult in that the sale of your property, and finding a new property, rarely occur simultaneously. With a bridging loan, you can avoid the stress of matching up settlement dates, move quickly to buy your new home and give yourself more… [ Learn More ]
As listed on our FAQ on your , a credit report may list overdue payments of any kind (by 14 days), unreliable or missed payments, or defaults. That report holds information on your profile as a credit risk and will impact upon your suitability for certain types of loans and rates. The nature of those… [ Learn More ]
Your credit score is your credit history converted to a number between 0 and 1000 or 0 and 1200, depending on which credit score provider produced the credit score. The higher the score, the better your credit rating. It is one of the factors used by lenders to determine how likely you are to repay… [ Learn More ]