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House deposit calculator: How much deposit do you need for a house?
Use Finder's deposit calculator to figure out how much deposit you'll need to buy your property. Remember that while you can buy a house with a deposit below 20%, you will have to pay an LMI premium.
Finder's home loan deposit calculator can give you an indication of how much you need to save for a house deposit, or how much you have saved, based on information you put into the calculator. The calculator provides percentage calculations to help you understand the size of a given deposit (5%, 10%, 20%, 30% or 40%) relative to a property value.
The calculator does not take into account other property buying costs that may impact your deposit such as lenders mortgage insurance, stamp duty, conveyancing costs or mortgage registration fees.
How to use Finder's mortgage deposit calculator
Our house deposit calculator has 2 modes: required deposit and current deposit saved.
Required deposit
Select required deposit if you have a rough idea of your property's value and just want a simple way to work out what a 5%, 10% or 20% deposit looks like.
Enter your property price (or an estimate).
Select your deposit size as a percentage.
Current deposit saved
Select current deposit saved if you've already saved some money and want to work out how much more you'll need.
Enter your property price (or an estimate).
Select your deposit size as a percentage.
Enter how much you've already saved.
Enter the timeframe in which you're planning to buy.
How much deposit do you need to buy a house?
You need a deposit worth at least 5% of a property's value to get a loan. But there are other upfront costs too, including stamp duty and legal fees.
The standard Australian deposit size is 20% of the property's value. But you can get a home loan with a deposit as low as 10% or 5% if you're willing to pay LMI.
Here's an example:
You want to buy an $800,000 property and you have a 10% deposit saved up plus a bit more for other expenses.
Deposit: $80,000
Stamp duty: $20,000
LMI premium: $17,000
Other costs: $5,000
Total: $122,000
How can I calculate my deposit size?
You can use the calculator above to quickly calculate your deposit. But if you're a bit confused about how to start, there are 2 ways to figure out roughly what your deposit should be.
Start with your property price. If you have a good idea of your property price you can break this down to a deposit size and loan amount.
Start with a deposit size. If you have a rough idea of how much you can save then you can multiply this to work out your property budget.
1. Start with your property price
Many buyers start by working out a rough budget for their property. That is, what's the maximum you can afford to spend on a property?
Here's an example. We've excluded stamp duty and other costs for now.
Working out your deposit for an $800,000 property
Property value
Deposit (%)
Deposit amount
$800,000
20%
$160,000
$800,000
10%
$80,000
$800,000
5%
$40,000
With these estimates you can now look at borrowing amounts and loan repayments. Here, we're assuming a standard 30-year loan term:
Loan amount for an $800,000 property
Deposit amount ($)
Interest rate (%)
Loan amount
Monthly repayments
$160,000
4.90%
$640,000
$3,397
$80,000
4.90%
$720,000
$3,822
$40,000
4.90%
$760,000
$4,034
These figures don't take into account stamp duty or LMI.
2. Start with a deposit size
If you have a good idea of how much you can save for a deposit, then you can use that to calculate the price of the property.
Let's say you've saved $30,000 and think you can save another $20,000 by the time you're planning to buy. Your deposit is $50,000.
📌 Multiply this by 5 to work out your budget with a 20% deposit. That's $250,000.
📌 Multiply this by 10 to work out your budget with a 10% deposit. That's $500,000.
📌 Multiply this by 20 to work out your budget with a 5% deposit. That's $1,000,000.
This also doesn't take into account stamp duty or LMI. And if you bought a $1 million property with just a 5% deposit you'd have to pay around $43,000 in LMI.
How to buy a house with a small deposit
Saving a 20% deposit is a tall order for many first home buyers. Here are some tips to get there and some ways to buy with a smaller deposit:
Qualify for a home guarantee scheme. The First Home Guarantee and the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee let eligible buyers purchase homes with 5% deposit. The government backs your loan and you borrow the remaining 95% while avoiding LMI.
See if a family member can act as a guarantor. If your parents own a property and are willing to act as guarantors, many lenders will approve a home loan with a very small deposit. The catch? Your parents are exposed if you can't repay the loan.
Get creative (and lucky). Move back in with your parents. See if they'll give you some cash as part of the deposit. Don't forget you can use a first home owners grant to form part of your deposit. Sell something. Look for a government shared equity scheme. It's extremely hard to save a deposit and none of these options may work for you. But one of them might.
Is it worth paying LMI to buy a property sooner?
The extra cost of lenders mortgage insurance varies depending on your property's value and the amount you've saved. Finder has a handy LMI calculator which lets you estimate the LMI payable on different transactions.
Here are a few example calculations (keep in mind these are only estimates and may not reflect the figure you will be liable to pay):
Can you buy with a 5% deposit and avoid paying LMI?
If you're a first home buyer who is eligible for one of the Home Guarantee Schemes, then you could buy a property with just a 5% deposit and skip LMI.
You can also avoid LMI with a guarantor. If someone guarantees your home loan, you can borrow 95% of a property's value and get LMI waived.
Expert tips to help you buy a home with a low deposit
Susan Mitchell, former CEO of Mortgage Choice, shares her expert insights for buying a property with a low deposit.
How should buyers start working out their deposit?
"Work out what size deposit you need for the type of property you want to buy. It can be helpful to come up with a savings plan and timeline to achieve your goal so you have something to work towards. I recommend first time buyers to keep their savings in a separate bank account so that you resist the urge to spend it."
What do borrowers need to know about LMI?
"If you have to pay LMI on a low deposit loan, you don't have to pay it all up front. The amount may also be added or capitalised to your loan amount. If you have enough money saved to pay LMI upfront, you may be better off contributing it to the deposit amount and paying a smaller LMI premium."
What are the risks of having a deposit below 20%?
"The worst case scenario is if there is a significant fall in property values and you are unable to pay back your home loan and are forced to sell your home, you may not be able to recoup enough funds to repay the debt you owe."
More frequently asked questions
A 20% deposit for a $700,000 house would be $140,000. This means you'd have to borrow the remaining $560,000.
A 10% deposit would be $70,000. A 5% deposit would be just $35,000.
Aside from avoiding LMI, having at least a 20% deposit has other benefits. It means you borrow less, reducing your loan repayments and interest charges. It means you can build equity in the property faster.
And some lenders offer lower rates for borrowers with larger deposits, or are more likely to approve your loan application.
Let's say you want to buy a $500,000 property. You have $70,000 saved up for you deposit and other buying costs:
10% deposit = $50,000
Stamp duty = $16,000
Conveyancer fees, removalist, mortgage fees and other costs = $4,000
Total = $70,000
Now that looks good, but with a deposit below 20% you've got to pay LMI too. A quick estimate suggests LMI will cost another $8,400.
That's a fair bit extra. But saving $8,400 is easier than saving another $50,000 to form a 20% deposit.
If you found a property worth $200,000 then $10,000 would be a 5% deposit. So it's possible.
But you'd still have to pay LMI and stamp duty on top, which would add several thousand dollars to your costs.
The hardest part is probably finding a property as cheap as that.
Start comparing home loans right now
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Richard Whitten is a money editor at Finder, and has been covering home loans, property and personal finance for 6+ years. He has written for Yahoo Finance, Money Magazine and Homely; and has appeared on various radio shows nationwide. He holds a Certificate IV in mortgage broking and finance (RG 206), a Tier 1 Generic Knowledge certification and a Tier 2 General Advice Deposit Products (RG 146) certification. See full bio
Richard's expertise
Richard has written 529 Finder guides across topics including:
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