Borrowing power
Equity gets you the deposit. Income decides whether anyone lends against it — and on a portfolio that is usually the part that bites.
Applicants
Gross annual, before tax. Bonus, overtime and commission are shaded because they are not guaranteed; rent is shaded because vacancy, agents and rates eat into it.
Household
A lender takes the higher of what you declare and its own expenditure floor, so under-declaring never helps.
Existing loans
Every one is assessed at its own rate plus the buffer, principal and interest — even the interest-only ones. That single rule is what stops most portfolios, and it is why the assessed column is so much larger than what you pay.
| Loan | Balance | Rate | You pay | Assessed at |
|---|
The new loan
How the number is built
Top to bottom, exactly as a lender stacks it.
Assumptions — every lever a lender pulls
Only the 3% buffer is regulated (APRA APG 223). Everything else is lender policy and moves between lenders, which is the entire reason a broker is worth talking to. Change any of it to match a specific lender's rules.
Every formula on this page
Nothing here is hidden. Check it against your broker's calculator before acting on any of it.
Resident income tax rates
Income is taxed per applicant on their own shaded income. One household total run through these brackets would understate the tax on the higher earner and overstate what you can borrow.
General information only. Not credit advice, and not a pre-approval. Every lender assesses differently: shading, floors, expenditure measures, how existing debts are treated and whether negative gearing is added back all vary, and some will lend more than this and some far less. The household expenditure floor here is a plain stand-in for a licensed HEM table, which scales by income band, household composition and postcode. This page assumes Australian tax residents on PAYG income, no HECS/HELP unless you enter it as a commitment, no guarantor arrangements, no company or trust income, and does not add back the tax benefit of negative gearing — which some lenders do, and which would increase the result. The only way to know what you can borrow is to have a broker or lender assess the file. Rate tables are and have not been independently verified. Your data stays in this browser and is never uploaded.