Home Deposit Calculator

Enter the price, your state and whether it is your first home to see the deposit, loan, LVR and likely LMI at every level from 20% down to 2%.

Free · No sign-up · Checked 29 September 2026

Work out your deposit

Target price

State or territory

Area

Capital cities and regional centres use the higher cap. Regional centres are, in NSW, the Central Coast, Coffs Harbour to Grafton, Illawarra, the Mid North Coast, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, and Richmond to Tweed; in VIC, Geelong; in QLD, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. In the NT the higher cap is for Darwin.

First home, or no property owned in Australia in the last 10 years?

Will you live in it?

Are you a single parent or legal guardian?

Bank valuation (optional)

Your LVR uses the lower of the price and the valuation.

Savings you have now (optional)

Stamp duty and fees from savings (optional)

Your own figures for transfer duty, legal and lender fees.

Paying the LMI

Your deposit options

Deposit, loan, LVR, likely LMI and cash needed at each deposit level
Deposit	Loan	LVR	Likely LMI	5% Deposit Scheme	Cash needed
20%$140,000	$560,000	80.0%	No LMI	Not needed	$140,000
15%$105,000	$595,000	85.0%	$4,500 to $12,300typical $6,000	No LMI if eligible	$105,000
10%$70,000	$630,000	90.0%	$9,400 to $16,600typical $12,600	No LMI if eligible	$70,000
5%$35,000	$665,000	95.0%	$19,600 to $35,000typical $27,900	No LMI if eligible	$35,000
2%$14,000	$686,000	98.0%	Single parents only	Single parents only	$14,000

Deposit for an 80% LVR: $140,000.
Duty on LMI in New South Wales: none.

LMI ranges built from 27 LMI figures published by Australian lenders, checked 29 September 2026. Scheme caps from firsthomebuyers.gov.au. Price one deposit in detail in the LMI calculator.

Estimate only. General information, not credit or financial advice. Scheme eligibility is decided by a participating lender.

To price LMI for one exact deposit, use the LMI calculator.

How much deposit do I need for a home loan?

You need 20% of the price to borrow without LMI. With LMI, most loans stop at 95% of the value, so 5% is the usual floor, and the 5% Deposit Scheme lets eligible buyers use 5% (2% for single parents, under the Family Home Guarantee) with no LMI.

Your loan-to-value ratio (LVR) is your loan as a share of the property's value. Lenders usually charge LMI above 80%, and QBE caps the LVR at 95% before any premium is added. For which value lenders use, see what is LVR.

Deposit options on a $700,000 home in NSW, first home buyer, owner-occupier
Deposit	Loan	LVR	Likely LMI	With the 5% Deposit Scheme
20% ($140,000)	$560,000	80.0%	No LMI	Not needed
15% ($105,000)	$595,000	85.0%	$4,500 to $12,300	No LMI if eligible
10% ($70,000)	$630,000	90.0%	$9,400 to $16,600	No LMI if eligible
5% ($35,000)	$665,000	95.0%	$19,600 to $35,000	No LMI if eligible

LMI ranges from figures Australian lenders publish; scheme cap from firsthomebuyers.gov.au. Checked 29 September 2026.

This is a home loan deposit calculator, not a term deposit or savings calculator.

How much deposit do you need to avoid LMI?

20% of the property's value, or of the bank's valuation if that is lower.

On a $700,000 home that is $140,000, leaving a loan of $560,000 at an LVR of 80%. That is the 20% deposit row in the calculator. With less than 20%, the 5% Deposit Scheme, a profession waiver (CommBank offers one from a 10% deposit) or a family guarantee can still remove LMI: see how to avoid LMI.

When a 20% deposit is not enough

Three things can leave you paying LMI with 20% down.

The bank values the home below the price. St.George and QBE work out the LVR on the lower figure.
Your lender sets its trigger below 80%. CommBank says this can happen in some circumstances.
At exactly 80%, whether LMI applies is up to your lender.

Savings you spend on stamp duty and fees are not deposit, so they do not count as part of the 20%.

How much deposit do you need under the 5% Deposit Scheme?

5% of the price (2% for single parents), and both the price and the lender's valuation must be at or under your area's cap. Read the full rules on the 5% Deposit Scheme.

The minimum deposit at each cap. Caps checked 29 September 2026 on firsthomebuyers.gov.au.
State	Cap: capital city and regional centres	5% at that cap	2% at that cap	Cap: rest of state	5% at that cap
NSW	$1,500,000	$75,000	$30,000	$800,000	$40,000
VIC	$950,000	$47,500	$19,000	$650,000	$32,500
QLD	$1,000,000	$50,000	$20,000	$700,000	$35,000
WA	$850,000	$42,500	$17,000	$600,000	$30,000
SA	$900,000	$45,000	$18,000	$500,000	$25,000
TAS	$700,000	$35,000	$14,000	$550,000	$27,500
ACT	$1,000,000	$50,000	$20,000	Same cap
NT	$750,000	$37,500	$15,000	$600,000	$30,000

The scheme covers deposits of at least 5% and less than 20% of the lender's valuation, so a 10% or 15% deposit qualifies too. You must put in as much of your savings as you reasonably can, and if you have 20% or more saved after purchase costs, the scheme is not available to you. Single parents use the same caps.

The caps were raised on 1 October 2025, when the scheme also dropped its income caps and place limits. Before then it was called the Home Guarantee Scheme, and its main stream is still called the First Home Guarantee.

What upfront costs come on top of the deposit?

Transfer duty, legal or conveyancing fees, lender fees and, if you pay it upfront, LMI all come out of the same savings as your deposit.

Transfer (stamp) duty on the property, set by your state, with first home buyer concessions that can reduce it.
Legal or conveyancing fees.
Lender fees.
LMI and the duty on it, unless it is added to the loan. You pay it at settlement or your lender adds it to the loan, and CommBank adds every premium to the loan.

Say you have $105,000 saved for a $700,000 home in NSW, and $20,000 of it goes on costs. Your real deposit is $85,000, or 12.1% of the price, an LVR of 87.9%, not 85%. The calculator takes your own figures for these costs. To total the duty and LMI for your state, use the stamp duty and LMI calculator.

Home deposit calculator FAQs

Can you buy a home with no deposit?

Not with LMI alone: QBE caps the loan at 95% of the value before the premium is added. A family guarantee can cover up to 100% of the price plus costs at St.George and Westpac, and it brings the LVR under 80% so no LMI applies. CommBank says LMI and its Low Deposit Premium are generally not available on loans with a guarantor.

Can you buy with a 2% deposit if you are not a single parent?

Help to Buy, the government's shared equity scheme, starts at a 2% deposit. The government contributes up to 30% of the price of an existing home or 40% of a new one, and applications opened on 5 December 2025. It is shared equity, not a guarantee: you own the home, and the government holds an equity share secured by a second mortgage until you buy it back.

What if the bank values the home below the price?

Your LVR uses the lower figure, so you need a bigger deposit to stay at the same LVR. Under the 5% Deposit Scheme, both the price and the valuation must be at or under the cap. Enter the valuation in the calculator to see the difference.

Can family help with the deposit or the LMI?

Two ways. A family guarantee uses their property as extra security, as with St.George's Family Pledge or Westpac's Family Security Guarantee. Or family can pay the LMI upfront at settlement: Helia and BOQ take 15% off the fee when they do.

More calculators

LMI calculatorEstimate LMI for one deposit and state.LVR calculatorWork out your loan-to-value ratio and your LVR after LMI.

Sources

Each source was checked on 29 September 2026.

Researched and maintained by

Andrew Wortman

PhD in Financial Studies, 5 years in finance

Every figure on this page comes from a lender, insurer, government or regulator source listed above. Read our editorial policy.

Published: 29 September 2026