Written by James Hurwood
Reviewed by Stephen Zeller
Last updated 09/02/04
Your borrowing power is the loan amount you can afford to borrow based on the amount you can afford to make in regular repayments. This is influenced by your income, current financial situation and additional factors like potential home loan interest rates.
Not all home loan products are created equal. When you’re choosing a home loan, comparing loan types, upfront fees, ongoing fees, interest rates, and other product information can help you zero in on the home loans that might be right for you.
In addition to the property price, you’ll have to factor in other fees and upfront costs such as application fees, legal costs and inspection fees. This calculator can help you estimate what these costs might look like for you.
The loan-to-value ratio (LVR) expresses the ratio of money you’ve borrowed as a percentage of your property’s value. Lenders use LVR to help determine the risk you may pose as a borrower and your suitability for a mortgage.
With a home loan comes home loan repayments. Our calculator lets you ballpark your potential mortgage repayment amounts, as well as experiment with different variables and loan details like the repayment frequency (i.e. whether you make weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments) and loan term to see how they could affect both the size of your principal & interest repayments and the true cost of the loan over time.
Making lump sum repayments towards your home loan can reduce the term of your loan and the total interest you’ll pay over the life of the loan (depending if you take out a variable or fixed rate home loan).
This calculator can help you estimate how much time and interest you could save by making extra repayments towards your home loan balance.
Keep in mind though, that these are usually only allowed on home loans with a variable interest rate. Fixed rate home loans either won’t allow for extra repayments or may place a hard limit on the amount you can pay in extra repayments per year.
The fees associated with selling a property include agent commissions, advertising costs, conveyancing fees and settling costs, to name a few. This calculator can give you a better idea of the total costs you could expect to incur by selling a property.
Stamp duty is a tax charged by state and territory governments on the transfer of a property’s title – which happens just about every time someone buys or sells a property.
It essentially covers the administrative costs of transferring a property’s title from one person to another, but the exact thresholds, rates and eligibility criteria will vary depending on where you live in Australia. That’s why we’ve got a standalone stamp duty calculator for every state and territory in Australia.
Stephen has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry and holds a Certificate IV in Finance and Mortgage Broking. He’s also a member of both the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance (ANZIIF) and the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA).
Stephen leads our team of Home Loan Specialists and reviews and contributes to Compare the Market’s banking-relating content to ensure it’s as helpful and empowering as possible for our readers.