Low Deposit Home Loans, August 2026

Yes. Several lenders lend up to 95% of the property value, so a 5% deposit is enough. A deposit under 20% usually attracts Lenders Mortgage Insurance, but the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme for eligible first home buyers and a family guarantor are two ways to avoid it. The table above is filtered to loans that accept a 90%–95% LVR.

LMI is a one-off insurance premium, often several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars, that protects the lender, not you, when you borrow more than 80% of the property value; you can avoid it with a 20% deposit, the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme for eligible first home buyers, or a family guarantor. It's usually added to the loan rather than paid upfront. For many low-deposit buyers, avoiding LMI saves more than shopping the last few basis points off the rate.

Often, but not always. Some lenders apply an LVR-based loading, charging a slightly higher rate above 80% or 90% LVR; others advertise the same rate regardless of deposit and price the risk through LMI instead. Because the difference is lender-specific, the table above ranks low-deposit loans by comparison rate so you can see who actually charges a premium and who doesn't, rather than assuming a small deposit always means a worse rate.

A guarantor, usually a parent, offers the equity in their own property as additional security for your loan. That lifts your effective deposit above 20%, which can remove Lenders Mortgage Insurance and may unlock a sharper rate, even if your own cash deposit is small. The guarantee is typically limited to a set portion of the loan and can be released once you've built enough equity. It's a powerful low-deposit strategy, but it puts the guarantor's property at risk, so it's worth structuring with a broker.

The table above shows the rates available in this comparison view and is sorted by comparison rate. Filter for your purpose, repayment type and LVR, then confirm eligibility and product conditions before relying on a displayed rate.

There is no single bank with the best rate for everyone, the sharpest advertised rates usually come from online-direct lenders and challenger brands rather than the Big Four, but the rate you actually qualify for depends on your deposit (LVR), whether you're owner-occupier or investor, and the loan features you need. The lender at the top of the table above has the lowest comparison rate today; sort and filter to match your situation.

A good rate is one at or near the top of the comparison table above for your specific situation. If you're paying noticeably more than the cheapest comparable loans, particularly with a 20%+ deposit and clean credit, it's worth asking your lender for a discount or refinancing.

The interest rate (or headline rate) is the cost of the loan before fees. The comparison rate folds in most standard upfront and ongoing fees, normalised on a $150,000 loan over 25 years, so two loans with the same headline rate but different fees show different comparison rates. It's a mandatory disclosure under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, and it's the fairer number to rank loans by, which is exactly how the table above is sorted.

Five levers move your rate the most: a lower LVR (a bigger deposit), choosing owner-occupier over investor where it applies, principal-and-interest over interest-only, a clean credit file, and simply asking. Lenders routinely offer existing customers a discount when they call to leave, and a mortgage broker can run that negotiation across the whole panel at once, which is the service Ratesniffers connects you to for free.

Yes, and you should. Lenders price new customers more sharply than existing ones, so loyalty often costs you. Call your lender's retention team, quote a cheaper comparable rate from the table above, and ask them to match it. If they won't move, refinancing to a lender that will is usually straightforward, and many pay cashback to switch.

Average advertised owner-occupier variable rates sit well above the cheapest rates, because the average is dragged up by lenders who don't compete on price. That's the point of comparing: the gap between the average rate and the lowest rate in the table above is real money. Rather than aim for the average, aim for the top of the table for your situation.

Variable home loan rates track the Reserve Bank's cash rate, so the direction of rates depends on the RBA's decisions, which it reviews roughly every six weeks. We don't make forecasts we can't stand behind, but we do publish a wrap of every RBA decision and what it means for variable-rate borrowers, see our news page. Fixed rates move ahead of the cash rate, based on what the market expects the RBA to do next.

Individual lenders change rates continually, sometimes several times a week, and often within days of an RBA decision or a competitor's move. That's why a comparison table is only useful if it's fresh. Ratesniffers refreshes its rate index daily and stamps every page with the last-updated date so you're never comparing stale numbers.

Variable rates move with the RBA cash rate, so you benefit when rates fall and pay more when they rise; they also tend to come with offset accounts and free extra repayments. Fixed rates lock your repayment for a set term, which buys certainty but usually limits extra repayments and charges break costs if you exit early. Many borrowers split the loan to get some of each, you can filter for fixed, variable or split above.

A deposit of 20% or more (an LVR of 80% or less) gets you the sharpest rates and avoids Lenders Mortgage Insurance, but you can borrow with as little as 5% down. Lower deposits usually mean a slightly higher rate plus LMI, though eligible first home buyers using the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme can avoid LMI even with a small deposit. Use the LVR filter above to see only the loans you qualify for.

A broker compares lenders for you, handles the paperwork, and negotiates the rate on your behalf, usually at no cost to you, because the lender pays the broker. The advantage is leverage: a broker knows which lenders are discounting this week and can put your file in front of the one most likely to say yes. Ratesniffers connects you to a broker who works the whole panel; the comparison itself is always free.

The comparison index was last refreshed on 5 August 2026. We stamp the date on the page so you can assess how current the displayed rates are.

Comparing rates and using the calculators is completely free, with no sign-up or email gate. We don't take paid placement to influence the ranking, loans are sorted by comparison rate, full stop. When you choose to speak to a broker about applying, the lender pays the broker a commission, the same way it would for any mortgage. That's how the service stays free to you.