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MortgageSMART™by Emanate Finance
MortgageSMART™ tool
First Home Buyer Calculator
General information only — illustrative modelling, not credit assistance or an offer of finance. Actual outcomes depend on your circumstances, lender policy, rates and fees.
What could buying my first home actually look like?
Not just the deposit. The duty your state would charge after first home relief, the grant you might be eligible for, the costs nobody warns you about, the loan that leaves you with, and what it would cost you each week.
Everything below uses the same funding engine as our deposit calculator, so the numbers agree with each other — and every grant or concession is shown as potential, because only the revenue office and your lender can confirm it.
Free calculator · No personal details required · About 60 seconds
What could buying my first home look like?
Four questions, then the whole picture: what the government charges, what you may be eligible for, what you'd need in the bank, and what you'd be paying each month.
1
What are you looking to buy?
$650,000
2
What have you saved?
$60,000
10% — $65,000
3
What would the repayments look like?
5.94%
Government costs — Western Australia
Duty at the general rate
$24,890
Concession applied
− $6,223
Duty payable
$18,667
- WA first home owner rate — reduced duty
- $6,223
- Registration & government fees
- $500
- WA First Home Owner Grant applies to new homes and land to build on only
- —
The WA thresholds shown apply south of the 26th parallel (Perth and Peel). Thresholds outside that area are lower.
Potential figures based on your answers. This is not a determination of eligibility — that sits with the revenue office and your lender.
Grant and duty data last checked 16 August 2026. Grants, duty thresholds and scheme eligibility change regularly and differ by state, property type and contract date. Confirm current figures with the relevant revenue office or Housing Australia before relying on them.
- Loan needed
- $595,530
- Repayment per month
- $3,548
- Total funds required
- $88,467
- If rates were 7.94%
- $4,345
90% LVR, including $10,530 estimated insurance added to the loan.
About $42,571 a year over 30 years.
Deposit plus every upfront cost.
Roughly the buffer lenders assess you against.
Your funding position
- Purchase price
- $650,000
- Deposit (10%)
- $65,000
- Purchase costs
- $23,467
- Government concessions
- − $6,223
- Grants
- None applied
- Total funds required
- $88,467
- Savings available
- $60,000
- Estimated shortfall
- $28,467
90% LVR before any insurance premium is added.
Duty payable plus conveyancing, inspections, registration, lender costs and settlement adjustments.
WA first home owner rate — reduced duty
WA First Home Owner Grant applies to new homes and land to build on only
The cash required is more than your savings and any grant on the figures entered.
On these figures you'd be about $28,467 short. That's a starting point, not a verdict — the areas below change the result.
Areas that could change this result
Neutral options to explore, not recommendations. Which of them applies to you depends on your circumstances, lender policy and scheme eligibility.
A lower purchase price
Duty, the deposit and most costs all move with the price, so a smaller purchase reduces the cash required faster than people expect.
Additional savings
Continuing to save, or a gift from family where a lender accepts one, closes the gap directly. Many lenders want to see part of a deposit built up over several months.
Government schemes you may be eligible for
Guarantee schemes, shared equity and first home grants can reduce the deposit, the duty or the insurance premium. Each has its own caps, income tests and place limits, and eligibility is decided by the relevant authority.
A family guarantee
Where a family member offers security over their own property, the effective LVR falls and mortgage insurance may no longer apply. It carries real consequences for the guarantor and needs careful discussion.
Reviewing borrowing capacity
Reducing or closing unused credit card limits, clearing a small debt or a change in income can move what a lender will approve, which changes the deposit you need for a given price.
Illustrative estimate based on the figures you entered. Actual outcomes may vary — the assumptions behind it are at the bottom of this page.
Your next move
About $28,467 between you and your first home
The 60-second MortgageSMART™ quiz shows which lever closes the gap fastest for your situation — price, savings, a scheme you may qualify for, or capacity — and what a lender would actually approve.
No documents · takes about 60 seconds · does not impact your credit score
Schemes worth knowing about
Potential help — not confirmed eligibility
Alongside state grants and duty concessions, several federal programs change what a first home purchase needs in cash. Each has its own caps, income tests, place limits and participating-lender lists, and eligibility is decided by the administering body, not by this page.
Home Guarantee Scheme (First Home Guarantee)
Lets eligible first home buyers purchase with as little as a 5% deposit without paying lenders mortgage insurance, because the government guarantees part of the loan. Place limits, price caps and income tests apply, and it must be arranged through a participating lender.
Source: Housing Australia
Family Home Guarantee
Supports eligible single parents and single legal guardians to buy with as little as a 2% deposit without lenders mortgage insurance, subject to caps and eligibility.
Source: Housing Australia
Help to Buy
A shared-equity program where the Commonwealth takes an equity share in the property, reducing the loan you need. Income and property price caps apply and places are limited.
Source: Housing Australia
First Home Super Saver Scheme
Allows eligible first home buyers to save for a deposit inside superannuation and release those contributions, within annual and total limits, to put towards a first home.
Source: Australian Taxation Office
Grant and duty data last checked 16 August 2026. Grants, duty thresholds and scheme eligibility change regularly and differ by state, property type and contract date. Confirm current figures with the relevant revenue office or Housing Australia before relying on them.
The order the money leaves
Price, then duty, then costs, then the loan
Most first home buyers plan around a deposit percentage and get caught by everything that sits behind it. Duty lands first and is usually the largest single cost after the deposit. Conveyancing, inspections, registration and lender fees follow. Settlement adjustments for council and water rates arrive last and are rarely budgeted at all.
Working in that order tells you the real purchase price you can support, which is almost always lower than the one a deposit-only calculation suggests — and it's the number worth taking to a lender.
First home on the horizon?
Find out what a lender would actually approve.
A few questions on income, savings and commitments, and we'll show you the price range that's realistic, the schemes worth checking, and the costs to plan for.
No documents · does not impact your credit score
Common questions
First home buyer questions we're asked most
What's the biggest surprise for first home buyers?
The cash costs that sit on top of the deposit. Transfer duty, conveyancing, inspections, registration, lender fees and settlement adjustments typically add thousands to tens of thousands, and generally can't be borrowed. Buyers who budget only for a deposit percentage often find they're short weeks before settlement.
Can I buy with a 5% deposit?
Many lenders will lend at 95% of the property value with lenders mortgage insurance added, subject to their policy and your serviceability. Some guarantee schemes and some professional packages allow small deposits without LMI. The constraint is usually capacity and cash for costs rather than the deposit percentage itself.
Am I eligible for the grants and concessions this shows?
This calculator applies the relief we can model for the state, property type and price you entered, and labels it as potential. It cannot test contract dates, ownership history, occupancy requirements, residency or income tests. Confirmed eligibility is determined by your state or territory revenue office, Housing Australia and your lender — never by a calculator.
Should I get pre-approval before I start looking?
It's generally worth having a clear, current view of what a lender would approve before you make offers, so you're negotiating with real numbers. Pre-approvals do involve a credit enquiry and they expire, so timing matters — it's worth talking through the sequence rather than lodging one early and letting it lapse.
Does buying a new build change the numbers much?
It can change them a lot. Several states limit their cash grant to new homes or land to build on, and some remove duty entirely on a new build while an established home of the same price attracts full duty. The trade-off is timing, build risk and holding costs while construction runs.
What repayment should I aim for?
One that still works if rates rise. A useful test is to model your repayment at a rate one to two per cent above today's, which is roughly what lenders do when they assess you. If that figure would break your budget, borrowing a little less is usually the better decision.
What clients say
148 Google reviews · rated 5.0
Want your first purchase mapped out properly?
We'll check your deposit, your capacity, the duty and grants in your state, and tell you what's realistic now rather than in theory.
Video, phone or email — whatever suits you.