Affordability
Plan your buy
Honest numbers: what you need to earn, save, and shift around to land your place.
Your numbers
This purchase
Will you live in it?
Tweak assumptions
Couple · VIC · 20% deposit · 6.2% rate
Tweak assumptions
Couple · VIC · 20% deposit · 6.2% rate
State
Deposit %
Loan rate
Add the price, your savings, take-home pay and debts (0 if none) to see the income you need.
Example
A couple buying in Brunswick at $1,316,000 (Valuer-General median, 2025) typically needs
$204k/yr gross
- Savings
- $300,000
- Take-home per month (combined)
- $16,000
- Debts per month
- $0
- Deposit
- 20%
- Cash to buy
- $340k
- Still need
- $40k
Their $16,000 a month take-home clears the $13,116 needed by $2,884.
- Repayments tested at 9.2% (6.2% + 3% buffer) over 30 years, plus a 10% margin.
- 6.2% is the RBA average rate on new owner-occupier home loans, July 2026 (table F6).
- Income before tax uses ATO 2026-27 resident rates and the Medicare levy, with take-home split evenly: $101,789 each.
Fixed example figures, run through the same sums as your plan. Add your own numbers to replace it.
A guide only, not financial advice. The living-cost figure is Arvocado's estimate of the living costs lenders assume, not your budget. Lenders also look at your credit history, how you are paid and their own rules. Talk to a broker before you commit.