Estimate how much you may be able to borrow for a home loan using your income, living expenses, existing debts, credit card limits, and an assessment-rate buffer. This calculator helps you test realistic lending scenarios by showing how commitments and input changes can affect your indicative borrowing range.
You can model base salary, additional income, rent, household costs, and debt repayments to understand serviceability sensitivity before speaking with a lender. Estimates only. Results can vary by lender policy, documentation, and your circumstances.
Estimate your borrowing power using common Australian lending assessment concepts and debt impacts.
LoanMetric estimates your borrowing capacity using a simplified version of Australian lender serviceability models. We calculate an indicative maximum loan based on your income, living expenses, existing debts and credit limits, and an assessment interest rate (including a buffer). Every bank uses its own credit policy, so actual results may differ.
Household
Single mode uses one applicant income and single-household assumptions.
Income (before tax)
Banks assess borrowing capacity using gross (before tax) income.
Not sure what salary to enter? Use the Take-Home Pay Calculator to estimate income assumptions.
Income format
Your guaranteed annual salary before tax. Exclude bonuses, overtime, commissions, and superannuation.
Variable income you regularly receive (e.g. bonus, overtime, commissions). Enter the typical annual amount before tax.
Total annual rent received before property expenses. Do not subtract interest, rates, or management fees. Do not enter after-tax rental income. We apply a conservative adjustment.
Superannuation contributions should not be included unless they are paid to you as income.
Expenses
If declared expenses are low, lenders may use a benchmark household estimate instead.
Average Australian household expenses
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Household Expenditure Survey (2019-20).
Informational only. These figures are not a required minimum.
Debts & limits
Lenders assess limits even if the balance is $0.
Lenders typically assess credit cards based on the approved limit (not the balance).
Enter your current total monthly repayments for any existing home loans. This calculator uses the entered repayment for simplicity. Some lenders may reassess existing home loans at higher assessment rates.
Enter your current total monthly repayments for any car loans.
Existing loans are generally assessed using the required monthly repayment.
Personal loans, store finance, pay-later instalments, etc.
Instalment loans are assessed using the monthly repayment, not the original loan amount.
Store cards are usually assessed like credit cards (by limit). Store finance instalments are assessed by repayments.
Any other ongoing commitments you want to include.
Loan assumptions
Default is 3.00%, aligned with current common lender/APRA serviceability settings.
Repayment type
Principal & Interest
Estimated borrowing capacity
$264,000
Exact estimate: $263,620.81
Debt-to-Income (DTI): 4.1x
DTI compares your total debt to your income. Some lenders apply limits around 6-7x, but borrowing capacity is primarily determined by serviceability.
Assessment rate used: 9.50% (6.50% + 3.00% buffer)
Monthly surplus used: $2,217/mo
Why this may differ: Methodology and FAQs.
How your borrowing estimate was built
Income
Expenses
Commitments
Surplus
This surplus is the amount available to support new loan repayments.
Loan settings
Final result
How your borrowing changes
Explore how your estimated borrowing capacity changes when one factor moves.
At your current rate of 6.50%, your estimate is $264,000.
Interest rate 6.50%: $264,000
This is a scenario view based on your current inputs. Actual lender assessment may differ.
Debt inputs
NoteBuffer reminder
InfoRate stress test reminder
InfoExpenses sensitivity
WatchCredit card limits matter
Even when card balances are $0, lenders may still assess available limits as ongoing commitments.
Assessment rates are higher than advertised rates
Lenders often assess your loan at a higher rate to allow for future changes.
Share your current inputs and results with a deep link.
Results are estimates only and may differ from lender calculations. This information is general and not financial advice.
Continue your scenario across LoanMetric calculators.
Estimate grants, duty savings, and low-deposit support relevance.
Turn your borrowing estimate into repayment scenarios.
Model an unsecured loan and understand cost.
Model repayments and how debt affects borrowing power.
We estimate repayments using an assessment rate equal to your entered interest rate plus a buffer. In Australia, prudential settings often use buffered serviceability concepts. In practice, lenders generally assess loans at a higher rate than the current product rate to allow for potential future rate increases, and each lender sets its own final policy.
Base salary is counted at 100%. Other income is shaded to 80% and rental income to 75% to reflect a conservative estimate commonly seen in serviceability approaches.
We compare your entered monthly living expenses with a simplified household benchmark and use the higher value for assessment. This reflects common lender practice where declared expenses can be lifted if they are below benchmark.
We assess credit card limits at 3% per month as an indicative debt commitment. This is a serviceability assumption and not the card interest rate charged by your provider.
Existing home loan repayments reduce borrowing capacity because they are treated as ongoing commitments. For simplicity, this calculator uses the monthly repayment you enter. Some lenders may reassess existing home loans using higher assessment rates, which can reduce borrowing capacity further. You can optionally enable advanced mode to assess the existing loan using the higher of your entered repayment and an estimated repayment at the assessment rate.
Serviceability represents the monthly surplus income available to support repayments after living expenses and existing commitments.
We first estimate monthly surplus income, then reverse-calculate the loan amount that surplus could support over your selected term at the assessment rate using standard principal-and-interest repayment maths.
DTI compares your estimated borrowing amount with your gross annual income. It is displayed as an indicator only and does not directly cap the borrowing estimate in this model.
Last updated: 16 February 2026
Estimates only. Not financial advice or a credit offer.
No. This calculator provides an estimate only and is not a credit approval or lender quote.
A borrowing power calculator is most effective when used to test ranges, not chase a single maximum number. If you are researching how much can I borrow Australia outcomes, the key variables are usually assessable income, ongoing commitments, declared living expenses, and policy buffers. This page helps you map those drivers in a transparent way so you can see which assumptions move the result most and where your borrowing profile may be sensitive.
Lenders generally assess serviceability above the product rate. This lender buffer rate is a central part of repayment resilience testing and aligns with prudential concepts often discussed as an APRA buffer framework. In practical terms, the calculator applies an assessment rate to monthly surplus cash flow, then reverse-solves an indicative loan amount supported by that surplus. This provides a more conservative estimate than using only headline product rates.
Results can still differ by lender because serviceability models include policy overlays beyond base repayment maths. Examples include variable income treatment, benchmark expense checks, debt loading, and internal risk settings. Use this calculator as a baseline model, then compare outcomes with lender guidance to understand where policy differences may create narrower or wider borrowing ranges.
Debt-to-income ratio Australia benchmarks are often used as a risk lens, even when repayment capacity appears acceptable. A higher DTI does not automatically mean decline, but it can trigger more conservative credit treatment in some cases. This page surfaces DTI to help you compare scenarios more realistically, especially when testing changes to non-housing debt, credit card limits, or variable income assumptions.
After you estimate range, move to the home loan calculator to test repayment structures and interest sensitivity. You can then cross-check net income assumptions with the take-home pay calculator and monitor macro rate context on the RBA cash rate page.
Example query: "borrowing power calculator with lender buffer rate Australia." Start with your current income and debts, then compare two assumptions: one at current market rate and one with an additional serviceability buffer. Review the change in borrowing estimate, monthly surplus, and DTI. Next, reduce credit card limits or non-home-loan repayments and observe how much capacity recovers. This pattern helps identify which adjustments improve serviceability most before pre-approval discussions.
A strong approach is to plan with a conservative range you can service comfortably, not only the highest estimate shown. Scenario testing around expenses, debt levels, and buffered rates usually gives better decision confidence than relying on one optimistic case. Once scenarios stabilise, discuss verification requirements and lender policy fit with a broker or lender so your estimate-stage work translates cleanly into application-stage expectations.
For term definitions, visit the Finance Glossary. You can also compare debt assumptions with the personal loan calculator.