By the third property, serviceability is the only conversation
Deposit stops being the constraint early. What caps a portfolio is the assessment rate, how each lender shades rental income, and whether your existing loans were structured to let you keep going.
Where investors hit the wall
Almost always at property two or three, and almost always because of how the first one was set up.
Your borrowing capacity stopped growing
Existing debt is assessed at a buffered rate while rental income is discounted, so each property you add reduces what the next lender will approve. Which lender you use matters more than your income.
Your properties are cross-collateralised
Your lender holds two or more properties as security for one loan. It is convenient at the time and it traps your equity — you cannot sell or refinance one without unwinding the lot.
You want to release equity for the next deposit
Equity release is the engine of a portfolio. Done as a separate split against one security, it stays clean; done as a top-up across everything, it entangles the whole structure.
You are buying through a trust or company
Asset protection and tax treatment come at the cost of a much shorter lender list. Worth doing deliberately, with the structure decided before you make an offer.
Investment purchase costs
A $780,000 investment purchase in Queensland with a 20% deposit released from existing equity.
Indicative only, as at March 2026, using Queensland transfer duty for an investment purchase. Stamp duty, surcharges and foreign buyer duty differ in every state. This is general information, not tax advice — speak to your accountant about deductibility and structure.
What actually stops the next purchase
Rarely the deposit. Nearly always assessment policy, and nearly always fixable by changing lender rather than changing your income.
Real lender comparison, in writing
Your file is run against the pricing and credit policy of every lender on our panel — not the three a bank branch can offer. You receive a written shortlist with the rate, the fees and the reason each lender made the list.
A lending strategy built around your position
Offset versus redraw, fixed versus variable, split structures, ownership through a trust — the structure is chosen for the next five years, not just the first repayment.
Guidance from people who read credit policy
Every broker here holds a Diploma of Finance and Mortgage Broking Management and has placed files with the lenders they recommend. We know which policies bend and which do not.
We stay on the file until it settles
Valuations, credit queries, conveyancer timelines and settlement bookings are ours to chase. You hear from us before you have to ask.
- —The 3% assessment buffer applied to every existing and proposed loan
- —Rental income shaded to 80% or less by conservative lenders
- —Cross-collateralisation locking equity across multiple securities
- —Interest-only periods expiring together and spiking assessed repayments
- —Lenders ranked by rental shading and add-back policy, not headline rate
- —Standalone securities so each property can be sold or refinanced cleanly
- —Existing structures untangled before the next application, not during it
- —Equity release sequenced ahead of the purchase so you can offer unconditionally
Understand → Compare → Apply → Settle
Understand your goals
Twenty minutes, no forms. What you are buying, what you earn, what you owe and what you have saved.
Credit impact — noneExplore your options
The file is built properly, then run against all forty lenders. You receive a written shortlist with rates and fees.
Credit impact — soft enquiry onlyApply
A pre-qualified application to a lender whose policy you already meet. We order the valuation and manage the assessment.
Credit impact — enquiry recordedSettle
Unconditional approval, loan documents, settlement booked with your conveyancer. The rate review is diarised.
Credit impact — account reportedFind your real ceiling before you bid
Borrowing power with the assessment buffer applied properly, LVR against the 80% threshold, and stamp duty by state.
Because it is assessing every existing loan at roughly three per cent above the actual rate while counting only part of your rent. Another lender using different shading and add-back policy can reach a materially different number on the identical file. A decline from one bank is a data point, not a verdict.
On investment debt it usually improves cash flow and keeps the deductible balance intact. The trade-off is that the principal has to be repaid over a shorter remaining term afterwards, so the later repayment step-up needs planning. On owner-occupied debt it rarely makes sense.
It gives one lender security over several of your properties for a single loan. Selling one property then requires the lender to reassess the whole position, and they can direct the proceeds. Standalone securities cost nothing extra and preserve your ability to act.
It can improve asset protection and give flexibility in distributing income, at the cost of a much shorter lender list, slightly higher rates and more complexity. It is a decision to make with your accountant before you make an offer — restructuring afterwards triggers stamp duty and capital gains tax.
Twenty per cent avoids LMI, and most investors release it from equity in an existing property rather than using cash. Some lenders will go to 90% on investment security with LMI, but the serviceability test at that level is where most files fail rather than the deposit itself.
Find out what the next purchase actually needs
Send us the portfolio as it stands. We will tell you which lender gets you furthest and what needs restructuring first.