Granite Home Loans Review (Updated 2026)

Who is Granite Home Loans?

Granite is a non-bank lender operating under Australian credit licensing, and part of ColCap Financial, a privately held Australian group founded in 2006 that manages a substantial loan book across Australia and the UK. Granite itself launched in 2018, purpose-built to deliver niche home and investment loan options exclusively through the mortgage and finance broking channel. There’s no branch network and no direct-to-customer application path, and the process runs online and by phone. Its appeal is less about being a household name and more about specific policy settings that suit borrowers the major banks can be inflexible with: income assessment, self-employment, SMSF and foreign income among them.

The top things Granite home loans are good at

• Generous income assessment. A notably flexible approach, historically, to overtime, shift loading, penalty rates, bonus and second-job income compared with a standard bank policy.
• A genuine low-doc option for the self-employed, verified via BAS, accountant letters or bank statements, alongside a standard full-doc path.
• SMSF lending appetite: residential and commercial SMSF loans, with Granite’s own materials describing no minimum liquidity or asset testing and a 100% offset facility on the product.
• Non-resident and foreign-income lending up to 85% of the property value, with only a 20% exchange-rate shading applied, lighter than many lenders.
• Lender-Paid LMI for a broad range of professions: not just a short list of medical/legal occupations, with no genuine-savings requirement on that product.
• A broad product range for a non-bank: variable, fixed, offset, construction (including a staged “buy now, pay later”-style HomePay option) and split loans are all on offer.

Where Granite home loans fall short

• Limited brand recognition. As a non-bank operating without heavy advertising, it’s not a name most borrowers will have heard of.
• No branch network or borrower-facing mobile app. Everything is online or by phone, which won’t suit borrowers who want in-person service or a slick digital experience.
• Not a credit-repair or bad-credit specialist. Its flexibility is around income type and structure, not around historical credit issues. Borrowers with defaults or a heavily impaired file are usually better matched elsewhere.
• Policy can be more conservative in places than the headline suggests. Some LVR ceilings and product settings are tighter than a first glance implies, so it’s worth confirming the current position for your scenario rather than assuming the most generous case applies.
• No published document checklist or rate card on the public site. You work through specifics with your broker rather than self-serving the detail online.

The real edge: how Granite treats income

This is where Granite has genuinely stood out. On our reading, Granite has generally accepted overtime, shift loading and penalty rates in full, without the percentage-shading many lenders apply to these income types. Bonus income can typically be assessed at its full current-year value rather than an averaged or discounted figure, and casual income has typically still been accepted at a high proportion of face value rather than being heavily discounted. Granite has also typically considered income from a second job, provided you’ve been in that role for a reasonable period.

For borrowers whose income includes overtime, shift work, casual hours or a second job (people a standard bank policy often under-counts), this can be the difference between a declined application elsewhere and an approved one here. As always, treat the specifics as a starting point and have your broker confirm current policy against your actual payslips and income mix before relying on it.

SMSF, professional and non-resident policy

Beyond income flexibility, Granite has three genuine niches worth knowing about. Its SMSF loan covers both residential and commercial security, with Granite’s own materials describing no minimum liquidity or asset testing and a full 100% offset facility, a feature not every SMSF lender offers. SMSF borrowing is a specialised, tightly regulated area. Trustee structure, fund liquidity and the property itself all factor into what’s achievable, so this is worth exploring with a broker who handles SMSF deals regularly rather than assuming a standard maximum applies.

Its Professional loan option offers Lender-Paid LMI (the lender covers the LMI premium rather than passing it on), with no genuine-savings requirement, and it is available to a broader range of occupations than the short medical/legal/accounting lists some banks use. And its non-resident and foreign-income product lends up to 85% of the property value with only a 20% shading applied to foreign-currency income, which is lighter than many lenders’ treatment and can lift borrowing power materially for overseas-income applicants.

What are the different Granite home loan products?

Granite’s range spans standard owner-occupier lending through to several specialist niches:

Granite home loan rates

Granite’s pricing depends heavily on the product, your loan-to-value ratio and whether you’re on a full-doc, low-doc, SMSF or specialist product. A low-doc or non-resident loan is typically priced differently to a plain full-doc owner-occupier loan. Because advertised rates move constantly and Granite doesn’t publish a public rate card, we don’t list specific rate figures here. They date quickly and the number that matters is the one quoted for your actual file.

Rather than chase a headline rate, the better move is a like-for-like comparison for your exact situation. Book a free assessment or call 1300 088 065 and we’ll check Granite’s current appetite alongside the 30+ lenders on our panel.

What documents does Granite need for a home loan?

Applying with Granite requires the standard verification documents:

• Proof of identity: generally at least two forms of government-issued ID (driver’s licence, passport, Medicare card or birth certificate), with matching names across documents to avoid delays.
• Income evidence: for PAYG employees, recent payslips and bank statements; casual workers typically show consistent income over several months. For self-employed applicants, full-doc uses tax returns, BAS and bank statements; low-doc uses an accountant’s letter and/or BAS instead of full financials.
• Evidence of deposit or genuine savings: savings account statements, term deposits, or a gift letter with a statutory declaration if part of the deposit is gifted. Stronger documentation is typically required as your LVR rises.
• Expenses and liabilities: statements for credit cards, personal loans, HECS/HELP, car loans and other ongoing commitments.
• Property documentation: the signed contract of sale and solicitor/conveyancer details for a purchase, or a current loan statement and rates notice if you’re refinancing; a formal valuation follows once a property is under contract.

The more complete your file, the faster Granite can assess it.

How much can I borrow from Granite?

Borrowing power depends on your income, expenses, deposit, credit file and the product you use. A low-doc, SMSF or non-resident file is assessed differently to a standard full-doc PAYG file:

• Up to 95% LVR has been available on standard owner-occupier lending with LMI; the non-resident/foreign-income product is capped at 85% LVR with a 20% exchange-rate shading applied to foreign income.
• Serviceability is assessed against your real expenses and liabilities. As with any lender, buffer-rate stress testing and HEM-based living-expense benchmarks factor into the number.
• Professional Lender-Paid LMI can remove the need for a genuine-savings history for eligible occupations, which changes the deposit-timing calculation for some borrowers.

Some illustrative scenarios (estimates only, not a quote or approval):

Note: these are estimates only. For a tailored figure, use a borrowing power calculator or speak to a broker.

How long do Granite home loans take to approve?

Granite has historically positioned itself as faster than the major banks, particularly when documents are complete upfront and the file is lodged through a broker who knows its systems:

1. 1Pre-approval (conditional)With all your details lodged, an indicative approval has typically been available within a few business days.
2. 2Full assessment & valuationOnce you have a signed contract, Granite verifies income and expenses and orders a property valuation. Complex, low-doc or SMSF files take longer.
3. 3Formal approval, documents & settlementFormal approval follows a successful valuation; loan documents are then issued for signing, with settlement handled digitally via PEXA in most states.

Timing always depends on how complete your file is and how quickly documents come back. Having everything ready up front, and lodging through a broker who packages the file correctly the first time, is the biggest lever you control.

What else does Granite offer?

• Construction lending, including HomePay. Standard progress-draw construction finance, plus a staged, “buy now, pay later”-style HomePay construction option for eligible builds.
• Guarantor loans. A parent or close relative can offer part of their equity as security, which can help you avoid LMI or reduce the deposit you need.
• Investment lending. Interest-only options, offset accounts and split loans for investors, alongside cash-out for renovations or further purchases subject to valuation.
• Commercial and SMSF commercial lending alongside its residential SMSF product, for borrowers structuring property purchases through a fund.
• A broker and customer portal for document upload, digital signing and status tracking. Granite doesn’t currently offer a dedicated consumer mobile app.

What are Granite home loan customers saying?

Granite doesn’t have the volume of public reviews a Big Four bank does, which is typical for a broker-only non-bank lender. In our experience and from broker-network feedback, Granite tends to be praised for its responsiveness and dedicated loan specialist model, and for genuinely following through on its stated flexibility for self-employed and non-standard income. The most common friction points are the lack of a branch or consumer app and, for some borrowers, more conservative settings than they expected once their specific scenario is assessed in full. As with any lender, individual outcomes vary by file, one reason many borrowers prefer to apply through a broker who manages the process end to end.

Who Granite suits, and who it doesn’t

How does Granite compare to other lenders?

Granite is best judged on its income-assessment flexibility and specialist niches (SMSF, professional Lender-Paid LMI, foreign income) rather than brand familiarity. Here’s how it stacks up on the things that actually decide the outcome:

For a plain-vanilla PAYG purchase, a Big Four bank like NAB or Westpac may be just as workable and more familiar to deal with; for bad-credit or credit-repair scenarios, our bad credit home loans guide points to better-matched specialists. The right answer depends on your income mix, structure and documentation, which is exactly what a proper comparison sorts out.

Broker tips for applying with Granite

• Lay out your full income mix up front: overtime, shift loading, bonus, casual hours and any second job. Granite’s flexibility here is the whole point, so it’s worth using properly.
• If you’re self-employed, have your BAS, accountant letter and bank statements ready. The low-doc path runs on this evidence rather than two years of tax returns.
• Considering an SMSF purchase? Loop in a broker experienced with SMSF lending early. Trustee and fund structure need to be right before you go looking at property.
• Earning overseas or living abroad? Ask specifically about the non-resident/foreign-income product and its 20% shading. It’s often better than borrowers assume.
• Apply through a broker. There’s no direct channel, so this isn’t optional.

Is a Granite home loan right for you?

Granite is a strong option for borrowers whose income or ownership structure doesn’t fit a standard PAYG mould. Overtime, shift work, bonus, self-employed, SMSF or foreign income can all be assessed more generously here than at many banks. It’s a smaller, broker-only, online-first lender rather than a household name, so it suits borrowers who prioritise policy fit over brand or in-person service. We’ll check whether Granite genuinely beats the alternatives for your situation and compare it against 30+ lenders. book a free assessment or call 1300 088 065 to get started.