Westpac Home Loan Review 2026

Your profession could help you buy with a smaller deposit and avoid LMI. We’ll check your registration, income, employment, property and total borrowing before counting on that saving.

If you’re an engineer, IT professional, police officer, firefighter, paramedic, teacher or Defence Force member, your occupation is not included in Westpac’s professional waiver lists in the lending information we checked. We check your exact role and package before counting on an LMI saving.

Westpac participates in the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme. If you’re an eligible first-home buyer, you can apply with a 5% deposit without paying LMI. If you’re an eligible single parent or legal guardian, you can apply with 2%.

Your guarantor may be a parent, step-parent, legal guardian, child, step-child, sibling or step-sibling, provided they meet Westpac’s requirements.

Westpac says a guarantee can be up to 50% of the guarantor's security. Guarantors must obtain independent legal advice and should consider independent financial advice.

The guarantee can support an eligible owner-occupied purchase, licensed-builder construction or refinance. It has tighter rules for investment property and cannot be used for bridging, owner-builder construction, cash out or debt consolidation. Read our guarantor home-loan guide

We check which income documents Westpac will use before calculating how much you can borrow. Switching methods halfway through can change the income it counts and slow your application. Compare self-employed home loans

If you have enough equity, Westpac may let you add the interest on your bridging loan to the debt while you sell your current home. It can assess what you can afford using the loan left after the sale, where its policy allows.

This can ease the pressure on your cash flow while you own both homes. You still owe the interest, and a separate ongoing home loan has its own repayments. The longer your bridging loan runs, the more interest adds up.

Westpac uses the lowest limit that applies to your application. Your property, repayment type or other circumstances may mean you need a larger deposit than the table suggests.

You’ll generally need 5% genuine savings if you’re borrowing more than 90% of the property’s value, or using the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme. Savings held over time, Australian property equity, eligible superannuation, extra loan repayments and qualifying rental history may count.

A gift can help you cover your deposit and purchase costs, but it does not replace Westpac’s genuine-savings requirement. Westpac does not usually count borrowed money, cash at home, builder incentives, money held in a business account or funds in an overseas bank account. We’ll look at where your deposit came from and how long you’ve held it, then work out what evidence Westpac will need.

If you earn overtime or bonuses, or your HELP debt is nearly paid off, Westpac may be worth comparing. How much you can borrow still depends on your household expenses, credit limits and credit history. Westpac also checks whether you could afford repayments at a higher interest rate.

Our guide to how HECS affects your home loan explains what to compare before using your savings to pay it off.

If you and your partner want the home loan in just your name, Westpac has 2 options that may help.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) expects banks to test most new home loans at a rate at least 3% above the actual rate. Since February 2026, banks have also had to limit how much new owner-occupier and investor lending sits at 6 times income or more. These rules do not set your personal limit, but they can reduce how much a bank will lend.

Not sure whether you need an offset? See how an offset account works before comparing the loan features and fees.

Westpac’s broker service page listed these initial-review times when we checked on 11 September 2026. This is when it starts looking at a complete application, not when the loan is approved.

For the 5% Deposit Scheme, Westpac lists 1 business day but also warns that processing may take up to 1 extra business day. We’ll check the queue before you rely on a date in your contract.

Westpac pre-approval generally lasts 90 days. Westpac says you may be able to extend it for another 90 days if you haven’t found a property and your finances haven’t changed.

In the broker applications we handle, that extension means starting a new application. Westpac issues a new application number, runs another credit check and needs your documents submitted again, updated where needed.

Some other lenders can extend the original application without a fresh credit check, subject to their rules. If your search is taking longer, speak to us before the 90 days are up so we can organise the next step.

Westpac may let you refinance without providing the usual 3 months of transaction statements. You still need to prove your income, and Westpac checks your credit history and ability to repay.

If you do not pass its usual borrowing-power check, Westpac may consider testing repayments at 1% above the actual rate instead of 3% above the actual rate. This needs special approval.

There are restrictions on repayments, existing debts and what the new loan can be used for. We’ll start with your existing loan, repayments and debts, then work through the conditions below to see whether this option fits.

If you have more equity now than when your loan started, Westpac does not automatically move you to a better rate bracket. To use that improved equity for pricing, you need to apply for a replacement Westpac loan through an internal refinance.

For example: you bought with a 10% deposit under the 5% Deposit Scheme. 2 years later, the loan is down to 70% of the property's value. Westpac still needs the internal refinance before it will use your improved equity for pricing. It generally waives its internal-refinance fees. If your income, expenses or credit position has changed, you may not qualify for the replacement loan. We’ll assess whether you qualify for the internal refinance, then compare its costs with the alternatives before recommending it.

Westpac usually starts at 40 square metres of internal living area, excluding balconies and car spaces. It also checks the postcode, its existing loans in the complex, how the building is used and how easily the property could be resold.

Some units must also appear on Westpac's approved development list. This is why a pre-approval can still fail after you choose an apartment: the earlier decision checks your finances, not the final address, building or development.

Westpac can consider one or two suitable dwellings on one residential title. To count granny-flat rent, the flat generally needs its own kitchen, bathroom and entrance, with one lease covering the whole property. Westpac can use 90% of eligible rent. Different rules can apply when you live in the main home and receive board.

Separate dwellings and dual-key properties generally need a larger deposit when mortgage insurance is not used. Three or four dwellings need specialist review, and five or more are outside Westpac's standard home-loan rules.

A normal construction loan pays the builder in stages as work is completed. Owner-builder and kit-home projects are much harder to place. For some renovations up to $250k, Westpac may release the money in one amount instead of using progress payments, provided the loan does not need LMI and the current property value is enough.

That $250k figure only applies to this renovation setup. It is not a general limit on extra money released to you.

Westpac can consider some temporary visa holders and eligible Australian or New Zealand expats. Overseas salary income has tighter deposit and currency rules. Overseas business income normally needs separate approval. Westpac does not lend to non-residents.

The visas Westpac accepts can change. We’ll check your visa, how long is left on it, residency, ownership arrangements and income currency. We’ll work through those details and the deposit needed before you make an offer.

If you’re buying with someone else, Westpac generally expects each person on the loan to own at least 30% of the property. If a parent, sibling or other family member will own a smaller share, tell us early. We’ll check that ownership split with Westpac before you commit.

When you buy a property from family for less than market value, Westpac may use the valuation instead of the lower contract price to work out your deposit position. We’ll look at the family relationship, proposed ownership and contract details first, then work through Westpac’s valuation and lending requirements.

We’ll compare how much you can borrow, what you’ll need upfront and the repayments and fees for the same purchase.