Mortgage pre-approval gives you a conditional lending amount before you have found a property. It helps you understand what a lender may be prepared to lend, what conditions still need to be met, and what price range may be realistic before you start making offers.
Mortgage pre-approval is a conditional approval from a lender showing the amount they may be prepared to lend, subject to conditions.
The lender reviews your financial position before you have chosen a property. This usually includes your income, expenses, debts, deposit, credit history, account conduct, and where your deposit has come from.
If the lender is comfortable with the application, you will receive an approved lending amount, an expiry date, and a list of conditions that still need to be met.
Pre-approval is useful because it gives you a clearer price range before you start looking seriously or making offers.
It is not final approval. The lender still needs to accept the property and confirm that all conditions have been met before the loan can proceed.
Pre-approval helps you understand what a lender may be prepared to lend before you make an offer on a home.
It can help you:
Pre-approval can also highlight issues early.
Things like a high credit limit, short employment history, unexplained deposit, gifted funds, or account conduct questions are easier to deal with before you are inside a finance condition period.
The goal is to know where you stand before the pressure of a property deadline.
The amount on your pre-approval letter is the loan amount, not the total amount you can spend.
Your practical buying number depends on your approved lending, the deposit you can actually use, and the cash you need to keep aside for other costs.
Those costs may include:
Your approval letter may also include a maximum purchase price, minimum deposit requirement, or property conditions.
We help check the loan amount, deposit, price limit, and lender conditions before you make an offer.
Use our borrowing power calculator for an early estimate. Formal pre-approval is where a lender assesses the real application.
At this purchase price, the loan would be around 79% of the property value.
That means the application is below 80% LVR, which may give access to a wider range of lender options than a low-deposit application, subject to lender criteria.
At this purchase price, the loan would be around 90% of the property value.
That is low-deposit lending. It may involve stricter lender criteria, fewer lender options, and low-equity costs such as a low equity margin or premium.
That does not mean it cannot work. It means the application needs to be matched carefully with lender policy before it is submitted.
A lender is usually trying to answer two main questions: can you afford the loan, and does the application fit the lender's policy?
To assess this, the lender may look at:
Banks do not assess affordability only at the rate you may pay on settlement day. They usually test the loan at a higher servicing rate to check whether repayments would still be manageable if rates changed.
This is one reason a lender's approved amount can be lower than an online calculator estimate.
Reserve Bank rules also sit alongside lender affordability policy.
Owner-occupier lending above six times gross annual income is treated as high-DTI lending. Banks are limited in how much high-DTI lending they can write, and they still apply their own affordability rules.
Deposit rules also matter. Banks can do some owner-occupier lending above 80% LVR, but low-deposit lending is limited, and each lender applies its own criteria.
A complete document pack can help reduce delays.
The exact documents depend on the lender, your income type, your deposit source, and the type of property you want to buy.
Most applicants should be ready with:
If you are self-employed, the lender may ask for financial statements, tax returns, recent accounts, and business bank statements.
Some lenders may consider shorter trading periods or more recent management accounts, depending on the business, income history, and reason for the application.
We check the documents before the application is submitted.
If there is an unusual transfer, one-off expense, gifted deposit, or income detail that needs explaining, it is usually better to deal with it upfront rather than waiting for the lender to ask later.
Timing depends on the lender, the strength of the application, and how complete the documents are.
A straightforward application may be assessed within a few working days.
Applications can take longer if there is missing information, self-employed income, low deposit lending, unusual property plans, gifted funds, or busy lender queues.
We can let you know the current lender timeframe before submitting the application.
Pre-approval commonly lasts for up to three months, but the exact expiry date will be shown on your approval letter.
If you are still searching near expiry, the lender may need to reassess the file. This may include updated payslips, bank statements, a new credit check, or assessment under current lender policy and servicing rates.
An extension is not automatic.
Pre-approval alone is usually not enough for an auction.
An auction purchase is normally unconditional. This means you cannot add a finance condition after winning the bid.
Before auction day, the lender needs to assess the specific property and confirm whether it is acceptable as security.
The lender may need the property address, sale and purchase agreement, title, insurance confirmation, registered valuation, or other property documents.
Your lawyer should also review the auction terms, title, and property documents before you bid. Building inspections and other due diligence should be completed before auction day.
Your maximum bid should take into account:
We help check the finance side before auction day, but your lawyer confirms the legal position and auction risk.
Yes. Pre-approval is conditional.
The lender can revisit the application before final approval or settlement if something changes or if a condition is not met.
Your approval may be affected if:
Tell us before taking on new credit, changing jobs, reducing hours, or using deposit funds.
Even a credit card with a zero balance may affect borrowing because many lenders assess the credit limit as available debt.
Once you find a property, the lender must confirm the loan before a conditional offer goes unconditional. Your lawyer should confirm when the sale and purchase agreement becomes binding.
It is usually better to compare lender policy first, then submit a clear application to the lender that appears to fit best.
Repeated credit applications over a short period may also affect how your credit file looks to lenders.
We compare lender policy before submitting. This includes deposit rules, accepted income, servicing, turnaround time, property type, and the kind of loan you are applying for.
Once we understand the position, we prepare one clear application.
If that lender declines or adds a condition that makes the loan unworkable, we can reassess the next step using the same core documents.
Sometimes an early assessment is more useful than submitting a formal pre-approval application straight away.
Pre-approval may be too early if you are still many months away from buying, your deposit is not ready, your income is about to change, or you are not yet sure what type of property you want.
Pre-approvals usually expire, so applying too early can mean needing to reassess the file later anyway.
In that case, we can start with an early assessment. This can help you understand a working price range, what documents may be needed, and what steps may improve the application before formal pre-approval.
It may also be better to pause before applying if:
The goal is to submit the application at the right time, with the right lender, and with the strongest information available.
Mortgage pre-approval can make the buying process clearer, but it needs to be prepared properly. Sarah helps you understand your position, prepare the documents, compare lender policy, and work through the conditions before you make an offer.
Get My Pre-ApprovalWe review your deposit, income, debts, spending, and preferred repayment level. This helps identify both the possible maximum lending amount and a more comfortable working range.
We review your statements, credit position, deposit source, and application details before the lender does. If something needs explaining or improving, it is better to know early.
We compare your application against current bank and non-bank lender policy. This helps identify which lender may be the best fit before anything is submitted.
We package the documents, explain anything unusual, and deal with lender questions. Nothing is submitted to a lender without your approval.
If pre-approval is issued, we help you understand the approval letter. This includes the approved lending amount, deposit needed, price limit, expiry date, property requirements, and any conditions still to be met.
When you find a property, we send the property details to the lender and help work through the remaining finance conditions. Your lawyer handles the contract and confirms when it is safe to go unconditional.
Sarah is super helpful and easy to work with, she actively communicated and answered all of my silly questions quickly. Highly recommend her for first home buyers and buyers in general. Great to work with and very informed!
Sarah was absolutely amazing in guiding us through the process as first home buyers. She truly went above and beyond, taking the time to answer all of our (sometimes silly!) questions and making sure we felt supported every step of the way. She was always available to help, even on weekends, whether by call or text, which made such a stressful process feel so much easier. We would highly recommend Sarah and couldn’t have asked for a better experience.
Sarah been amazing to deal with! She has helped my partner and I get into our first home. She answered all our thousands of questions! Which really helped us understand the process :) (thanks Sarah!!)
I had the pleasure of working with Sarah as my mortgage advisor for purchasing my first home, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her support throughout the process. From the very beginning, she was extremely helpful and transparent, explaining every detail in a way that made everything clear and easy to understand. I thought it would be a stressful and overwhelming experience but it was smooth and straightforward thanks to her guidance. She made the whole journey feel effortless. I would highly recommend Sarah to anyone looking for a reliable and supportive mortgage advisor.
Sarah has gone above and beyond for us and has been an amazing support while we were buying our first home! She was always available to answer any of our weird and wonderful questions and was super knowledgeable about all aspects of the process. We cannot thank her or recommend her enough! Thanks Sarah :-)
Sarah was awesome to deal with and helped us get into our first home :) She was super flexible with meeting times and uses google meets so that we could take the meeting from anywhere. Sarah is super friendly and no question was a dumb question for her, which made us feel really comfortable. She explained each step of the process really clearly and helped us apply for a home loan with the banks, fix our home loan and will be following us up when its time to re-fix. 10/10!
No. Pre-approval is conditional approval based on your financial position up to a stated amount.
Final approval comes after the lender accepts the property, confirms the remaining conditions, and issues final loan documents.
No. Pre-approval is conditional.
The lender can decline the property or reassess the application if your circumstances, credit information, deposit, lender policy, or the property details change.
Always read the expiry date and every condition on the approval letter.
Pre-approval commonly lasts for up to three months, but the exact period depends on the lender and will be shown on the approval letter.
A renewal may require updated payslips, bank statements, a new credit check, and reassessment under current lender rules.
Potentially. A lender may record a credit enquiry when assessing the application.
One well-prepared application is different from sending repeated applications to several lenders in a short period.
We compare lender fit before applying to help avoid unnecessary applications.
It depends on the lender, your income, property type, deposit source, and overall application.
Many lenders prefer at least a 20% deposit, but some low-deposit options may be available for eligible borrowers.
A smaller deposit may mean stricter lender criteria, low-equity costs, and fewer lender options.
See our low deposit home loan guide for more detail.
Yes. That is the purpose of pre-approval.
The lender assesses your financial position first, then checks the property details when you find a home.
The property still needs to be acceptable to the lender before final approval.
Yes, if the seller accepts that condition.
Your lawyer should write or check the finance clause and confirm the timeframe needed for the lender to approve the property.
A generic finance clause may not protect you in every situation, so legal advice is important before signing.
Not by itself.
Before bidding at auction, the lender should be given the property details and asked to confirm whether the property is acceptable.
Your lawyer and building inspector should complete their checks before auction day, because the winning bid is usually unconditional.
Usually no.
Pre-approval normally confirms the conditional lending amount, not the final interest rate or full loan structure.
The available rate is usually confirmed closer to settlement, subject to lender rules and any rate-lock options available at the time.
Yes. Self-employed borrowers can apply for pre-approval.
Most lenders will want financial statements, tax returns, and recent business information. Some lenders may consider a shorter trading history or more recent accounts, depending on the business and the reason behind the figures.
No. A pre-approval belongs to the lender that issued it.
You can apply with another lender, but that lender will complete its own assessment and may approve a different amount, add different conditions, or decline the application.
There is no adviser fee payable by you for our mortgage advice service.
If your loan settles, we are paid by the lender you choose. This does not get added to your loan as a separate adviser fee.
How we are paid, including any lender commissions, is explained clearly in our Disclosure Statement.
In most cases our advice costs you nothing. We're paid by the lender you choose. In a small number of situations a fee applies, and we'll always tell you before any work starts. We're paid much the same whichever lender you go with, so the recommendation is about the loan, not the commission.
