100% Home Loans: Can I Borrow the Full Purchase Price in 2026?

100% home loans: can I borrow the full purchase price of a property?

Not with a standard home loan. In practice, a 100% home loan in Australia means a family guarantee, where a parent’s property secures part of your loan. That can take you to 100% of the purchase price plus your buying costs. If you’re a first home buyer without a guarantor, the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme lets you borrow 95% with no lenders mortgage insurance (LMI).

Those are the two doors that actually open in 2026. This guide explains how each one works, what “100% plus costs” adds up to on a NSW purchase, and what the lender still checks when you bring no deposit of your own.

Why a standard home loan stops short of 100%

Every home loan is measured by its loan-to-value ratio (LVR): the loan divided by the property’s value. Up to 80% LVR, most lenders lend without mortgage insurance. Above 80%, LMI applies, and the lender’s appetite shrinks the higher you go.

On our panel of 52+ lenders, some go to 95% of the price with the LMI premium added on top. Very rarely, a few will go to 97% or 98% once the premium is included, which means you’re really borrowing around 93% to 94% plus LMI. Either way, the premium eats into the cap, so plan on a deposit of at least 5%, and often 6% to 7% or more, plus stamp duty, plus legal fees, from your own money. Stamp duty isn’t financed on a standard loan.

What about the “100% home loans for professionals” you may have seen advertised? In the policies we see, LMI waivers for eligible professionals such as doctors usually lend up to 90% with no LMI charged, and up to 95% at a small number of lenders, rather than 100%. So for most buyers, reaching 100% means bringing in a guarantor.

How a guarantor loan gets you to 100%

A guarantor loan (also called a family pledge, family guarantee or family security guarantee) lets a family member use the equity in their own property as extra security for your loan. They don’t hand over cash, and they don’t go on the title of your home. Our guarantor home loan guide covers the arrangement in more detail. Here is how it gets you to 100%.

Two securities, one loan

Your lender takes a mortgage over the home you’re buying and a second, limited mortgage over the guarantor’s property. Your property carries the first 80% of its value. The guarantor’s equity covers the shortfall between that and the full loan, so the loan sits inside the 80% LVR line overall. That’s why a guarantor loan usually avoids LMI and is priced at the lower rates that apply at or under 80%.

At least one lender will accept cash held in a term deposit as the guarantee instead of a property. Around 16 lenders on our panel offer a family guarantee, and those that do set different rules on who can guarantee and how much, which narrows the choice of lender from the start.

A limited guarantee, not the whole loan

The guarantee can be limited to a set amount, usually the gap it needs to cover, rather than the whole loan. One lender we use caps it at 20% of the loan. A cap matters to parents: it puts a ceiling on what they could ever be asked to pay, rather than leaving their exposure open-ended. When we set these loans up, the capped guarantee, together with evidence that the buyer can save, is usually what settles a nervous parent.

Releasing the guarantor

A guarantee isn’t meant to last 30 years. Once your loan is small enough, relative to your property’s value, for the lender to hold it against your home alone without LMI, the guarantee can be released. Getting there usually takes a revaluation, a lump-sum repayment, or both.

Plan for it early. At least one lender won’t increase a loan that has a guarantee on it (a top-up) until the guarantee has been removed, so the structure that got you in can limit what you do later.

What the guarantor is taking on

The guarantor is agreeing to pay up to the amount of the guarantee if you can’t, and the lender can sell their property to recover it. Moneysmart’s guide to going guarantor sets out the risks plainly: a default can reach the guarantor’s credit report, and the guarantee can make it harder for them to borrow for themselves while it’s in place.

Several lenders require the guarantor to get legal advice from their own solicitor and provide a solicitor’s certificate. Even where it isn’t required, we recommend it. Expect the guarantor to supply ID, a statement of their financial position, a rates notice or title search, statements for any mortgage on their property, and to allow a lender-ordered valuation. Some lenders also ask for a guarantor declaration and run a credit check.

100% of the price versus 100% plus costs

“100% of the purchase price” and “100% plus costs” are different loans. Buying costs are money you have to find at settlement on top of the price, and on a standard loan they come from your savings. With a family guarantee, around half a dozen lenders on our panel will lend 100% of the price plus all purchase costs, including stamp duty, usually up to about 107% of the price, with a few going to 110%. That means you can buy with no cash of your own.

Here is what that looks like on a $750,000 home in NSW, using the 2026-27 duty rates and an illustrative $3,000 for conveyancing, lender and registration fees:

Transfer duty figures are based on rates effective 1 July 2026, sourced from Revenue NSW. In the first column, 80% of the price ($600,000) sits against your new home and the guarantee covers the remaining $180,937, about 23% of the loan. That’s more than a 20%-of-loan cap allows, so the size of the guarantee you need helps decide which lenders fit. Even the first home buyer’s $153,000 guarantee is just over 20% of the loan.

What “costs” means when you buy in NSW

Stamp duty is the big one. It’s charged on the higher of the price and the market value, on a sliding scale that Revenue NSW adjusts each year in line with inflation, with new rates from 1 July. On a $750,000 purchase at standard rates it’s $27,937; on $1 million it’s about 4% of the price. Run your own figure through our stamp duty calculator.

First home buyers can cut that to nothing. Under the First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme, a new or existing home valued up to $800,000 is fully exempt from transfer duty, and homes between $800,000 and $1 million pay a reduced rate. Our guide to the NSW stamp duty exemption covers who qualifies. The rest of your costs are smaller: conveyancing, mortgage and transfer registration fees, any lender application or valuation fees, and building and pest inspections.

Genuine savings and gifted deposits

“Genuine savings” is money you have built up yourself over time, usually held for at least three months. Most lenders only test for it above 90% LVR, measured before any LMI is added; two lenders on our panel start at 85%, and a few specialist lenders don’t require it at all. A number of lenders accept six months of rent paid on time, shown on a ledger from a licensed agent, in place of a savings history, mostly for first home buyers buying a home to live in.

Because the combined security keeps the loan under 80%, most lenders don’t apply a genuine-savings test to guarantor loans, though one asks for a savings history such as six months of rent paid. That doesn’t mean nobody looks at your money. We’ve had one major bank ask a guarantor-loan couple with no savings for evidence they were paying rent, so show the lender where your money has been going, whether that’s rent or extra repayments on another loan.

Gifts from family are treated differently lender to lender. From 1 September 2026, one major bank counts gifted and inherited funds as genuine savings without the usual three-month holding period. The money has to be in your account when the application goes in, and you sign a statement confirming it doesn’t have to be repaid. At the other end, at least one lender’s LMI waiver won’t accept a gifted deposit at all.

Who can get a 100% home loan, and who can’t

A 100% loan through a family guarantee can suit you if:

• a parent, or at many lenders a sibling, and at a handful a grandparent or adult child, owns property with enough equity and is willing to guarantee part of your loan
• you can service the full loan on your own income; at the lenders whose guarantor policy we have on file, the guarantor’s income isn’t counted
• your credit history is clean and you can show you manage money well
• you’re buying a home to live in, or an investment property at a handful of lenders.

It won’t work if your family’s property has little equity once its own mortgage is counted, or if your income can’t carry the repayments at the lender’s test rate. Retired parents can still help: most lenders assess the loan on your income and don’t require the guarantor to be working, though one lender caps the guarantor’s age at 70 and a few won’t take a guarantor whose only income is a government pension.

If a guarantor isn’t an option: the alternatives

The 5% Deposit Scheme

The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme (formerly the Home Guarantee Scheme) lets eligible first home buyers borrow 95% of the price with no LMI; the government guarantees part of the loan to a participating lender. Single parents and legal guardians can buy with 2%. Since 1 October 2025 there are no income caps and no waitlists.

The property must sit under the price cap for its location: $1.5 million in Sydney and the NSW regional centres, and $800,000 in other parts of NSW. You must live in the home, and you still pay your own stamp duty and fees, though a first home buyer at or under $800,000 pays no duty in NSW. On a $750,000 home that’s a $37,500 deposit and a $712,500 loan. Our 5% Deposit Scheme guide for NSW walks through eligibility.

We’ve had buyers borrowing around 91% keep a competitive rate only because they qualified for the scheme; the same loan outside it would have been priced much higher.

Borrowing 90% to 95% with LMI

If you have a deposit of around 6% to 10% plus your costs, a standard high-LVR loan with LMI is the usual path. The premium is often added to the loan, and it rises steeply as the LVR climbs. Some professions qualify for LMI waivers; see our LMI waivers guide for who qualifies and how far each goes.

A cash gift from family

If your parents would rather not put their home on the line, a cash gift towards the deposit is simpler and ends their exposure the day it’s paid. Get the gift in writing as non-refundable, and move it into your account early so it shows on your statements before you apply.

A personal loan for the deposit

This is the one we steer people away from. A personal loan can cover the deposit or stamp duty, but its repayments come out of your borrowing capacity, so it solves a cash problem by creating a servicing one. Lenders generally don’t treat borrowed money as genuine savings, and most won’t accept a borrowed deposit at all, though a few will count a family loan as funds to complete if the repayment is included in servicing.

Can I borrow 100% for an investment property?

Yes, if you already own a property with enough equity. Rather than a guarantor, you use your own home as the second security. One loan draws on the equity in your home to cover the deposit and costs, and a second loan covers the rest of the new purchase, each usually kept at or under 80% LVR to avoid LMI. The new property ends up fully funded by borrowing. Our guide to buying a second property with equity shows how the loans are structured and how to keep the two properties from being tied together.

Servicing still decides how much you can borrow

A guarantee solves the deposit, not the repayments. The lender assesses your income and expenses against repayments on the full loan, including the capitalised costs, and APRA expects banks to test that at a rate at least 3% above your actual rate. Borrowing 104% of the price means a bigger loan than someone putting 20% down would carry, so check your borrowing power at the full loan amount before you start house hunting.

Sometimes the right answer is “not this house yet”. We once worked with a renting family who were about $144,000 short of the deposit for the home they wanted, and the repayments would have run well past their comfort level. Rather than stretch them, we set out the real options: a gift or a guarantee from family, building the deposit faster through the First Home Super Saver scheme, or buying an investment property first to grow equity. Naming the gap is more useful than pretending the number works.

Frequently asked questions

Can you get a 100% home loan in Australia?

In practice, only with a family guarantee. A standard loan stops at around 95% of the price plus LMI. With a parent, or at many lenders a sibling, guaranteeing part of the loan against their property, some lenders will lend 100% of the price, and around half a dozen on our panel will also lend the purchase costs, including stamp duty.

Can you borrow more than the purchase price of a house?

Yes, with a family guarantee. Around half a dozen lenders on our panel will lend the full price plus buying costs such as stamp duty and legal fees, usually up to about 107% of the price. On a $750,000 NSW purchase by a buyer who isn’t a first home buyer, that’s a loan of about 104% of the price. Without a guarantee, buying costs come from your own savings.

Do I need a deposit if I have a guarantor?

Not necessarily. The guarantor’s equity can stand in for the whole deposit and the costs. The lender will still check that you can service the loan on your own income. Because the guarantee keeps the loan under 80%, most lenders don’t apply a genuine-savings test, though one asks for a savings history such as six months of rent paid.

Can I get a 100% home loan without a guarantor?

Not from the mainstream lenders we work with. Without a guarantor the practical ceiling is 95% plus LMI, or 90% to 95% with no LMI for professionals who qualify for a waiver. First home buyers can borrow 95% with no LMI through the 5% Deposit Scheme.

Is the 5% Deposit Scheme a 100% loan?

No. It lets eligible first home buyers borrow 95% of the price without paying LMI, and single parents or legal guardians 98%. You still need the deposit plus your stamp duty and fees, although a first home buyer in NSW pays no duty on a home valued up to $800,000.

How does a guarantor get released from the loan?

Once your loan is small enough, compared with your property’s value, for the lender to hold it on your home alone without LMI. That usually takes a revaluation after your property has grown in value, a lump-sum repayment, or both. The lender then discharges the mortgage over the guarantor’s property.

Talk to us about a 100% home loan

We’ve been structuring guarantor and low-deposit loans since 2001. Before anything is lodged, we check which lenders on our 52+ panel will lend 100% plus costs, how they size the guarantee and how they treat your savings. Call us on (02) 8004 7459 and we’ll tell you which route fits your family and your deposit.

This article contains general information only and does not constitute financial advice. Your personal financial situation, objectives and needs have not been considered. Before acting on any information, you should consider its appropriateness to your circumstances. Speak to a qualified mortgage broker for advice tailored to your situation. Mortgage World Australia Pty Ltd is a credit representative (CR No. 396946) of Mortgage Specialists Pty Ltd (Australian Credit Licence No. 387025).

Patrick O'Brien

Patrick is a Director and a Home Loan Specialist. He has been helping Australians with home loans since 2001. Prior to working as a mortgage broker Patrick was employed by Macquarie Bank for 3 years and also worked as an accountant for a publicly listed company. Patrick’s qualifications include:

Bachelor of Business, UTS Sydney. Majored in accounting and sub-majored in Finance and Marketing.
Diploma of Finance and Mortgage Broking Management FNS50310
Certificate IV in Financial Services (Finance/Mortgage Broking) FNS40804