Can I Afford to Buy a House? Free Calculator for Australians

Every renter in Australia has had the same thought at 2am: could I actually afford to buy? The problem is that answering this question properly requires juggling half a dozen variables — savings, stamp duty, deposit percentage, interest rates, LMI, and whether your repayments would actually be more or less than your current rent.

Most online calculators only handle one piece of the puzzle. They'll tell you your borrowing capacity or your stamp duty, but not whether you can actually make the jump from renting to owning with the money you have right now.

That's why we built the Can I Afford to Buy Calculator.

What makes this calculator different

Our calculator takes a fundamentally different approach. Instead of asking "how much can you borrow?" (which is what banks care about), it asks "can you replace your rent with mortgage repayments?" — which is what you actually care about.

Here's what it does:

1. Takes your savings and subtracts stamp duty first. Because stamp duty comes out of your savings before your deposit. Most people forget this.
2. Lets you choose your deposit with a slider. See how different deposit amounts change your repayments in real time.
3. Compares repayments to your rent + savings. If you're paying $2,000/mo rent and saving $1,000/mo, that's $3,000/mo you could redirect to a mortgage. Can you afford a house where repayments are under $3,000?
4. Stress-tests interest rates. A rate slider from 2%–12% lets you see what happens if rates move. Can you still afford it at 8%?
5. Shows what's left over. After stamp duty and deposit, how much do you have for legal fees, inspections, moving costs, and a rainy day fund?

The rent-to-repayment mental model

Here's the insight most people miss: when you buy a house, you stop paying rent. That money doesn't disappear — it becomes available for your mortgage repayment. And if you're also saving regularly, that money is freed up too (since you've already used your savings for the deposit).

So your real question is:

Monthly rent + monthly savings = maximum comfortable repayment

If your mortgage repayments are less than this number, you can afford to buy without any lifestyle change. If they're more, you'll need to cut spending elsewhere or look at a cheaper property.

A worked example

Let's say Sarah is a first home buyer in Victoria:

• Savings: $90,000
• Rent: $2,200/mo
• Monthly savings: $800/mo
• Target house: $650,000 (established)
• Interest rate: 6.2%

Here's what the calculator reveals:

• Stamp duty: $0 (FHB exemption in VIC under $600k... wait, $650k is above the $600k threshold, so she'd get a concession — roughly $17,000 reduced to ~$8,500)
• Savings after stamp duty: ~$81,500
• Deposit at 10%: $65,000
• Loan: $585,000
• Monthly repayment: ~$3,590
• Available budget (rent + savings): $3,000
• Verdict: Tight — repayments exceed her budget by ~$590/mo

Sarah has options: look at a $550,000 property instead, increase her savings rate, or wait 6 months to build a larger deposit that reduces the loan amount.

The stamp duty trap

Stamp duty is the silent killer of home-buying dreams. On a $700,000 property in Victoria, stamp duty is approximately $37,000. That's $37,000 of your savings that goes to the government before a single dollar hits your deposit.

State-by-state, here's what stamp duty looks like on a $700,000 established property (non-FHB):

First home buyers get significant stamp duty reductions in most states — which is why our calculator includes the FHB toggle. It can save you $15,000–$37,000 depending on your state and property price.

The interest rate stress test

Banks assess your borrowing capacity at about 3% above the actual product rate. This is called the serviceability buffer. If the current rate is 6.2%, they check whether you can afford repayments at 9.2%.

Our calculator includes a rate slider so you can do this yourself. Here's what rate changes mean on a $600,000 loan over 30 years:

A 2% rate rise adds over $700/mo to repayments on a $600k loan. That's why stress-testing matters.

What the calculator doesn't include (but you should budget for)

• LMI: If your deposit is under 20%, expect $5,000–$40,000 in Lenders Mortgage Insurance. Use our LMI Calculator.
• Legal / conveyancing: $1,500–$3,000
• Building and pest inspection: $500–$800 per property you seriously consider
• Moving costs: $500–$3,000 depending on distance and how much stuff you have
• Council rates: $1,200–$2,500/year (renters don't pay this)
• Home insurance: $1,000–$2,500/year
• Maintenance: Budget 1–2% of property value per year ($7,000–$14,000 on a $700k home)

This is why the "leftover savings" figure in our calculator matters so much. If you're putting 100% of your available savings into stamp duty and deposit, you have zero buffer for these costs.