There is no single lender rule saying every first-home buyer needs 5% genuine savings. At higher LVRs, a genuine-savings requirement appears frequently across lenders, but the exact threshold, the history required and the accepted alternatives vary by lender and product, and it’s a separate question from the government scheme’s saved-deposit rule.
Three different terms, three different meanings
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Deposit / cash contribution | The money or equity you’re contributing to the purchase, can come from more than one source |
| 5% Deposit Scheme minimum | Housing Australia’s current rule: first-home buyers need a saved minimum deposit of 5% (2% for eligible single parents) |
| Genuine savings | A separate lender credit-policy concept, amount, history and accepted alternatives differ by lender/product/LVR |
How the requirement tends to scale with LVR
- Up to 80% LVR: specific genuine-savings rules are often less restrictive, though the source of your funds still needs to make sense and may need verification
- 80–85%: many standard pathways remain, but product/lender policy still determines deposit evidence
- 85–90%: some policies start applying specific genuine-savings requirements in this range
- Above 90% / high LVR: a roughly 5% genuine-savings/contribution concept and a savings-history requirement (commonly around three months) appear frequently, though rental-history and gift alternatives vary by policy
Sources that can count
Personal savings, term deposits, shares, equity or sale proceeds from another property, and FHSS released funds are all sources that can count toward genuine savings under many policies. Gifted or borrowed funds may be usable as a deposit contribution, but often don’t satisfy the genuine-savings requirement on their own, some policies still want a portion of actual genuine savings alongside a gift, particularly at higher LVRs. A documented rental-history record is accepted as an alternative under some (not all) policies.
What to prepare
- Bank statements showing your savings history and pattern
- A breakdown of your deposit by source, savings, gift, FHSS, other
- Rental payment history if you don’t have three months of formal savings evidence
Next step: work through your own deposit composition in the Scenario Lens‘s Genuine Savings tab, then talk with KartikKumar about which lenders fit your deposit mix and LVR.