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A deposit is only one part of the cash needed to buy a home. Build a dated list of inspections, legal costs, duty, lender charges, settlement adjustments, moving and an accessible reserve. Verify duty and assistance with the property’s state or territory and your conveyancer. A grant or concession is not available cash until eligibility, amount and timing are established. Elaris uses costs you enter; it does not calculate state duty or approve assistance.
Begin with a payment calendar
A purchase budget can balance overall and still fail because a payment arrives too early. Inspections, a contract deposit, legal work and settlement amounts may fall on different dates. Ask for the actual sequence for the property and transaction rather than assuming every expense is due at settlement.
Create one row for each payment showing amount, due date, source of cash and whether it is verified. Keep unknown costs visible. Entering zero for a missing quote makes the total look complete while preserving none of the uncertainty.
MoneySmart’s house-buying guidance encourages a realistic assessment of repayments and costs. Apply the same discipline to the purchase process itself. A lender willing to provide the loan does not mean the household has independently budgeted for every cash obligation or retained an appropriate reserve.
Source: MoneySmart: buying a house
Keep the deposit and loan arithmetic clear
For a fictional $700,000 purchase, a $105,000 deposit represents 15% of the price and leaves a $595,000 base loan before any financed charges. The deposit is part of the price, not an extra charge on top of a fully funded purchase price.
If a fictional $20,000 of other costs must be paid from savings and the household retains $10,000, the total cash target is $135,000. That combines deposit, entered costs and reserve. These cost figures are placeholders, not duty estimates or normal Australian purchase costs.
Avoid counting a contract deposit twice. If $35,000 already paid under the contract forms part of the $105,000 total deposit, the remaining deposit contribution is $70,000. Confirm the treatment with the conveyancer and lender using the actual settlement statement.
Find the correct duty authority before assuming a concession
Transfer duty is administered by the relevant state or territory. Property type, value, ownership history, residency, contract date and use can affect the result. A rule quoted for another state or an older transaction date may not apply.
Revenue NSW provides a First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme pathway, while Victoria’s State Revenue Office provides land-transfer duty information and first-home concession guidance. These are examples of official state sources, not a statement that their thresholds apply nationally.
Use the authority for the property location and obtain the actual calculation or assessment through the appropriate professional process. Record whether a concession is confirmed, still being assessed or unavailable. Do not use a social-media headline as evidence that duty will be zero.
Sources: Revenue NSW: First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme · Victoria SRO: understanding land-transfer duty
A grant and a duty concession do different jobs
A grant may be a payment under conditions, while a duty concession reduces a particular tax liability. A government lending guarantee is another arrangement again. A scheme name that includes “first home” does not mean every buyer, property or transaction qualifies.
Record each potential benefit separately with the administering agency, eligibility evidence, amount, expected payment or reduction date and current status. Do not add the advertised maximum for every program together. Some conditions may interact or apply only to particular property types.
For a fictional $10,000 benefit expected after a payment is due, the household still needs another source for that earlier obligation. The calendar matters as much as the eventual net cost. Ask the agency or conveyancer about timing before treating the benefit as deposit cash.
Collect actual quotes for professional and property checks
Legal or conveyancing work, inspections and reports have scopes as well as prices. Ask what is included, what is additional and when the fee becomes payable. A cheaper initial quote may exclude searches or disbursements that another quote includes.
Property-specific documents can identify obligations not visible in the listing. Strata or owners-corporation arrangements, planned works, insurance requirements and settlement adjustments deserve the relevant professional review. This guide does not interpret contracts or assess a property’s condition.
For each quote, retain its date and assumptions. If the transaction changes from an established dwelling to land and construction, revisit the whole list rather than reusing the old total. The funding and payment sequence can be materially different even when the headline property price appears similar.
Keep lender charges and insurance distinct
Ask the lender for the proposed loan amount, any charges financed into it and any cash charges due at settlement. If lenders mortgage insurance applies, understand that it protects the lender rather than being household income protection. Its amount and treatment depend on the actual arrangement.
A financed charge does not disappear from the cost. It increases the amount borrowed and can create additional interest over time. A cash-paid charge affects the immediate savings requirement instead. Show the chosen treatment consistently on the balance sheet.
The loan-to-value ratio also needs a defined denominator. A lender’s valuation may differ from the agreed purchase price. Do not assume a deposit percentage alone proves that lending conditions or insurance requirements are satisfied. Obtain the written assessment for the actual property.
Source: Insurance Council of Australia: lenders mortgage insurance
Plan the first month after getting the keys
Buying the property can change insurance, utilities, transport, furniture and maintenance needs. A household that uses every accessible dollar at settlement may then rely on borrowing for ordinary setup costs. List the essentials before committing to optional upgrades.
For illustration, fictional moving and connection costs of $2,400 plus $1,600 of immediate necessary work create a $4,000 cash requirement. If the budget already includes a $4,000 moving allocation, do not add the same amount again under “unexpected costs.” Conversely, do not assume an emergency reserve is uncommitted if it has already been assigned to these tasks.
Use the first-year calendar for rates, insurance and other known costs. Monthly averages help compare affordability; actual dates show whether the cash is present. Keep those two views alongside one another.
Reconcile the final documents before transferring money
Compare the settlement statement, lender figures and your savings record. Identify the deposit already paid, remaining cash contribution, duty, adjustments and financed amounts. Ask the relevant professional to explain any discrepancy before relying on the total.
Independently verify payment instructions through trusted contact channels, especially if emailed bank details change. A familiar-looking message is not proof that the destination is correct. Keep confirmations privately rather than sharing sensitive settlement documents in a public tool.
Elaris’s home planner can add your entered deposit, costs and chosen buffer and estimate a conventional monthly repayment. It does not fetch duty, inspect contracts, determine grants or guarantee lender approval. Its most useful role is revealing the missing inputs you need to verify before the budget can be considered complete.
For a joint purchase, record who supplies each amount and when it will be transferred. A combined savings total can conceal that one person's money is unavailable until another transaction completes. Ownership and contribution arrangements also deserve legal advice where relevant. Keep the practical funding calendar consistent with the agreement, without assuming that informal promises or an anticipated gift will necessarily be available by the due date.
Separate a cost estimate from evidence that it has been paid. If a fictional $1,800 legal invoice has already been settled from savings, the current bank balance is lower and the remaining cost list should show it as paid. Leaving it unpaid in the list while using the reduced bank balance can count the same cash requirement twice. Mark each item estimated, invoiced or paid, with a date, so the remaining gap can be reconciled.
FAQ: How much extra should I allow beyond the deposit?
There is no single amount that applies to every Australian purchase. Get the state duty calculation, professional quotes, lender charges and property-specific costs, then retain a separately chosen reserve. A percentage rule can be a rough placeholder, but it should be replaced with actual figures before commitment.
FAQ: Can a first-home concession remove all purchase costs?
No. Even if a particular duty concession applies, other legal, inspection, lending and moving costs may remain. Confirm the concession independently and keep the rest of the budget intact. Do not label the transaction “cost-free” because one item has been reduced.
FAQ: Is the contract deposit extra to my home-loan deposit?
It commonly forms part of the buyer’s overall price contribution, but the actual contract and financing arrangements need checking. Record what has already been paid and subtract it once from the remaining cash required. Ask the conveyancer to reconcile the settlement statement.
FAQ: Can Elaris calculate the duty for me?
No. Enter the amount verified through the relevant state or territory process and your conveyancer. The planner does not determine concession eligibility, foreign-purchaser treatment or grants. Keep an unknown amount marked as needing confirmation rather than replacing it with zero.
Put the next step into practice
Use your own confirmed figures and keep outstanding questions visible. Core tools are free, with no bank connection or compulsory account.
Open the Home purchase planner ↗Sources and editorial notes
Sources checked 24 October 2026. Worked examples are fictional illustrations. Rules, eligibility and product terms can change; use the official source for your circumstances.
- MoneySmart: buying a house ↗
- Revenue NSW: First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme ↗
- Victoria SRO: understanding land-transfer duty ↗
- Insurance Council of Australia: lenders mortgage insurance ↗
General information, not an individual financial or legal assessment. AI-assisted drafting with source checks; independent professional review has not been completed. How we prepare our guides · Suggest a correction