Resources
Glossary
The terms you'll hear from agents, lenders and us, in plain English.
- Borrowing capacity
- The most a lender will lend you, based on income, expenses, debts and a buffer on the interest rate. Ask a broker.
- Buyer's agent
- A licensed agent who acts for the buyer, not the seller. We're paid only by our clients.
- Capital gains tax (CGT)
- Tax on the profit when you sell an investment. From 1 July 2027 it uses an inflation-indexed cost base with a 30% minimum rate for resident individuals.
- Cost base
- What the property cost you for tax purposes: price plus buying costs such as stamp duty and legal fees.
- Days on market
- How long homes take to sell. Rising days on market usually means buyers have more power.
- Deposit
- The part of the price you pay from your own money. 20% usually avoids lenders mortgage insurance.
- Equity
- The value of a property minus the loan on it. Usable equity is usually 80% of the value minus the loan.
- Gross yield
- A year's rent divided by the price. A $650,000 house rented at $560 a week has a gross yield of about 4.5%.
- Interest only (IO)
- A loan where you pay only the interest for a set period. Repayments are lower; the debt doesn't fall.
- IRSAD
- An ABS index of an area's relative advantage and disadvantage, from 1 (most disadvantaged) to 10.
- LMI
- Lenders mortgage insurance. Usually charged when you borrow more than 80% of the value. It protects the lender, not you.
- LVR
- Loan to value ratio: the loan divided by the property's value.
- Negative gearing
- When a property costs more to hold than it earns. For established property bought after 12 May 2026, from 1 July 2027 those losses only offset residential property income.
- Net yield
- Rent minus running costs (not the loan), divided by the price.
- Off-market
- A property sold without public advertising, usually through agent networks.
- A small area inside a suburb, a few hundred homes. Two pockets in one suburb can perform very differently.
- Pre-approval
- A lender's conditional agreement to lend up to an amount. Get one before making offers.
- Stock on market
- Homes for sale as a share of all homes. Low stock with steady demand tends to support prices.
- Vacancy rate
- The share of rental homes that are empty. Under about 2% is tight; over about 3.5% is a warning.
- Years to own
- How many years of local household income it takes to buy a typical home. Higher means less affordable.
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