Most lenders will fund up to 90% of an investment property’s value, meaning you generally need a minimum 10% deposit. That said, borrowing above 80% usually means paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI), which adds a real cost to the loan. Many investors aim for a 20% deposit specifically to avoid LMI and keep more equity buffer from day one. Your serviceability, rental yield estimates, and existing debts will also affect how much a lender is actually willing to approve — this is exactly the kind of thing worth running past a broker before you start looking at properties.

It depends on your goals, timeframe, and how the numbers stack up — not on headlines. Two things have shifted the calculation recently: interest rates remain well above the ultra-low levels of 2020–2022, and negative gearing rules are changing. From 12 May 2026, negative gearing is being phased out for established residential properties (fully removed for new purchases from 1 July 2027), though new-build and off-the-plan properties retain access to negative gearing and the CGT discount. This means the case for investing now rests more heavily on capital growth and rental yield than on the annual tax offset alone. It’s still very possible to build a strong portfolio — it just needs to be modelled properly against today’s rules, not 2021’s.

No — 20% is common but not mandatory. Many lenders will approve investment loans with a 10% deposit. The trade-off is LMI, which can add several thousand dollars to your upfront costs and doesn’t disappear if you sell early. Whether it’s worth paying LMI to enter the market sooner, versus saving longer for 20%, comes down to how quickly the property is likely to grow in value versus the LMI cost — a broker can model both scenarios side by side.

There’s no single “best” structure — it depends on your existing loans, whether you own your home outright or still have a mortgage, and your tax position. Common approaches include using equity in an existing property as the deposit, choosing interest-only repayments to maximise cash flow (though this affects how quickly you build equity), and keeping investment debt separate from your home loan for cleaner tax reporting. Cross-collateralising multiple properties under one lender can simplify admin but reduces flexibility later — something to weigh carefully before agreeing to it.

No. Lenders assess borrowing capacity based on serviceability and loan term relative to your retirement age, not an arbitrary “too old to start” cutoff. Many lenders will still approve loan terms extending into your late 60s or beyond, provided serviceability supports it. Starting later can mean a shorter investment horizon to plan around, but it doesn’t rule out property as a strategy — it just changes the structure and timeline worth targeting.

Yes, though the documentation lenders want differs from a standard PAYG applicant. Most lenders ask for two years of tax returns and notices of assessment, though low-doc options exist for business owners who can’t meet standard requirements. Rental income from the property itself is also factored into serviceability (usually at a discounted rate, e.g. 70–80% of estimated rent), which can materially change how much you’re able to borrow. This is an area where going through a broker rather than direct-to-bank tends to matter most, since policies vary a lot between lenders.