How much deposit you need
A deposit is a line, not a number.
Twenty percent is a step, not a slope. Byrz shows which side of it a price puts you on.
Cash on the day, at twenty percent
Queensland rates, read 2026-08-07$165,375 to $167,375
$150,000 deposit, plus $15,375 to $17,375 of buying costs
How the $15,375 to $17,375 of buying costs splits
About a minute. No account, nothing to an agent.
Byrz does not put a price on any home. Every figure you see is worked out from a price you choose yourself.
Under twenty percent everything still works. The lender carries more of the risk and prices for it, usually with lenders mortgage insurance added to the loan. The insurer and the lender set that premium, so Byrz never quotes one.
Where the line falls
Lenders read this as the loan against the price, not as the deposit. Both columns say the same thing.
- 80 percent or less20 percent deposit or more
No lenders mortgage insurance. The widest choice of lenders and the fewest conditions.
- 80 to 90 percent10 to 20 percent deposit
Lenders mortgage insurance usually applies. Normally added to the loan, so it changes what you owe rather than what you need on the day.
- Above 90 percentUnder 10 percent deposit
Still possible, and the premium varies so much between lenders that Byrz will not give you a range. Ask a lender or a broker.
The green rule is where lenders mortgage insurance starts. Everything below it still works, and most first home buyers are below it.
The data behind it
What the deposit buys you a place in
Rents, mortgages, approvals, social housing. Where a suburb is heading.
Illustrative. Toggle a layer.
- 1,314,360
- Properties
- 1,635,683
- Sale campaigns recorded
- 26
- Map layers, 19 of them government and open data
What a check says it could not do
Byrz could check 6 of 7 parts of this home.
- Budget
- Commute
- Schools
- Specs
- Safety
- Amenity
- Not checked here
An unknown is spoken, never guessed. An empty layer is not an all clear.
Every layer, and where it comes from
Amenities
- SchoolsState school locations, and the catchment boundaries
- HospitalsPublic and private
- Public transportTrain, ferry, light rail and the major interchanges
- ChildcareCentres and early learning places
- Parks & reservesPublic open space
Market and community
- Median monthly mortgagePrice pressure, where sale prices are not open data
- RentsTypical weekly rent, from bond lodgements
- DemographicsPopulation and household profile
- Social housingDwellings by area
The map on this page is an illustration of the layers Byrz holds, not a reading for any real address. Research layers come from third party government and open data, can be incomplete or out of date, and do not cover every address.
Chermside, QLD
Recently sold in this suburb
Recorded sales from the last 12 months, most recent first, one sale per home. As at 25 August 2026.
- 2 bed, 2 bath apartment$1,050,000August 2026
- 3/107 Kittyhawk Drive2 bed, 2 bath apartment$960,000August 2026
- 5/22 Western Avenue2 bed, 2 bath apartment$730,000August 2026
- 8 Mylne Street3 bed, 1 bath house$1,107,000August 2026
These are homes in this suburb that actually sold, and what they sold for, taken from the sale campaigns Byrz records. They are a snapshot as at the date shown, not a live feed, and they are not every sale in the suburb. This is not a valuation and Byrz does not give one: no figure here is about a home you are looking at. A licensed valuer or the selling agent is who to ask about a particular home.
Where the line falls
Lenders read the loan against the price, not the deposit.
Why the lender reads it from the other end
Almost everybody starts with the same sum: ten percent of the price, or twenty if they have read something. What actually decides your position is the size of the loan against the price of the home, because that ratio is what a lender prices, and it shapes what you pay for the rest of the loan's life. Lenders call it the loan to value ratio. Borrow $640,000 against an $800,000 home and it is eighty percent. That is the same fact as a twenty percent deposit, read from the other end, and reading it from the lender's end explains most of what happens next.
Why it is a step and not a slope
Above the line, with a deposit of twenty percent or more, the transaction is ordinary: the widest choice of lenders, the fewest conditions, and no insurance premium attached to the loan. Below the line everything still works, but the lender is carrying more of the risk and will price for it. Moving from a twenty-one percent deposit to a nineteen percent deposit does not cost you slightly more, it moves you into a different product with a one-off cost attached. Nothing about being under twenty percent makes you a bad borrower. Most first home buyers are under it.
Lenders mortgage insurance, plainly
It protects the lender, not you. You pay for it anyway.
Who the insurance is actually for
If you borrow more than eighty percent of the price, a lender will usually add lenders mortgage insurance. Here is the single most misunderstood fact about it: it protects the lender, not you. If you could not repay, the insurer pays the lender and can then pursue you for the shortfall. You pay the premium and you receive none of the cover.
Why Byrz will not quote you a premium
It is normally added to the loan rather than paid on the day, so it does not usually change the cash you need at settlement, but it does mean you borrow more and pay interest on the extra for years. The premium climbs steeply as the deposit shrinks, and above ninety percent it varies so much between lenders and insurers that any range Byrz gave you would mislead you. The insurer and the lender set it, Byrz is neither, so the honest answer is to ask a lender or a broker for yours.
The schemes that can remove it entirely
The First Home Guarantee can remove the premium entirely for some first home buyers, by having the government act as guarantor for the gap instead. Since 1 October 2025 it has no income caps and no annual limit on places, so what decides it is the property price cap for your area and the scheme's own first home rules, not a queue. Queensland's Boost to Buy is the shared equity scheme where places really are limited, released in rounds. Eligibility is decided by the scheme rather than by Byrz either way, so if your deposit is small, it is the first thing to raise with a broker.
The deposit is never the only cash you need
Buying costs land first, out of the same savings account.
What leaves before the deposit does
Buying costs are paid out of the same savings as the deposit, and they land first. In Queensland that means transfer duty wherever a concession does not cover it, the registry fees, the conveyancer and the building and pest inspector. Whatever those come to is money that has left before a single dollar reaches the deposit, which is why the cash you need on the day is always more than the deposit on its own.
The two things both called a deposit
There is a second thing called a deposit, and the collision confuses everyone. The deposit you pay the seller when you sign the contract, usually a small percentage held in trust, is not the deposit the lender means. The lender means your total contribution at settlement. The contract deposit is part of that, not extra to it.
Try it on a real price
Your home, your price, and where the twenty percent line falls.
Byrz does not put a price on any home. Every figure you see is worked out from a price you choose yourself.