Invest with confidence.

In many cases, yes. If your home has grown in value or you’ve paid down your loan, you may be able to access the equity — usually up to 80% of your home’s value (sometimes higher with lenders mortgage insurance) — and use it as some or all of the deposit on an investment property. This can mean you don’t need to save a separate cash deposit. It’s worth being aware this often means cross-securing the two properties, so it’s worth discussing whether that structure suits your long-term plans, including if you ever want to sell one property independently of the other.

Interest-only repayments are lower in the short term and can help with cash flow, particularly if you’re relying on rental income to cover the mortgage — but you’re not paying down the loan balance during that period, and interest-only terms are usually capped at 1–5 years before reverting to principal and interest (often at a higher repayment). Principal and interest costs more month to month but builds equity from day one. The right choice depends on your cash flow, your investment horizon, and how long you plan to hold the property — we’ll talk through the numbers with you rather than assume one is automatically better.

Negative gearing and capital gains tax rules for residential investment property changed under legislation that passed in 2026, and the rules now differ depending on when a property is purchased and whether it’s an established home or a new build. This is genuinely a tax question for your accountant, not something we’re licensed to advise on — but the outcome can influence which loan structure makes sense (for example, whether new-build finance suits your strategy better than an established property purchase). See our Learning Centre article on the CGT and negative gearing changes for the detail, and we’re happy to work alongside your accountant once you’ve had that conversation.

Most lenders will count a portion of the expected or actual rental income toward your borrowing capacity — typically around 75–80% of the gross rent, to allow for vacancies, management fees, and maintenance costs. The exact treatment varies by lender, and some are more generous than others depending on whether the property is already tenanted, newly purchased, or still being built. This is one of the areas where comparing across our panel makes a real difference to how much you can borrow.