How long does it take to save a house deposit?

It depends on your savings rate and target. Saving $1,500 per month, it takes about 6–7 years to reach $120,000. Use this calculator to see your personalised timeline.

Should I wait until I have 20% deposit?

It depends on your circumstances. Waiting for 20% avoids LMI but property prices may rise. Buying sooner with a smaller deposit gets you into the market earlier.

Does interest on my savings help?

Yes. A high-interest savings account can add thousands to your deposit over time, shortening your timeline.

Home Deposit Calculator

How long until you save enough for your deposit?

Enter your target deposit (or property price and deposit %), current savings and monthly contributions. We’ll show you how many years or months it will take, with interest.

Your Deposit Goal

Enter your target deposit (or work it out from your target property price and deposit %). Then add your current savings and how much you can save each month.

Target deposit ($)

— or work out from property price —

Property price ($)

Deposit (%)

Current savings ($)

Monthly savings ($)

How much you can save each month

Savings interest rate (% per year)

Time to Reach Your Deposit

How long until you reach your deposit goal

Time to deposit

4.5 years

(54 months)

Balance at goal

$120,534

Shown in future dollars. At 2.5% inflation, $120,534 in 4.5 years buys about $107,858 of today's goods.

Total you’ll contribute

$106,000

Interest earned

$14,534

Progress by year

Year 1$44,593

Year 2$65,087

Year 3$86,522

Year 4$108,941

Goal reached$120,534

How to Use This Calculator

1Enter your target deposit amount or set a property price and deposit percentage
2Add your current savings balance
3Enter how much you can save each month
4Adjust the savings interest rate if your account earns a different rate
5See how long until you reach your deposit goal

What Is a Home Deposit?

A home deposit is the upfront amount you pay when buying a property. The rest is covered by your home loan. Most lenders require at least 5% of the property price, but saving 20% lets you avoid Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI).

The bigger your deposit, the less you need to borrow and the lower your repayments will be. A larger deposit may also help you secure a better interest rate.

How Much Deposit Do You Need?

5% deposit: The minimum most lenders accept, but you'll pay LMI and have higher repayments.
10% deposit: Reduces LMI costs compared to 5%, but you'll still pay some insurance.
20% deposit: Avoids LMI entirely and gives you access to better interest rates.
First Home Buyer schemes: Some government schemes let first home buyers purchase with as little as 2–5% without paying LMI.

What changes how long a deposit takes

•The regular contribution amount and the rate on the account are the two inputs the timeline is most sensitive to. The calculator above separates them.
•The First Home Super Saver Scheme lets eligible first home buyers withdraw certain voluntary super contributions, plus deemed earnings, for a deposit. Those are concessional contributions taxed at 15% going in, and the released amount is taxed on the way out at your marginal rate less an offset of 30 cents in the dollar. Release requires an ATO determination, it takes time to process, and the money cannot be withdrawn for anything else if plans change.
•Lenders mortgage insurance generally applies where the deposit is under a fifth of the price. It insures the lender rather than you, and it is usually capitalised into the loan, so it increases the amount borrowed as well as the amount saved.
•Most lenders look for a portion of the deposit to be genuine savings held over a period, which affects how a lump sum or a gift is treated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official Sources

First Home Super Saver Scheme (ATO)

Estimates only. Not financial or tax advice. Full disclaimer for your rights and our limitations of liability.

About this calculator

This calculator exists to show you the arithmetic. It applies published Australian rates, thresholds and formulas to the numbers you enter and shows the working, so you can check it. That is all it does — it produces a number and describes what the number is. It does not recommend anything and it holds no opinion about any financial product.

What can move this result

It only knows the figures you type in. Offsets, deductions, prior-year losses, other income, your partner's position and anything you have not entered are not in the result, and any of them can move it a long way.
Rates and thresholds change, sometimes mid-year and occasionally with retrospective effect. Each calculator shows the financial year and the verification date it is working from — outside that year the result is wrong rather than approximate.
Assumptions are set to a reasonable default and every non-statutory one can be changed. Defaults are not predictions, and a small change to a growth or inflation assumption compounds into a large change in a long projection.
Where a result reaches two or more years into the future it is shown in today's dollars as well as future dollars, because a future-dollar figure overstates what the money will actually buy.
It is a generic calculator. It is not built around any particular product, it does not compare the market, and it cannot tell you whether a product is suitable for you.

Why these default assumptions are reasonable

Return on deposit savings — 4.5% a year. A house deposit belongs in cash savings, not investments, because the purchase date is too close for market risk — so the default is the site's shared savings account rate: half a point under the best big-four conditional bonus rate in its Consumer Data Right feed. Understating the rate slightly lengthens the projected time to a deposit, which is the safe direction for a purchase plan. Source · You can change this input.

This calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product. Before you make a financial decision, consider obtaining advice from someone who holds an Australian Financial Services Licence. We do not, and we cannot advise you.

Related Tools

LMI Calculator

Estimate LMI when deposit is under 20%

Borrowing Power

See how much you can borrow

Mortgage Calculator

Estimate repayments

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About this calculator

What can move this result

It only knows the figures you type in. Offsets, deductions, prior-year losses, other income, your partner's position and anything you have not entered are not in the result, and any of them can move it a long way.
Rates and thresholds change, sometimes mid-year and occasionally with retrospective effect. Each calculator shows the financial year and the verification date it is working from — outside that year the result is wrong rather than approximate.
Assumptions are set to a reasonable default and every non-statutory one can be changed. Defaults are not predictions, and a small change to a growth or inflation assumption compounds into a large change in a long projection.
Where a result reaches two or more years into the future it is shown in today's dollars as well as future dollars, because a future-dollar figure overstates what the money will actually buy.
It is a generic calculator. It is not built around any particular product, it does not compare the market, and it cannot tell you whether a product is suitable for you.

Why these default assumptions are reasonable

Return on deposit savings — 4.5% a year. A house deposit belongs in cash savings, not investments, because the purchase date is too close for market risk — so the default is the site's shared savings account rate: half a point under the best big-four conditional bonus rate in its Consumer Data Right feed. Understating the rate slightly lengthens the projected time to a deposit, which is the safe direction for a purchase plan. Source · You can change this input.