When selling one property and purchasing another, the funds from the sale may not be available in time to use for the purchase deposit. There are typically two options in this scenario: a bridging loan or a deposit bond.

Bridging loan

A bridging loan is a short-term home loan designed to allow you to initiate the purchase of a property before you have sold your previous one.

Loan terms are often between six and 12 months and bridging loans generally have a higher interest rate than traditional home loans.

This can be a great option but carries some risk. It’s important to know that you will be able to make the repayments even in a worst-case scenario where your old house doesn’t sell as quickly as you’d hoped or where property values may change unexpectedly.

When you consider that a small flat in Sydney could set you back half a million dollars at the moment, saving a 20% deposit to buy that flat – $100,000 – can seem an insurmountable task. That’s where insurance can help.

Lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) may be an added expense, but it offers buyers the opportunity to dive into the property market earlier, without saving up an entire 20 per cent of the property’s purchase price as a deposit.

What is it?

LMI protects the bank or lender, should a home loan go into default, guaranteeing that the lender will get its money back if the property needs to be sold and there is a shortfall in repaying the loan.