The Inner West is not one property market: a new apartment near Homebush, a 1960s walk-up in Ashfield and a family home in Strathfield are three different lending problems. Charles works out which lender’s rules already fit what you are buying.
Choose the lender for the property, not just for your income. Period houses bring heritage controls and unapproved additions instead.
Charles matches each purchase to a lender whose policy already fits it, before the valuation is paid for.
Across the 56 Inner West suburbs on this page apartments are 49 per cent of homes against 21.7 per cent statewide and 44 per cent of households rent, so strata health, building size and postcode limits decide more loans here than anywhere else in Sydney.
Buying in Inner West Sydney? Yours could be next.
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Two sliders. See what your parents would need to guarantee.
How a parent’s equity can stand in for the deposit, often with no LMI.
With a family guarantee covering that portion, you could potentially buy with your $30,000 and no LMI. Costs assume NSW first home buyer duty.
Limited to this portion, secured against the guarantor’s property, released once you reach 20% equity, subject to lender approval. Indicative only, not credit advice.
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As a first home buyer, I was pretty overwhelmed at the start, but Charles made everything much easier. He explained the process step by step and helped me understand my borrowing options. His professionalism and responsiveness were excellent.
I honestly couldn’t recommend Links Property Finance and Charles highly enough. After speaking with others who weren’t able to help me, Charles went above and beyond to understand my situation…
Charles and the team recently assisted me with the refinance of my investment property.
Across the 56 suburbs on this page, apartments are 49% of homes against 21.7% statewide, and 44% of households rent. That mix is why lender rules on strata, building size and postcode come up so often here.
separate houses NSW 65.6% · highest Rodd Point (92.4%)
terraces and semis NSW 11.7%
apartments NSW 21.7% · highest Rhodes (95.1%)
rented homes NSW 32.6% · highest Pyrmont (61.7%)
homes with a mortgage NSW 32.5%
private dwellings counted 56 suburbs on this page
Weighted by dwellings across the 56 suburbs this page covers. Source: ABS Census 2021, Suburbs and Localities.
Find your suburb, see how it sits in the region, then open its page for the local lending detail.
PyrmontGlebeStanmoreForest LodgeRozelleCamperdownAlexandriaBalmain EastBalmainBirchgroveLeichhardtEnmoreAnnandaleLilyfieldErskinevillePetershamDrummoyneHaberfieldSummer HillMarrickvilleSt PetersLewishamDulwich HillRussell LeaAshfieldSydenhamAshburyChiswickRodd PointTempeCroydonConcordBurwood HeightsEarlwoodAbbotsfordFive DockMortlakeWareembaCanada BayEnfieldNorth StrathfieldBurwoodRhodesHomebushCroydon ParkBelfieldStrathfield SouthHomebush WestClemton ParkStrathfieldConcord WestCabaritaBreakfast PointLiberty GroveNewington
Distances and councils from each suburb's published profile; housing mix from ABS Census 2021 dwelling structure. Every suburb links to its own page, which covers what lenders look for locally.
Most Inner West files are a first home purchase, a refinance, a family guarantee or an investment loan, and each guide covers how lenders treat it. The examples below are the situations most particular to the area.
Charles Touma, Mortgage Broker.
Age and density. A lot of the housing is old, a lot of it is attached or strata-titled, and prices in most suburbs sit above the level where the first home buyer schemes do all the work on their own.
What differs suburb by suburb is which lender policy bites: minimum unit size near Burwood station, company title in Ashfield and Glebe, off-the-plan valuations at Homebush, title type in Croydon.
Most people plan around their income, deposit and credit file, which is half the assessment. Two lenders can approve the same buyer and disagree on the same flat.
The lender’s security is the property, so the strata report, the building’s size and age, the postcode and the title type all shape the maximum loan and the deposit required.
No. Home loans are written the same way across Australia and run on phone, video and secure document upload. What matters is whether your broker knows the lender policies that affect the specific property.
Our guide to choosing a mortgage broker in Sydney lists what to ask. Links is based in Enfield, with no shopfront, and works across the whole Inner West.
Not directly: the lender assesses the type of property that clusters around the transport link, not the link itself.
Near the rail line through Burwood and Strathfield that is usually a unit, so size, strata and building limits come first. Near the harbour it is more often a terrace on a narrow block.
Yes, for eligible first home buyers under the $1.5 million Sydney cap, with no income caps and unlimited places. Many Inner West apartments and some semis sit inside the cap; the NSW stamp duty exemption to $800,000 and concession to $1 million are assessed separately.
A panel of more than 70 lenders including ANZ, Westpac, Macquarie, ING and Resimac, chosen after your file and the property are read, not before. There is no broker fee on most loans; the lender pays a commission, disclosed in writing before you sign anything.
The strata report, the internal floor area, the building’s size and age, and whether the title is strata or company. Those four decide which lenders will approve the flat and at what deposit, so Charles checks them against the panel before a valuation is ordered.
At Links, $0 on most home loans. The lender that settles the loan pays the broker, the amount is disclosed in writing before you commit, and Australian law requires a broker to act in your best interests regardless of what a lender pays. Broker or bank: what changes for you.
One free call covers what you could borrow in Inner West Sydney, the lenders that suit the property you want and the order to do things in.
Prefer a callback?Charles calls back within one business day. No documents needed yet.
Each page below goes into the specific issues that come up where you're buying.
Links is based in Enfield. These pages cover the suburbs closest to home.
Every page takes the lending question that comes up most in that suburb and works through it.
General information only, not credit or financial advice. Lender policies and government scheme criteria differ and change over time. All lending is subject to individual assessment and approval.
