Nine in ten Ashbury homes are separate houses, against about two in three across NSW, and almost half are owned outright.
A gift, an inheritance and a family guarantee each work differently. A gift needs a signed letter and a clean transfer trail, and some lenders still want genuine savings beside it. Inheritance counts once it is in your account with the estate papers.
A guarantee uses your parents’ equity instead of cash, usually with no mortgage insurance, and keeps their money where it is.
Ashbury is house country: 90.2% of dwellings are freestanding, against 65.6% for NSW. With little strata to assess, the lending questions tend to be about the buyer and the block, not the building. Most of Ashbury owns rather than rents, with only 12.3% of homes leased.
Households tend to stay put, so listings are fewer and being pre-approved before you look matters more than usual. At 1,167 homes, Ashbury is one of the smaller suburbs nearby, which can make a valuation the slowest part of the loan.
Separate housesTownhouses and semisApartments
apartments NSW 21.7%
separate houses NSW 65.6%
terraces and semis NSW 11.7%
rented NSW 32.6%
with a mortgage NSW 32.5%
private dwellings
Source: ABS Census 2021, Suburbs and Localities (SAL10094).
Home equity calculator
For upgraders and investors, how much of your home could work as a deposit.
That usable equity could work as a deposit on an investment property or renovation, structured so your properties aren’t tied together unnecessarily.
Usable equity assumes lending to 80% of your home’s value against your current loan. Lender policy and serviceability decide the real figure.
Confirm your numbers.
A huge thank you to Charlie for his exceptional support and expertise throughout the process of securing finance for my first home.
Charles looked after us really well and his knowledge gave us the confidence to purchase our property. He wasn’t pushy and always ensured we felt comfortable with the repayments.
Charles and the team recently assisted us with a refinance of our investment property. Recommend Charles and the team to all
A lender will accept a gift towards your deposit, but it wants to know three things: who it came from, that it is a gift rather than a loan, and that it is in your account.
A signed gift letter or statutory declaration from the giver usually covers the first two, and a bank statement showing the funds covers the third.
Where the gift makes up much of the deposit, some lenders also want to see savings you built yourself, or a steady rental history, before they will lend at a higher loan-to-value ratio.
Settling who is giving what, and when, early keeps the application straightforward. See a gift letter template
Charles Touma, Mortgage Broker.
Ashbury lies about ten kilometres south-west of the city, mostly in the City of Canterbury-Bankstown with some streets in Inner West Council. It shares postcode 2193 with Canterbury and Hurlstone Park, and its name joins those of its neighbours, Ashfield and Canterbury.
There is no shopping centre, only a few shops on King Street, and its best-known open space is Peace Park, the highest point in the former Canterbury local government area.
Money from family can reach a purchase in three ways. A gift is yours outright, and the lender treats it as part of your deposit once documented. A guarantee uses a parent’s property as extra security without any money changing hands.
A loan from family is a debt, and the repayments count against your borrowing power even if the terms are relaxed.
Genuine savings are funds you have saved or held yourself over a period, often around three months, and some lenders want to see them when the deposit is small.
A recent gift usually does not count on its own, though rent paid on time over the past year or so can sometimes stand in for part of it.
An inheritance only becomes usable once the estate pays out, and that can take many months after a death, particularly if a property has to be sold first.
Lenders generally will not count an expected inheritance until the money has been received or the executor has confirmed the amount and timing in writing.
If you want to buy in the meantime, it is simpler to line up the purchase with the payout where you can than to rely on money that has not arrived. Buying with an inheritance.
Three ways family can help an Ashbury purchase, and what each means for the application.
The groundwork that lets a lender count the help.
Often, yes. Many lenders accept a fully gifted deposit, but some want savings of your own as well, particularly when the loan-to-value ratio is high.
The gift needs to be documented with a gift letter or statutory declaration and be in your account before settlement. Which lender you apply to matters a great deal, because policies on fully gifted deposits vary.
Generally the giver’s name, their relationship to you, the amount, and a clear statement that the money is a gift that does not have to be repaid and gives them no interest in the property.
Lenders have their own forms, and some want a statutory declaration instead. A template is a good starting point, but check the lender’s requirements before anyone signs.
Usually not on its own. Genuine savings are funds you have built or held yourself over a period, and a recent gift is not that.
Some lenders accept a strong rental history instead, and some do not ask for genuine savings at all once the deposit reaches a certain size. If your deposit is mostly gifted, apply to a lender comfortable with that.
Generally not. Lenders want the money in hand, or at least written confirmation from the executor of the amount and when it will be paid. Estates can take many months to finalise, especially where property has to be sold. If timing is tight, talk it through before signing any contract.
Neither is better in general. A guarantee lets family help without handing over cash and can mean avoiding lenders mortgage insurance, but the guarantor takes on real risk.
A gift is simpler for the lender and final for the giver. The right choice depends on the family’s own finances and appetite for risk, and independent advice is wise either way.
Not their income, for a gift: the lender mainly checks the paperwork and that the funds have arrived. For a guarantee, the guarantor’s property and circumstances are assessed, and they need independent legal advice before signing.
Bring your Ashbury plans to a free 30-minute call: your borrowing range, the lenders that fit the property and your next step.
Prefer a callback?Charles calls back within one business day. No documents needed yet.
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.
