Example 1:
John, an Australian permanent resident, wishes to purchase his first home for $500,000 in Western Australia with his partner Desiree. Desiree is on a temporary resident subclass 309 spouse visa. They require a 5% deposit which is $25,000. John and Desiree have $20,000 in the bank, $10,000 of which genuine savings whilst $10,000 was a gift from family. The balance of the 5% is coming from the First Home Owners grant of $7,000 making a total funds available to complete purchase of $27,000.
John and Desiree have been renting through a real estate agent for over a year now with perfect repayment history. Weekly rent is $450.
Result: MAP can arrange a 95% home loan here without the requirement for genuine savings and regardless of Desiree’s status as a temporary resident. As John and Desiree have been renting for 1 year with perfect repayment history, it does not matter where the 5% deposit comes from.
Note: if you have been renting for a full 12 months it is irrelevant how much you have actually paid in rent. Renting for 12 months automatically waives the requirement for 5% genuine savings.
Example 2: Have not rented for full 12 months at same residence
Facts same as example 1 above however John and Desiree have only been renting for nine months. In this case we can still use the rent as genuine savings however as they have not been renting in current property for one year, the requirement for genuine savings is not automatically waived. We therefore need to add up how much rent has been paid. Weekly rent is $450 x 39 weeks (9 months) = $17,550. They need $25,000 as the 5% genuine savings which in this case can be evidenced as follows:
1) $10,000 genuine savings,
2) $17,550 being 9 months of rent payments.