Best lenders for property investors

The policy levers that matter to investors

• Rental shading: most lenders count 80% of gross rent; a few count 90% for low-vacancy areas, which compounds across a portfolio.
• Negative gearing add-back: some lenders add the tax benefit of a negatively geared property back to your income, others ignore it entirely.
• Existing debt assessment: lenders that assess other lenders' loans at the actual repayment rather than a buffered rate free up huge capacity.
• Debt-to-income caps: many banks stop at 6× income; some second-tier and non-bank lenders go materially higher for strong files.
• Interest-only: term length, availability on owner-occupied portions, and what happens at IO expiry vary widely.

Order of lenders matters when building a portfolio

Use the tightest-policy lender first, while your file is cleanest, and save the generous-policy lenders for later purchases when your debt load is higher. Doing it the other way around caps your portfolio early.

Splitting security across lenders also prevents cross-collateralisation, keeping each property independently saleable and refinanceable.

Structure decisions that affect approvals

• Keep investment and owner-occupied debt clearly separated for both tax and refinance flexibility.
• Use an offset against non-deductible (owner-occupied) debt first.
• Avoid cross-collateralising unless there's a specific reason — it makes releasing one property much harder later.

A note on rates

Rates and policies change constantly, and every lender prices to its own funding costs and risk appetite. Nothing on this page is a rate quote — it's a guide to how these lender types differ so you know where to look.