Buying in Truganina as a first-home buyer — a real 5% vs 10% vs 20% example

1) Truganina in 2025 — who this example fits

Truganina is one of the big “new growth” suburbs in Wyndham's west Melbourne corridor. For first-home buyers, it often sits in the sweet spot: newer family homes and a modern suburb feel, without inner-suburb price tags.

Our Truganina VIC 3029 Property Report 2025 covers the broader market picture. This case study zooms into a very common first-home buyer question: “Do we wait for 20%, buy at 10% with LMI, or try a 5% option using a scheme?”

If you want to run your own eligibility and scenario checks before you talk to a broker, start with the First Home Buyer Scheme Calculator and our plain-English First Home Buyer Guide.

2) Meet the couple and their starting point

Alana (29) works full-time in healthcare and Sam (31) works in warehouse operations. Their combined pre-tax income is around $148,000 per year. They currently rent in the western suburbs for $520 per week (about $2,250 per month).

They've saved $55,000 so far. They want a home in Truganina around the $670,000 mark (give or take) — a typical “family home” budget for the area in 2025.

Their core question:

We model three realistic paths (20%, 10% and 5%), then sanity-check what each path means for cash buffers, repayments and the likelihood of approval. For a quick “rate and savings” sense-check, we also reference the Rate Review Calculator.

3) Scenario A — wait for a 20% deposit in Truganina

First we model the classic “no LMI” approach: buy a $670,000 Truganina home with a full 20% deposit.

Target budget for a 20% path

• Purchase price: $670,000.
• 20% deposit: $134,000.
• Allow roughly $30,000 for Victorian transfer duty and other buying costs (legals, inspections, adjustments) as a working figure.
• Keep at least $15,000 aside as a post-settlement buffer.

That puts a practical savings target around $179,000. With $55,000 today, they would need to find another $124,000 — often a multi-year journey depending on rent, living costs and income stability.

Loan size and repayments — 20% deposit

• Loan amount at 80% LVR: $536,000.
• Illustrative owner-occupied P&I rate: around 6.3% p.a. (indicative only).

At 6.3% over 30 years, repayments on $536,000 are roughly $3,320 per month. The upside is no LMI and often sharper pricing bands once you're at (or under) 80% LVR.

The downside is time: you may spend years renting while aiming at a deposit target that can shift if prices rise.

4) Scenario B — buy sooner with 10% deposit + LMI

Next we test a 10% path. This is very common in west Melbourne first-home buyer journeys: it's often achievable sooner, but includes LMI.

Working with $55,000 savings

At $670,000, a true 10% deposit is $67,000, so Alana and Sam aren't quite there today. But many buyers don't go from “not ready” to “fully ready” overnight — the question becomes whether a short runway (e.g., 6–12 months) gets them to 10% plus costs plus buffer.

Loan size, LMI and repayments — 10% path

• Base loan at 90% LVR: $603,000.
• Indicative LMI: roughly 1.8% of base loan (varies widely by lender and product), about $10,900.
• Assume LMI is capitalised into the loan: total loan roughly $614,000.

Using a slightly higher illustrative rate of 6.5% p.a. (indicative only) to reflect higher-LVR pricing, repayments on ~$614,000 are roughly $3,880 per month.

This path can work well if the household budget stays comfortable after stress testing, and if there is still a meaningful cash buffer after settlement. It can also be a stepping stone: many buyers refinance once they build equity (see Refinance Truganina).

5) Scenario C — buy with 5% deposit using a first-home buyer scheme

Now we test the option that a lot of first-home buyers ask about: buying with a 5% deposit while reducing or avoiding LMI via a government-backed guarantee scheme (where eligible).

The important nuance: schemes have rules (income caps, property price caps, participant limits, availability windows, lender participation), and they are not a guaranteed entitlement. That's why we always start with an eligibility sense-check using the First Home Buyer Scheme Calculator and then confirm details lender-by-lender.

What 5% looks like on $670,000

• 5% deposit: $33,500.
• Loan at 95% LVR: $636,500 (plus potentially capitalised costs depending on structure).

If a scheme reduces or removes LMI (subject to eligibility and lender policy), the big benefit is time: you may buy earlier with a smaller deposit. The trade-off is higher repayments and tighter serviceability tests.

Using an illustrative owner-occupied rate of 6.7% p.a. (indicative only) to reflect higher LVR bands, repayments on ~$636,500 are roughly $4,110 per month.

This is why we stress-test the budget hard: a 5% path can be powerful for the right borrower, but it's not always comfortable.

6) 5%, 10% and 20% deposits — side-by-side on a $670k Truganina home

Below is a simplified snapshot to make the trade-offs clearer. Numbers are indicative only and rounded for readability.

*Savings targets assume a mix of deposit, buying costs and a modest buffer. **Repayments use rounded owner-occupied P&I rates between 6.3% and 6.7% p.a. over 30 years. Actual lender pricing, scheme eligibility, duty and LMI vary by lender, product and your exact situation.

In practice, we run these through multiple lenders, then sanity-check them against your real budget and buffers. If you're already a homeowner, we'd use a different lens. For a simple “are we paying too much?” check, use the Rate Review Calculator.

7) What they chose (and why)

After running the numbers and checking scheme eligibility, Alana and Sam decided to aim for a 5% scheme pathway first — but only if the repayments still left them with a comfortable buffer.

Their plan:

• Use the First Home Buyer Scheme Calculator to narrow down realistic scheme pathways.
• Build savings from $55,000 to $70,000 over the next 6–9 months to increase buffers and improve approval odds.
• Get a broker-led pre-approval and keep the search inside a tight price bracket that suits repayments even if rates rise.

If the scheme path didn't stack up at the time (e.g., availability/eligibility), their fallback was a short runway to 10% deposit (instead of committing to a multi-year wait for 20%).

8) Next steps, calculators and Truganina help

If you want to turn this from a “nice example” into a real plan, here's the simplest sequenceT:

Step 1: Run your scheme and deposit assumptions through the First Home Buyer Scheme Calculator.
Step 2: Read the First Home Buyer Guide so you understand grants, duty, schemes, LMI and buffers.
Step 3: Use the Truganina Property Report to choose realistic price pockets and avoid stretching.
Step 4: Talk to a broker who can compare 35+ lenders and explain trade-offs clearly: Mortgage Broker Truganina (or the broader Mortgage Broker Melbourne hub).
Step 5: Once you buy, review your structure regularly — and if you already own, check Refinance Truganina.

When you're ready, use the form above or go straight to Contact Rate Challenge.