LVR Calculator

The LVR Formula

Your loan-to-value ratio (LVR) is the loan amount divided by the accepted property value, multiplied by 100. A $640,000 loan against an $800,000 property has an LVR of 80%.

Include any fees or lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) added to the debt. Enter these in the costs field only when they are excluded from your loan amount. Adding $10,000 to the starting loan increases total debt to $650,000 and the LVR to 81.25%.

A move from 80% to 85% is an increase of 5 percentage points. The percentage increase is 6.25%, calculated as 5 divided by 80, multiplied by 100. The calculator displays the ratio itself to two decimal places, with trailing zeros removed.

The formula is the same in New South Wales and other Australian states. State purchase costs can change how much cash you need or how much you finance, but they do not change the ratio formula.

Calculating LVR for a Refinance

For a refinance, divide the proposed new debt by the new lender's accepted valuation. Include the balance being refinanced and any cash-out. Add capitalised costs once, including fees financed into the replacement loan.

A current balance of $600,000 plus $40,000 cash-out and $10,000 financed costs creates $650,000 of new debt. Against an $800,000 valuation, the result is 81.25%. An old purchase price or an online estimate can give a different result from the lender's valuation.

For an existing loan without a refinance, enter the current debt and the property value you want to test. Money in an offset account leaves the loan balance unchanged. A principal repayment reduces that balance and therefore reduces the LVR.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) discusses valuations and recalculating LVR for refinancing in its residential mortgage lending guide. Use a consistent valuation basis when comparing scenarios.

Finding a Deposit or Loan Amount

To find the maximum debt at a target LVR, multiply the accepted security value by the target percentage divided by 100. At an 80% target, an $800,000 valuation supports $640,000 of total debt in this calculation.

Subtract that maximum from the proposed debt to find the reduction needed. The result stops at zero when your debt is already within the target. The target is your chosen modelling assumption and does not establish a lender's limit.

In this hypothetical purchase, the price remains $800,000 while the accepted valuation falls to $760,000. With a maximum loan of $608,000, the buyer needs $192,000 towards the price, plus cash purchase costs. That is $32,000 more than the original $160,000 contribution.

Reduce an existing loan by $32,000 to meet the target in this example. A buyer can contribute that amount in extra cash to reduce the proposed borrowing. Financed fees use part of the maximum debt, so they leave less available towards the price.

For combined security, enter the additional property's accepted value and all debt secured by it. The calculator adds those amounts to their respective totals. Use this only when the lender accepts the properties as security for the combined debt.

What the Ratio Does Not Decide

LVR measures debt against security value. It does not establish repayment capacity, whether the property is acceptable or whether the lender will approve the loan.

A result above 100% means the entered debt exceeds the entered security value. The calculator keeps that result visible. It does not cap the ratio or treat extra security as automatically accepted.

This is a residential mortgage calculation. A margin loan against shares can use security-specific lending ratios and margin-call rules, which this tool does not model.

The deposit figures exclude stamp duty and other cash purchase costs. The calculator does not estimate insurance premiums or decide whether an exemption applies. Use the borrowing power calculator to test income and expenses separately from the security calculation.