Home Loan Postcode Restrictions: Lender Checks

Postcode restrictions on a home loan are lender and insurer rules that cut the maximum loan-to-value ratio (LVR), cap the loan or rule out a property by location. They attach to the security, so the same client can fit one lender and miss another on location alone.

Lenders don’t share one list. MyState’s 1 July 2026 procedure caps postcode 4680 at 70% LVR without lenders mortgage insurance (LMI). Macquarie’s 10 September 2026 guidelines leave high-risk postcodes to a flag in its calculator, so the guidelines alone won’t show you whether an address is affected.

To check a postcode properly, test the exact address and property type against each lender’s current tool or register. Then date what you found before you promise your client a shortlist.

Check the Exact Security

Match the property’s postcode, suburb and property type to each lender’s location rule before you count that lender in. One postcode can cover many places. Australia Post lists 40 localities under postcode 4680, from Gladstone and Tannum Sands to Heron Island.

Each lender sorts locations its own way, and the rule often lives outside the main policy document.

Lender or insurer	Where the location rule sits	What the location changes
Macquarie, guidelines version 14.1 updated 10 September 2026	The Security Details section of its Manual Servicing Calculator, which shows the location category and any high-risk or high-density flag once you enter the postcode	Category 1 to 4 sets the property value limit at each LVR band. A high-risk postcode caps the LVR at 80%
MyState, procedure effective 1 July 2026	Its Category A high-risk postcode register, printed in Appendix B	70% LVR without LMI and 90% including LMI, against 80% and 95% plus the premium for an ordinary owner-occupied purchase on principal and interest
Bluestone, Quick Policy Guide updated 10 November 2025	Its Acceptable Security Locations tool	Metro or non-metro status, which sets the maximum loan at each LVR band
Helia, an LMI insurer, guidelines effective 10 August 2026	Its single-industry postcode list	90% LVR including the capitalised premium

The suburb matters because a postcode lookup can’t always place a property. Bluestone’s Acceptable Security Locations tool asks for the full address when it can’t locate the suburb. It also says Bluestone weighs policy and security as well as location.

The property type decides which flag applies. Macquarie’s high-density flag affects apartments and units, allowing up to 80% LVR on principal and interest repayments and 70% if any part of the loan is interest-only. Its guidelines also treat properties in remote mining towns as unacceptable, and MyState won’t take an off-the-plan purchase in a Category A postcode.

Work through the security in this order.

1. Take the address, lot and plan from the contract of sale or a title search, not the listing.
2. Confirm the postcode and locality on Australia Post’s postcode search.
3. Record the property type, living area, land size and whether it’s off the plan. For a unit, note how many units the complex has and how many your client already owns there.
4. Run the postcode through each shortlisted lender’s tool or register. When the LVR is above 80%, check the LMI insurer’s list too.

CBA publishes its credit policy to accredited brokers through CommBroker, its broker portal, so check a CBA security’s location rules there. The CBA lender policy guide helps with the rest of a CBA file.

Interpret Restrictions

A postcode restriction lowers the LVR or loan cap, limits how much of one building the lender will fund or calls for a fuller valuation. One security can face more than one of these limits.

LVR and Loan Caps

Most location rules reduce the maximum LVR. Helia’s 10 August 2026 guidelines cap single-industry postcodes at 90% including the capitalised premium. The list covers postcodes in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, including 2880, 4680 and 6714.

MyState insures with Helia above 80% LVR, and its 1 July 2026 procedure applies the same 90% limit, including LMI, to Category A postcodes. Without LMI, MyState’s Category A limit is 70%. Macquarie’s 10 September 2026 guidelines cap a flagged high-risk postcode at 80%.

Other lenders cut the loan size instead. Bluestone’s Quick Policy Guide, updated 10 November 2025, lets a Prime borrower borrow up to $1,500,000 at 90% LVR on a metro security but $1,000,000 on a non-metro one.

Here’s how the caps play out in a fictional example. Your client is buying a $500,000 house in Tannum Sands, postcode 4680, to live in, and wants a 90% LVR principal and interest loan through MyState.

Check	Limit	Effect on this purchase
Ordinary MyState postcode	95% plus the premium	A $450,000 base loan fits, with room to add the LMI premium
Category A with LMI	90% including LMI	The loan plus any added premium can’t exceed $450,000, so your client pays the premium in cash or borrows less
Category A without LMI	70%	The loan can’t exceed $350,000, so your client needs a $150,000 deposit
Valuation of $480,000 with LMI	90% of the lower of price and valuation	The loan plus any added premium can’t exceed $432,000

MyState works out LVR on the lower of the valuation and the purchase price, so a low valuation tightens the cap further. The bank property valuation guide explains how lenders order and use valuations.

Concentration Limits

A concentration limit caps how much of one building or development a lender or insurer will take on. MyState’s 1 July 2026 procedure funds no more than 15% of the units in one complex across its borrowers. Where a complex has fewer than 27 units, the limit is four units.

In a fictional 40-unit complex, MyState’s 15% limit allows six funded units across all its borrowers. Only MyState knows how many of those six it has already funded, so ask its credit team before you rely on that complex.

Insurers and lenders also cap the borrower’s own holdings. MyState limits one customer to four units or properties in one development, complex or street.

Under Helia’s 10 August 2026 guidelines, a borrower’s holding in one development can’t exceed four units or 25% of the development, whichever is lower. In a 12-unit development, the 25% limit allows three units. Macquarie’s 10 September 2026 guidelines rule out a security where the borrower owns more than 25% of a development or more than four dwellings in it.

These limits come up most often with apartment loans and with investors buying a second unit in the same block.

Valuation Requirements

A restricted postcode can rule out the quicker valuation types. Helia’s 10 August 2026 guidelines exclude its single-industry postcodes from desktop assessments and from contract-of-sale prices checked by an automated valuation model (AVM). In those postcodes, a Helia-insured loan needs a valuer’s short form or long form report.

A valuer’s report can also trigger a location limit in a postcode no list names. Macquarie’s 10 September 2026 guidelines treat a selling period over six months as a valuation red flag. A Market Segment Conditions Risk Rating of 4 or 5, or any risk rating of 5, is also a red flag.

A red flag caps that security at 80% LVR, or 75% above $3,000,000 in Category 1 and above $1,000,000 in Categories 2 and 3.

Resolve an Exception

Take a location exception to the lender’s business development manager (BDM) in writing, with the valuation evidence and the exact policy wording you’re asking about. Some outcomes have a referral route and others don’t, so read the policy before you ask.

Macquarie’s 10 September 2026 guidelines show Category 4 locations as outside policy, with a BDM referral at 80% LVR or below. Its restricted securities, such as unique or limited-appeal properties, also go to the BDM case by case. Bluestone’s 10 November 2025 guide asks brokers to contact their local BDM when the LVR is above 80%.

Gather the Evidence

Start with the valuation report. It shows the valuer’s risk ratings, expected selling period and the comparable sales behind the value.

Helia’s 10 August 2026 desktop assessment standard asks for at least three settled comparable sales from the last six months. That’s a useful minimum for your own enquiry. Add the facts a credit team checks first, such as title type, land size, living area and the number of units in the complex.

Document the Policy Check

Record each lender’s answer as you get it, not at the end of the file. ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 273 expects brokers to keep records of how they investigated and assessed the loans they recommend. It names file notes, correspondence and the outputs of calculators and comparison tools as suitable records.

For each lender, your file note can show:

• the lender, the policy document and its version or effective date
• the section number and the quoted wording that applies to this security
• a screenshot of the location tool or calculator result and the date you ran it
• the BDM’s name, the date of their reply and their written answer

Bulma’s Policy Advisor can put the same security question to a shortlist or to all 52+ lenders it covers, including CBA. Each answer quotes the lender’s policy wording with the date Bulma last updated that policy, so you can copy it straight into the file note.

Write the Enquiry

Send one enquiry for each lender, with one precise question the BDM can answer in writing. This fictional enquiry asks MyState to go above its 70% Category A limit without LMI.

Part	What to include	Fictional example
Subject	Lender, suburb, postcode and requested LVR	Location exception for Tannum Sands QLD 4680 at 80% LVR without LMI
Property facts	Verified address, title, property type, land size or living area and price	Three-bedroom freehold house on 650 square metres, contract price $500,000, valuation $500,000
Loan facts	Purpose, repayment type, loan amount and LVR	Owner-occupied purchase, principal and interest, $400,000 loan at 80% LVR
Policy reference	Document, version or date, section and quoted wording	MyState Mortgage Lending Procedure, effective 1 July 2026, section 11.6 and Appendix A Category A rows
Comparable evidence	Settled sales and the valuer’s ratings and selling period	Three settled sales of similar houses in Tannum Sands from the last six months, with addresses, dates and prices, plus the valuer’s ratings
Precise question	One question with a yes or no answer	Will MyState accept this security at 80% LVR without LMI, given the valuation and sales evidence?

Keep the Result Current

Date every postcode check, because a lender can change a location setting without issuing a new version of its credit policy. Record the source’s date, the date you ran each tool and the date the BDM confirmed any exception.

Macquarie’s 10 September 2026 guidelines don’t list its high-risk or high-density postcodes. The flags appear in the Manual Servicing Calculator, so the guideline date doesn’t tell you when a flag last changed. MyState’s 1 July 2026 procedure keeps its live register on its intranet and prints the Category A list in Appendix B.

The valuation has its own shelf life. Macquarie wants a valuation no older than 90 days at submission and 180 days at settlement. MyState treats valuations as valid for three months and won’t rely on an older formal valuation for a loan increase in a Category A postcode.

Recheck the location result before you lodge, and again before settlement if the valuation is close to its expiry date. When every shortlisted lender has a dated result for this exact address, you can present your client’s shortlist knowing the security fits each lender’s current location rules.