What is the minimum or maximum sized home or block I can get with a home loan?

If you’ve been at an auction and wondered why that trendy inner-city apartment struggled to make reserve, it could be because of its ineligibility for a normal home loan due to the small floor plan, turning away some buyer interest. Similarly, if you’ve wondered why a huge block is going for relatively good value, it could be because a lender doesn’t want to lend in rural areas, or has a cap on the land size.

Savings.com.au reached out to a range of major banks, challengers, customer-owned banks, and non bank lenders to find out where they stand on floor plans and property sizes.

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Minimum apartment floor plan size for home loan

Lenders typically have their own set of requirements in regards to the minimum square footage - or 'metreage' - of the floor plan. They may or may not include things like balconies and garage spaces in the equation. This could potentially rule out some smaller apartments, so double check before you buy or bid.

In addition, there may be some additional loan-to-value (LVR) requirements if you have a small, inner-city apartment in mind. There may also be other caveats to lenders' 'minimums'.

Note: Westpac and Commonwealth Bank declined to participate in this article.

Lender	Minimum Size (sq m)
ANZ	No defined minimum
NAB	50
86 400	40
AMP	40
Athena	50
Bank of Queensland	40
Bendigo & Adelaide Bank	50
Citi	40
Greater Bank	40
Great Southern Bank	50
homeloans.com.au	40
HSBC	45
loans.com.au	40
Macquarie	50
Newcastle Permanent	50
Suncorp	50
Teachers Mutual Bank	35
Virgin Money	50
Yard	35

ANZ

"ANZ uses a number of policies and criteria when determining eligibility for a loan, including the type of property to be used as collateral. Location and quality of the property are also considerations," a spokesperson told Savings.com.au.

"While we will require larger deposits for some smaller apartments, there is no absolute restriction on the minimum size of the dwelling."

NAB

NAB confirmed the minimum floor plan requirement is 50 sq m, inclusive of balcony and car park.

86 400

A spokesperson for 86 400 confirmed the minimum floor area for apartments is 40 sq m (excluding balconies, car parking and storage cages).

AMP Bank

"AMP Bank’s minimum floor plan requirements for units/apartments is one bedroom; 40 sq m in metro areas, and 45 sq m otherwise (excluding balconies and car accommodation)," an AMP spokesperson told Savings.com.au.

Athena

Online lender Athena confirmed with Savings.com.au the minimum floor plan size is 50 sq m, excluding garage and balcony.

"For properties that don’t fit the above, we offer Athena Select. It’s our broker service where we find a lender that suits the customer’s needs if they aren’t eligible for an Athena home loan," an Athena spokesperson said.

"Although it’s something we offer we don’t advertise this."

Bank of Queensland

A spokesperson informed Savings.com.au that the minimum floor plan size is 40 sq m, subject to "extra credit commitments", such as the location of the property, and individual borrower specifications.

They also urged potential borrowers to reach out directly, as applications are done on a case-by-case basis.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank

A spokesperson for the brand confirmed the minimum is 50 sq m for a one bedroom apartment, and 60 sq m for two bedrooms.

Citi

A Citi spokesperson told Savings.com.au the minimum unit size is 40 sq m of living space, excluding garage and balcony.

"Citi is a niche player in Australia’s mortgage market, making up less than 2% of market share," they said.

"Accordingly, we have limitations on the types of loans that we progress so we can focus on lending in specific areas, for example for complex loans for high net worth individuals."

Greater Bank

"Dwelling is to be > 40 sq m in size (excluding balconies and parking) and have at least one bedroom (separate from living areas), lounge/dining, kitchen/laundry, bathroom or bathroom/laundry," a Greater Bank spokesperson said.

Great Southern Bank (formerly CUA)

A spokesperson for Great Southern Bank said the minimum is generally 50 sq m, but "do go smaller on a case by case basis."

homeloans.com.au

"40 sq m minimum floor size for apartment under 'Flex' (our specialist loan)," a spokesperson told Savings.com.au.

"50 sq m minimum floor size under 'Low Rate Home Loan' (our prime loan product)."

HSBC

A HSBC spokesperson confirmed the minimum living area must be 45 sq m, excluding balconies and car space.

loans.com.au

"The minimum living area for a unit (excluding balcony/outdoor, car space etc) is 40 sq m in a capital city or metro location, and 50 sq m if not in capital city or metro location," a loans.com.au spokesperson told Savings.com.au.

Macquarie

A spokesperson for Macquarie told Savings.com.au the minimum floor plan size is 50 sq m, however some additional credit criteria may apply, such as a lower loan-to-value ratio, i.e. a bigger deposit.

Newcastle Permanent

A Newcastle Permanent spokesperson confirmed the lender accepts units "greater than 50 sq m".

However, additional LVR restrictions may apply if the unit is located in a high density apartment complex.

Suncorp

Suncorp confirmed the minimum floor plan size for an apartment is 50 sq m.

Teachers Mutual Bank

"The size of the dwelling must be a minimum of 35m2 in floor space, excluding balconies and car space for studio or one bedroom units," a spokesperson told Savings.com.au.

"The size of the dwelling must be a minimum of 60m2 in floor space, excluding balconies and car space for two or more bedroom units."

This also applies to Teachers Mutual subsidiaries including Firefighters Mutual Bank, Health Professionals Bank, and UniBank.

Virgin Money

Bank of Queensland - which underwrites Virgin Money home loans - confirmed that the minimum apartment floor plan size is 50 sq m.

Yard

Yard CEO Toni Mladenova detailed the non-bank lender’s requirements for apartments.

"Yard can accept small units and studios as eligible property. Minimum floor requirements are 35 sq m internal living area for strata title properties," Ms Mladenova told Savings.com.au.

"If the property is outside high demand capital city areas, then the minimum internal area requirement is 40 sq m."

Maximum land size for home loan

By the same token, mainstream lenders typically have a maximum land size they are willing to lend money for, but it usually numbers into the many hectares. While not a worry for most suburban or even semi-rural blocks, it could be an issue if you’re wanting a bigger slice of the pie.

Once again, certain LVR and other restrictions may apply.

Note: Westpac and Commonwealth Bank declined to participate in this article.

Lender	Maximum Land Size (hectares)
ANZ	50
NAB	10
86 400	10
AMP	40
Athena	6
Bank of Queensland	40
Bendigo & Adelaide Bank	10
Citi	4
Greater Bank	70
Great Southern Bank	No defined maximum
homeloans.com.au	10
HSBC	10
loans.com.au	10
Macquarie	10
Newcastle Permanent	50
Suncorp	10
Teachers Mutual Bank	40
Virgin Money	40
Yard	40

ANZ

"In terms of large rural residential properties, we will lend up to 50 hectares, although we will require a larger deposit," a spokesperson said.

NAB

NAB confirmed the maximum is 10 hectares, or 25 acres.

However, for vacant land (no residence or dwelling on the property), the maximum is 2.2 hectares, or five acres.

86 400

For land size, 86 400 confirmed the maximum is 10 hectares and must be rural residential property, i.e. it can be a rural block in a rural town but not a commercial farm.

AMP Bank

"The maximum land area is up to 40 hectares (100 acres) with a dwelling, whether zoned as residential, rural residential or rural. For vacant land, the maximum area is two hectares (five acres)," AMP Bank's spokesperson said.

Athena

Athena confirmed the maximum land size allowable is six hectares.

Bank of Queensland

A BoQ spokesperson confirmed the maximum land size allowable is 40 hectares.

This also applies to Virgin Money home loans, which BoQ underwrites.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank

The joint outfit confirmed the maximum land size allowable is 10 hectares.

Citi

Citi confirmed the maximum size allowable is four hectares.

Anything over two hectares must be owner occupied, and is subject to a lower LVR i.e. a bigger deposit.

Greater Bank

Greater Bank confirmed the maximum land size with a dwelling is up to 70 hectares, whereas vacant land is up to 50 hectares.

Great Southern Bank

Great Southern Bank confirmed there is no maximum for land size.

homeloans.com.au

A spokesperson for the company told Savings.com.au the maximum land size is 10 hectares.

HSBC

HSBC confirmed the maximum allowable land size is up to 10 hectares.

loans.com.au

"[For] land with a dwelling on it, [the] land size is 10 hectares. We don't accept vacant land as security unless there is a building contract and we are doing a construction loan," a spokesperson said.

Macquarie

Macquarie confirmed it can lend to properties larger than 10 hectares, however some additional credit criteria may apply, such as a lower loan-to-value ratio, i.e. a bigger deposit.

Newcastle Permanent

Newcastle Permanent’s maximum land size it will lend for is 50 hectares, however additional LVR restrictions may apply for properties greater than 10 hectares.

Suncorp

Suncorp confirmed vacant land is up to 10 hectares, while the the maximum for residential properties is anywhere between 10ha and 50ha.

Teachers Mutual Bank

“The size of the land, be it vacant land or on which the dwelling is located, must be no more than 40 hectares,” a spokesperson said.

This also applies to Teachers Mutual subsidiaries including Firefighters Mutual Bank, Health Professionals Bank, and UniBank.

Yard

"We can do 80% LVR for properties up to 10 hectares. We can then consider properties between 10 up to 40 hectares but our max LVR changes - for example, we can consider 40 hectares property up to max 60% LVR," Ms Mladenova said.

"The property needs to be in a rural residential area and be connected to key services - electricity, water, sewage and have access to a sealed road."

Article first published 26 July 2021, last updated 4 February 2022.

Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash

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