Home loans and pre-approvals
Overview
Getting a home loan can feel overwhelming, especially when every lender has different rates, rules and approval criteria. We’ll help you understand how much you can borrow, compare suitable loan options, and choose a structure that fits your lifestyle, budget and future plans.
Whether you’re buying your next home, upgrading, downsizing or getting pre-approved before you start looking, we’ll guide you through the process from first conversation to settlement with clear advice and practical support.
Home loan support, from pre-approval to settlement
Hear what makes Clarity different
Clarity is a dedicated team of financial professionals committed to providing tailored solutions for your financial needs. With a focus on clarity and transparency, we guide our clients through the complexities of financial planning, investment strategies, and wealth management. Our experienced advisors work closely with you to ensure your financial goals are met with confidence and clarity.
Backed by proven results
Excellent
1,389 reviews
Had the pleasure of working with Jared Parsons for the 3rd time, this is following using Clarity multiple times before this as well. Jared is fantastic to work with. Down to earth, super helpful and genuine. Would happily recommend him to anyone! Thanks Jared!
When I was seeking a home loan 5 years ago I was given the tip to approach Clarity Home Loans in Canberra. Shannon O'Neill and his team provided a first grade service in obtaining our loan at the very best rate at the time. 5 years on the level of customer service continues to which we are greatly appreciative of. Shannon ensures our loan rates are continually at the best rate available. I would have no hesitation to fully recommend Shannon and Clarity to ensure you have a service that fully satisfies your loan requirements.
I highly recommend Jared at Clarity Home Loans. This is the second time he has successfully helped us secure home loan approval, and once again he delivered exceptional service.Jared's professionalism, expertise, and genuine commitment made the entire process smooth and stress-free. His clear communication, attention to detail, and proactive guidance gave us confidence throughout every stage of the journey.If you're looking for a knowledgeable, trustworthy, and dedicated mortgage broker who genuinely puts his clients first, Jared is an excellent choice.
I had an exceptional experience with Cesar - helped me get my dream home I recommend him highly.
Working with Shannon at Clarity Home Loans was a great experience. You can tell they actually care about their clients as they took the time to understand exactly what my partner and I were looking for and found us the right fit. We felt supported from start to finish, and Shannon was always happy to answer our 'silly' questions, which made a huge difference as first-time buyers.Also, a big thanks to the rest of the team in the background who helped get everything across the line! We would definitely encourage anyone starting this process to reach out to them 🙂
Working with our Jared and the team at Clarity was an excellent experience from start to finish. They were knowledgeable, responsive, and took the time to explain every step of the process clearly. They worked hard to find us a great loan that suited our needs and made what could have been a stressful experience feel simple and straightforward. Their professionalism, attention to detail, and genuine care gave us confidence throughout the entire journey. I highly recommend their services to anyone looking for a reliable and trustworthy mortgage broker.
I would highly recommend clarity home loans as i have had nothing but good things to say from helping out with getting our first homeloan over 10 years ago and we have been happy ever since. They are always calling to make sure we are happy with where we are at and chasing up any concerns we have. We recently refinanced and it was very smooth and we were always kept up to date and the process was flawless. Arman yazarloo has been my main contact but I am sure the whole team are on the same page. Couldn't recommend enough.
Jared was an outstanding broker to work with throughout our home purchase. We had a genuinely complex situation, weighing up a bridging loan against selling our existing property first, and Jared took the time to properly walk us through the pros, cons, and costs of each path rather than pushing us toward the option that was easiest for him to process. His advice was clear, honest, and tailored to our specific circumstances. Thanks to his guidance we were able to make a confident, well-informed decision and settle on our new home smoothly. Jared was responsive, patient with our questions, and clearly knows the Canberra property and finance market well. Would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone navigating a tricky purchase or finance decision!
Cesar was recommended to us, and we’re so glad we got to work with him. From the very beginning, he was professional, knowledgeable, and incredibly supportive throughout the entire process. He made everything feel simple and stress-free, always keeping us informed and taking the time to answer all of our questions. Cesar genuinely cared about getting the best outcome for us, and thanks to his hard work and guidance, he has helped us achieve our goals. His communication and attention to detail were outstanding, and we always felt confident knowing we were in good hands. We truly appreciated all of his support. If you’re looking for an amazing mortgage broker we can highly recommend Clarity. Thank you again, Cesar!
Working with Clarity home loans has been nothing short of outstanding. From the very beginning, the entire process was seamless, transparent, and handled with a level of professionalism that gave us complete confidence at every step.A special thank you to Arman and Michele, who genuinely went over and beyond for us. He took the time to understand our full financial picture, helped us restructure our finances strategically, and guided us through the complex process of purchasing our dream home, all while ensuring we avoided the stress and cost of a bridging loan.What impressed us most was how Arman managed to create the best possible arrangement that allowed us to comfortably manage both properties without compromise. His advice was always comprehensive, detailed, and delivered with clarity. He consistently provided us with the information we needed before we even knew to ask for it.Clarity Finance has been an incredible partner throughout this journey, and we are genuinely grateful for the expertise, care, and commitment shown to us. We highly recommend Arman and the team to anyone looking for a mortgage broker who truly puts their clients first.
We got recommended Clarity Home Loans by a friend and we are glad we did. All of the brokers being independent was important for us to make sure they work in our best interests and not the banks. Matt Rastar reached out to me on a weekend and was super flexible in his communication to us throughout the buying process all the way to and even after settlement. He'd answer any questions thoroughly and clearly.
We had an amazing experience working with Cesar Martinez. Initially, we were planning to sell our current home and upgrade to a new one, but a few weeks later we changed our direction entirely. Throughout the whole process, he remained incredibly supportive and helpful.He provided comprehensive information, thoughtful guidance, and practical solutions for every scenario we were considering. He is sharp, very responsive, and consistently patient - walking us through every step and answering all our questions along the way.For a first-time experience, he made the entire process smooth and stress-free. We truly appreciate his professionalism and dedication. Highly recommended!
Couldn't recommend Asad and the Clarity team more - we have recently purchased our second home and the knowledge, guidance and professionalism shown by Asad has been amazing. Nothing was ever too much for Asad to help us with, everything was explained in a clear way. Communication was so punctual with both my husband and I being updated at every step. Even the real estate agent commented on Asad being one of the best brokers he's dealt with. We felt so supported by everyone on the team. We would recommend Asad and Clarity to anyone navigating home loans - thank you so much Asad!
First Home Buyers here.Shanice and Agnes from Clarity were wonderful and we can't recommend them highly enough. Made the process smooth, answered all of our questions, and were really knowledgeable.Also super prompt, hardworking and organised. We were very impressed with them and would definitely go with them again!
As someone who went into buying my first home knowing absolutely nothing, I can recommend Clarity and specifically Lachlan as a great mortgage broker. I have left the experience much more knowledgeable and with confidence.Nothing was too much for Lachlan, he provided us with so many options for loans and what each decision would look like, any time we had questions or wanted to look at other options he did all of the legwork quickly to give us as many options as we could ever want. We almost never had questions because we received so much information both verbally and via email.I would highly recommend Clarity to anyone buying a home in the future and will be recommending Lachlan to anyone I know buying in the future.
Shanice from Clarity Home Loans in Canberra was fantastic to work with, initially to calculate my borrowing capacity, provide various mortgage options and then seamlessly navigate the loan application itself. Whether dealing face to face, video conferencing via Teams or over the phone or in emails Shanice was the ultimate professional with a top shelf skillset to smoothly guide me through the whole process. Knowledgeable, patient, friendly, supportive, a clear, concise and confident communicator ....Yes, I would highly recommend Shanice (and Agnes!) (and Clarity) for a stress-free, stellar home loan service!
Josh from Clarity was fantastic! He walked my partner through the process of buying our first home and made everything easy to understand. He was very communicative and responsive, and always took the time to answer our questions. We felt supported throughout the entire process and would highly recommend Josh and the team at Clarity.
We had an incredible experience with Arman at Clarity! He moved mountains to get everything ready for us in a really short timeframe. Not only that, he was responsive, patient and was able to maximise our borrowing capacity for the best rate we had seen. I had not realised that we could borrow while avoiding a bridging loan — Arman’s deep level of expertise saved us so much money while we sold our previous home. To top it all off he is so communicative, providing support and weekly updates so you are never in the dark. Even if you are in the really early stages of thinking about a loan, I would say go to Arman! He really enlightened us about what was possible in our financial situation and we wished we had seen him sooner. 5 stars!!!!
Big thanks goes to Arman Yazarloo for helping my wife and I secure a loan for our new home. We were in the position where we wanted to quickly buy our new home before selling our old one. After explaining the options available between standard and bridging we decided to go for a standard loan and go through the process of an extended settlement period on our purchase to give ourselves time to prepare and sell our old home. Arman guided us through this process ensuring we always knew what needed to be done. We settled on both homes and got a loan we are very happy with. Going for a standard loan over a bridging loan gave us more competitive options for lenders which resulted in much better value and left us in a better position overall.Thank you Arman!
Cesar from Clarity Home Loans worked with me off and on for several years as I tried to find the right house to purchase. He communicated clearly and was patient as I shifted from my decision to renovate to sell and purchase another house.Cesar helped me to secure a mortgage for my wonderful new home. It’s been great to work with him and Clarity Home Loans and I highly recommend this service.
I am currently working with Matt from Clarity Home Loans and he has been nothing but helpful! He takes all the time I need to understand each step of my home loan, and always helps ease any worries or confusions I have. He is incredibly friendly and professional, and always responds to any emails or calls within a timely manner. I have recommended Matt to friends who are looking for a mortgage broker, and will continue to do so.
I can’t speak more highly of my experience with Shannon O'Neill at Clarity Home Loans when I needed expert advice on short-term bridging finance. Shannon went above and beyond throughout the loan process – from initial meeting through to settlement of both my purchase and my sale. His highly personalised and professional approach exceeded my expectations and made everything as stressfree as possible. If you're looking for an authentic, hard-working broker who genuinely cares for their clients, I highly recommend Shannon and Cindy at Clarity!
Great experience refinancing with my broker, Arman Yazarloo, especially during a really uncertain time with fixed rates going up. We talked through several fixed-rate options and he was very clear about the urgency of making a decision as rates were moving quickly. When the original lender increased their rates, he acted fast and resubmitted my application to another bank to make sure I still got a great deal. He also explained the rate lock option really clearly, which I decided to go with — and that ended up saving me over $4,000 over two years when rates later went up by 0.3%. On top of that, he secured a loan with an offset account and lower ongoing fees than my previous loan. Super proactive, knowledgeable, and easy to deal with. Highly recommend!
Recent experience with Clarity Home Loans. Cesar M was excellent and very helpful at all stages of the process. He explained complex issues with clarity. Home loans can be a difficult process, but my experience with Clarity was really wonderful. Info always provided promptly and great liaison with legals thru the settlement process. Much better than dealing directly with banks. Highly recommend!!
I highly recommend Clarity Financial, especially if you are a first time buyer or feel out of your depth with buying a property. I was initially referred by a friend when I was looking to settle on my block of land. Although they were not able to provide me with brokerage services at the time due to the extremely short turn around time (less than a month from settlement), they directed me to a bank that they knew would be able to accommodate such short notice. So, when time came for me to start construction on my block, I contacted them again. Arman was assigned to my file this time, and it felt like he was Godsend. I am not going to lie, it was not easy with lowball land valuation, refusal to refinance and others from my existing loan servicer. He kept me focused on the goal though and worked around all these issues. Ultimately he got me accross the finish line, I got my new combo loan settled at a good rate and have now started the construction process.
Not sure where to start?
That’s what we’re here for. We’ll walk you through the home loan process, answer your questions, and help you feel confident every step of the way.
Talk to usFrequently asked questions
Home loan repayments are based on a method called amortisation. This means each repayment covers two parts:
-Interest, which is what the lender charges you to borrow the money
– Principal, which is the amount you actually borrowed
At the beginning of your loan, most of your repayment goes toward interest, and only a small amount goes toward reducing your loan balance (the principal). That’s because interest is calculated on the total loan amount, and at the start, that amount is at its highest.
As you keep making repayments, your loan balance gradually decreases. Because you owe less, less interest is charged, and more of your repayment goes toward the principal. Over time, this shift continues, and in the final years of your loan, the majority of your repayment goes directly toward paying off the loan itself.
You can use our home loan calculator to estimate your repayments and see how your loan balance reduces over time. It’s a helpful way to understand how your loan works and what you’ll pay in interest across the life of the loan.
Yes, in many cases, you can pay off your home loan early, especially if you’re on a variable rate loan. Making extra repayments or paying off your loan ahead of schedule can reduce your interest costs and shorten your loan term.
If you’re on a fixed-rate loan, however, paying it off early might trigger break fees. These are charged by the lender to cover potential losses and can be significant, depending on how much time is left on your fixed term and current interest rate conditions.
Every loan is different, and the rules around early repayments can vary. Your Clarity broker will explain the details, help you weigh the pros and cons, and create a repayment strategy that aligns with your goals.
Yes, and it’s very common. Most couples apply for a joint home loan, and in those cases, the process is usually simple. The lender looks at both incomes and financial situations together, which can increase your borrowing power.
You can also apply with a sibling, parent, friend or business partner, but these arrangements can be more complex and need a bit more planning.
Here’s what to keep in mind:
– All applicants are jointly responsible for the full loan, even if ownership is split
– Your finances are assessed together, including income, debts and credit history
– For couples, there’s rarely a need for legal agreements, but if you’re buying with someone else, it’s wise to have a co-ownership agreement in place to protect everyone involved
If you’re buying with a non-partner, we’ll walk you through important considerations like how ownership will be split, what happens if one person wants to sell, and whether you might need legal or tax advice.
Yes, most home loans in Australia are approved without a guarantor.
Guarantors are only considered in situations where the borrower has a small deposit (typically under 20%) and would otherwise need to pay Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI). A guarantor, usually a parent or close family member, offers their property as extra security.
That said, there are many low-deposit home loan options (some requiring as little as 2% deposit with no LMI) that don’t require a guarantor. We’ll walk you through all the available paths based on your goals and circumstances.
Yes, once you’ve built up enough equity in your home, you may be able to apply for a loan increase.
There are a few ways to do this:
– A loan top-up, which adds to your existing home loan
– Accessing your redraw facility, if available
– Refinancing, which may allow you to borrow a larger amount with more flexible features
These funds are commonly used for renovations, investment, or debt consolidation. Your Clarity Mortgage Broker can assess your current position and recommend the most cost-effective option.
Home loans can’t be directly transferred from one person to another. If someone else is taking over the ownership of a property, whether due to a relationship separation, dividing assets, or another change in circumstances, the most common and practical solution is for that person to refinance the loan into their own name.
This involves applying for a new loan that pays out the existing mortgage, which also updates the ownership of the property. It ensures all financial and legal responsibilities are properly transferred, providing a clean break for both parties. If you’re separating and working through a property settlement, we understand it can be a sensitive and sometimes stressful time.
Our brokers can help you:
– Understand your refinancing options
– Work out what you can afford on your own
– Coordinate with your legal representatives
– Support you through the process from start to finish
We’re here to make things as straightforward as possible, with expert guidance and no judgment, just practical, honest support.
There’s no fixed minimum income required to get a home loan in Australia.
Instead, lenders assess your borrowing capacity, which is based on:
– Your total income
– Regular living expenses
– Existing debts (credit cards, car loans, etc.)
– Your credit history
– The size of your deposit
Even if you have a modest income, strong savings habits, low debt, and stable employment can all help strengthen your application. We’ll help you understand what you can afford and guide you through the options available.
Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) is a one-off insurance premium that protects the lender (not you as the borrower) if you’re unable to repay your home loan and the property is sold at a loss.
LMI is usually required when your deposit is less than 20% of the property’s value. The cost can run into the thousands, depending on your loan size and deposit amount, but the good news is, it can sometimes be avoided.
Here are some of the ways Clarity can help you reduce or eliminate LMI:
- First Home Guarantee or Help to Buy schemes – allowing eligible buyers to purchase with as little as 2–5% deposit, without paying LMI
- LMI waivers for certain professions (like doctors, lawyers, and accountants)
- Guarantor home loans, where a family member offers equity to support your application
Your Clarity Mortgage Broker will explore every option to help you minimise upfront costs and get into your home sooner, without unnecessary extras.
A fixed rate home loan means your interest rate stays the same for a set period (usually 1 to 5 years). This gives you certainty over your repayments, which can be great for budgeting, but it also means you may miss out if rates drop, and you’ll likely have restrictions on making extra repayments or paying out the loan early.
A variable rate home loan moves up or down based on market conditions. It offers more flexibility, such as the ability to make extra repayments or access redraw facilities, but your repayment amount can change.
There’s also the option to split your loan, where part is fixed and part is variable, offering a balance between stability and flexibility.
Your Clarity Mortgage Broker will help you compare all these options and recommend a structure that aligns with your goals and lifestyle.
Your borrowing power depends on more than just your income. Lenders look at the full picture, including your living expenses, existing debts, credit history, the size of your deposit, and your overall financial position.
Even if your income is modest, factors like strong savings, low debt, and stable employment can strengthen your application.
You can get a quick idea of how much you might be able to borrow using our Home Loan Borrowing Power Calculator, and when you’re ready for a personalised assessment, our team will walk you through all your options.
