How Renting a Room Can Boost Your Home Loan Capacity

overview.

Dad explains two policy changes that quietly lift how much you can borrow: renting out a spare room, and the way HECS debt is now treated. Small moves, but together they can add real borrowing power.

Dad — John Kefalianos — is a finance broker, so the lender policy changes land on his desk first. He explains the two that quietly lift your borrowing power.

"Banks are starting to count income they used to ignore. If you know the rules, that is borrowing power most people leave on the table."

John Kefalianos

what you'll learn.

• How renting a room can add to your borrowing capacity
• The statutory declaration the bank wants to count that income
• How HECS debt is treated, and the recent change to the buffer
• A worked example of the extra borrowing it can unlock

Prefer to read? Grab the free first home buyer guides.

part of: home loans guide.

chapters.

Tap a chapter to jump the video to that point.

1. 00:00 Introduction
2. 00:15 Renting Out a Room to Increase Borrowing Capacity
3. 01:02 Financial Benefits of Renting Out a Room
4. 01:36 Statutory Declaration for Renting Out a Room
5. 02:44 HECS Debt and Borrowing Capacity
6. 03:48 HECS Debt Policy Changes by Commonwealth Bank
7. 04:52 Example Scenario: Increased Borrowing Capacity
8. 05:57 Labour's Election Promise: Reducing HECS Debt by 20%
9. 07:25 Conclusion

links Nicola & John mentioned.