Deposit timeline calculator

How long it takes to reach a 5%, 10% and 20% deposit from your savings today, what you save each month and the interest rate on your savings account.

Last updated 16 September 2026 · data vintage Compound-savings arithmetic on the figures you enter; the 5%, 10% and 20% milestones match the deposit levels the federal scheme and lenders use, and the FHSSS cap is the ATO's, read 16 September 2026 · reviewed by The Buyers Grail editorial (agency page text checked 16 September 2026)

The deposit is the number that decides when buying becomes possible. This calculator turns savings today, a monthly amount and a savings rate into a date for each of the three deposit levels that matter: 5%, the level the federal 5% Deposit Scheme (formerly the Home Guarantee Scheme) is built around; 10%, a common lender minimum with lenders mortgage insurance; and 20%, the level at which the insurance usually no longer applies.

Months to each deposit milestone in the worked example. From the savings, monthly amount and rate in the worked example, with the price held constant. A milestone already met shows as zero.

How the calculator works

It projects the savings balance forward with monthly contributions and compound interest at the rate entered, and finds the month in which each milestone is reached. Milestones already met show as saved. A milestone that is not reached within fifty years shows as not reachable at that savings rate.

The property price is held constant. Prices move, and a rising market moves the milestones with it; the calculator does not forecast that, because no forecast belongs in a figure a buyer plans around.

A worked example

A target price of $800,000 with $50,000 saved and $2,000 saved each month at 4.5% p.a., computed by the same code:

Milestone	Amount	Time
5% deposit	$40,000	Already saved!
10% deposit	$80,000	1yr 2mo
20% deposit	$160,000	3yr 11mo

What the figure leaves out

Transfer duty and purchase costs sit on top of the deposit and come out of the same savings; the stamp duty calculator shows them by state. The First Home Super Saver Scheme lets eligible savers release voluntary super contributions towards a first home under conditions the ATO sets, and it is not modelled here. Neither is the tax on savings interest.

Where the report fits

Reaching the deposit is the start. The report is for the day a specific property is on the table and the question becomes whether its price is the right one to spend the deposit on.

Sources

Australian Taxation Office, First Home Super Saver Scheme — checked 16 September 2026. Read on the page 16 September 2026: up to $50,000 of eligible voluntary contributions can be released for a first home.

Housing Australia, support to buy a home (the 5% Deposit Scheme, formerly the Home Guarantee Scheme) — checked 16 September 2026. Read on the page 16 September 2026: the 5% deposit level and the 1 October 2025 rename from the Home Guarantee Scheme.

Last updated 16 September 2026 · reviewed by The Buyers Grail editorial (agency page text checked 16 September 2026).

Where the report fits

A Property Decision Report does this work for one property you're weighing up: the fair-value range built from recorded comparable sales, where the asking price sits against it, the vendor and agent read, the risks that matter, and your opening, target and walk-away numbers, in writing, within 24 hours.

Every pack is the same full report; only the number of properties changes. $249 for three properties, $349 for five.