Glossary

asking price: The figure or range the vendor and agent advertise, which is a marketing position, not evidence of what the property has sold for.
building and pest inspection: An independent inspection of the structure and of timber pests, arranged and paid for by the buyer before committing.
comparable sale: A recorded sale of a similar property nearby, used as evidence for what buyers actually paid.
conveyancing: The legal work of transferring a property from seller to buyer, done by a conveyancer or solicitor.
cooling-off period: A short window after signing in which a buyer can withdraw from a private-treaty contract, usually for a small penalty, and which varies by state.
deprived asset: In Centrelink's tests, a gift above the free area that is still counted as the giver's asset, and deemed to earn income, for five years.
DTI: Debt-to-income ratio: total debt divided by gross annual income, one of the measures lenders use.
fair-value range: The band of prices that recorded comparable sales support for a property; always a range, never a single figure.
First Home Owner Grant: A state or territory grant paid to eligible first-home buyers, usually only on new homes, with amounts and caps that change at state budgets.
Form 1: The South Australian vendor disclosure statement that must be served on the buyer before the contract and which starts the cooling-off clock.
genuine savings: Deposit money a lender treats as saved by the borrower over time, as opposed to a gift or a windfall; many lenders want part of a low deposit to be genuine savings.
gift letter: A signed statement from the giver that money contributed to a deposit is a gift with no repayment expected, which lenders ask for before counting it.
gross rental yield: Annual rent divided by purchase price, before costs, expressed as a percentage.
guarantor: A person, usually a parent, who offers their own property as extra security for someone else's home loan and is liable for the guaranteed amount if the borrower cannot pay.
joint tenants: Co-ownership where the owners hold the property together in equal undivided shares and a surviving owner takes the whole property automatically.
limited guarantee: A guarantee capped at a stated amount, commonly the part of the loan above 80% of the price, rather than the whole loan.
LMI: Lenders mortgage insurance: a one-off premium the borrower pays to protect the lender when the deposit is under 20%.
LVR: Loan-to-value ratio: the loan as a percentage of the property's price or lender-assessed value.
offers over: A price-guide format that names a floor and invites bids above it; what it may legally mean differs by state.
passed in: An auction that ends without a sale because bidding did not reach the reserve; the highest bidder usually gets first right to negotiate.
pre-approval: A lender's conditional indication of how much it may lend you, before you have a specific property; not a guarantee of finance.
price guide: The indicative price an agent gives for a property before sale; in some states its form is regulated, in others it is a marketing choice.
private treaty: A sale negotiated directly between buyer and vendor through the agent, as opposed to an auction.
Property Price Statement: The Victorian document that, from 1 October 2026, is expected to carry the vendor's reserve and comparable sales before an auction; the successor to the Statement of Information.
reserve: The lowest price the vendor has told the auctioneer they will accept; below it the property is passed in.
Section 32: The Victorian vendor statement, disclosing title, planning and other matters, that must be given to a buyer before the contract is signed.
stamp duty: Transfer duty: the state or territory tax paid by the buyer on a property purchase, calculated on the price with concessions for some first-home buyers.
Statement of Information: The Victorian pre-sale document showing an indicative selling price, three comparable sales and the suburb median, required for residential sales.
strata: The ownership scheme for units and townhouses where owners share common property and pay levies to an owners corporation.
tenants in common: Co-ownership where each owner holds a defined share that can be sold or left in a will separately, as opposed to joint tenants.
underquoting: Advertising or quoting a price below the vendor's asking price, the agent's estimate or a rejected offer; an offence in several states.
vendor: The person selling the property.
vendor bid: A bid made at auction on the vendor's behalf, announced as such, allowed in different ways in different states.
walk-away number: The price above which a purchase no longer makes sense on the evidence; set before negotiating, not during.