From 97% LVR to a Better Rate: A First Home Buyer Case Study
In August 2025, a client came to Belinda Gough from The Broker Society, with a goal most people assume is out of reach without a large deposit behind them. They wanted to buy their first home, and they had a minimal deposit to work with. The numbers meant funding the purchase at 97% LVR.
That is not a decision any broker at The Broker Society takes lightly. A higher LVR means less equity in the home from day one, and it usually comes with a higher rate to reflect the risk to the lender. But the client had the income and the intent to get into the market, and the goal of home ownership was worth supporting properly. So Belinda structured the loan, and the client was funded into their first home at 97% LVR on a rate of 7.14%.
Why the work does not stop at settlement
This is where the real value of having a broker in your corner tends to show up. Clients who come in with a higher LVR, lenders mortgage insurance, a guarantor, or through a scheme are not left to check in once a year and hope for the best. These clients get a tighter, more deliberate annual review process, because the path forward for them looks different to a client who bought with a solid deposit already banked.
The same applies to clients who use an alt doc loan. These are generally a short term solution to get someone into a property now, with the plan being to move them onto a better suited option as soon as their circumstances allow it.
For this client, that meant valuations scheduled every six months. The purpose of those valuations was simple. Property values move, loan balances reduce, and at some point those two things cross a threshold that matters. Once a client's LVR drops into a lower bracket, there is generally room to move with lenders on rate, and that is exactly the moment Belinda was watching for.
Twelve months later, exactly on schedule
Almost exactly one year after settlement, a new valuation came back showing the client had moved below 80% LVR with their existing lender. That is a meaningful shift. It opens the door to market rates that simply were not available to them at 97%.
Rather than start the process of refinancing to a new lender, Belinda went back to the client's existing bank and asked them to match what the market was offering to retain the client. The bank came back with a rate of 6.09%, down from the 7.14% the client started on. Same lender, same loan, no refinance, no new setup process for the client to go through. Just a properly timed conversation, backed by evidence, at exactly the right point in the client's journey.
The takeaway
Getting a client into their first home is only half the job when they start out at a higher LVR. The other half is knowing when the numbers have shifted enough to go back and ask for better, and doing it before the client even has to think to ask. That is what a scheduled annual review process is there for, whether a client comes to us through the standard first home buyer path or through an alt doc loan on their way to something more permanent.
If you are sitting on a higher LVR, LMI, or a loan you took out to get started rather than to stay in forever, it might be worth finding out where your numbers actually sit today.
