Stage 02 of 5 · Two days to three weeks, then valid for roughly three months
Pre-approval
A lender looks at your full position and indicates what it would lend, subject to a property. It is what lets you bid or make an offer with a number you can stand behind.
What gets decided here
- Is this a real assessment or a calculator result?
There are two very different things called pre-approval. One is an automated estimate from an online form. The other is a credit-assessed conditional approval where an assessor has read your documents. Only the second one is worth having at an auction, and it is worth asking which you are being given.
- When should you get it?
Close enough to buying that it will not expire, usually once you are actively inspecting. Pre-approval typically lasts about three months and re-issuing it means another credit check.
- How many lenders should you apply to?
One at a time. Each formal application leaves a credit enquiry, and several enquiries in a short window make the file look worse to the next lender.
- What is not covered by pre-approval?
The property. Valuation, the type of security, strata condition and postcode restrictions are all assessed after you have a contract, which is why a pre-approval is not a guarantee of final approval.
Before this stage ends
- Photo identification for every applicant
- Two recent payslips plus a year-to-date figure, or two years of tax returns if self-employed
- Three to six months of transaction and savings statements
- Statements for every debt: cards, personal loans, car finance, buy-now-pay-later, HECS-HELP
- Evidence of the deposit source, including a gift letter if part of it is a gift
- Written confirmation of what type of pre-approval you have been given
Where people slip
- Treating an online estimate as an approval and bidding on it at auction, where contracts are unconditional.
- Letting pre-approval expire a week before the auction you were saving it for.
- Changing jobs between pre-approval and settlement without telling the lender. Probation resets the assessment.
Who sets the rules here
General information about how the Australian home buying and lending process works. Thresholds, concessions and scheme eligibility are set by federal, state and territory agencies and change; each page links to the agency that sets the rule. Reviewed 17 August 2026.