Enter your home's value, the youngest borrower's age and what you'd draw. You'll see how the debt grows as interest compounds, the most the law or the scheme lets you borrow, and what share of today's value the loan reaches.
The borrowing limit—
How the debt grows
Year
Owed
Of today’s value
What the calculator follows
Nothing is repaid while you live in the home, so interest is added to the loan and then charged interest itself. Moneysmart puts it simply: the interest compounds and the debt grows (Moneysmart, reverse mortgages). For a lender’s reverse mortgage the calculator compounds monthly, starting at 7%, the default rate ASIC’s approved projection calculator uses (ASIC INFO 185); use the rate you’re quoted. The Home Equity Access Scheme compounds fortnightly at 3.95% (Services Australia; confirmed by DVA on 11 September 2026).
The limits are the law’s and the scheme’s. A lender’s reverse mortgage is presumed unsuitable above 15% of the home’s value at 55, plus 1% for each year over 55 (National Credit Regulations, reg 28LC). The scheme’s maximum loan is the security, rounded down to $10,000, times an age component (Services Australia). The home’s value is held flat, because growing it would be a forecast; the scheme’s fortnightly cap, tied to the Age Pension, isn’t checked. This page is general information, not advice.
Before you sign anything
Our guide to reverse mortgages compares a lender’s reverse mortgage with the Home Equity Access Scheme, downsizing and the downsizer super contribution, and says who each one suits. Talk it through with the family who might one day inherit the home.
Need cash from your home in retirement? We'll set the options side by side.
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Less than most people expect. The law presumes a reverse mortgage is unsuitable if the loan is more than 15% of the home's value when the youngest borrower is 55 or under, rising 1% for each year over 55: 20% at 60, 30% at 70. Moneysmart's rough guide is 15 to 20% at 60.
Can I end up owing more than the house is worth?
Not on a reverse mortgage taken out from 18 September 2012. The National Credit Code gives statutory no-negative-equity protection: if the lender receives the property's adjusted market value, the debt is discharged. The Home Equity Access Scheme has its own no-negative-equity guarantee.
What is the Home Equity Access Scheme?
A government loan for people of Age Pension age, secured on Australian property, paid as fortnightly amounts or lump-sum advances. Services Australia and DVA put the rate at 3.95% a year, compounding fortnightly, and the most you can borrow depends on your age and the security you put up.
Why doesn't the calculator grow the home's value?
Because that would be a forecast. The honest picture is how fast the debt grows against the equity you have now. Before you sign, a lender or broker must show you projections on ASIC's approved calculator, which include scenarios with and without house price growth.