Run the numbers before you commit.

Even small extras — rounding up to the nearest $50 — can shave years and save tens of thousands. FIFO workers: direct part of your away-roster pay as lump-sum repayments. Interest Only: your repayment is just that month's interest, so it drops in real time as your offset balance grows — but the loan balance itself won't reduce unless you add extra repayments. Most lenders only allow IO for a set period (often 1–5 years) before reverting to P&I; this calculator shows IO for illustration over the full term. Principal & Interest: your minimum repayment is fixed by your lender regardless of your offset — the offset instead reduces the interest charged each month, so more of that same repayment goes to principal and you finish sooner (see "Paid Off In" below). Estimates only — contact your lender for exact figures. Got a HECS/HELP debt? Compulsory repayments come out of your pay before any of this — budget for them first on the HECS/HELP tab.

Car loans typically run 6–10% — much higher than mortgages — so extra repayments are brutally effective. A $50/week extra on a $40K, 5-year loan at 8.99% can save thousands and finish you off a year early. Balloon payments are owed at the end and don’t reduce during the term — refinance, pay out, or trade in. For FIFO workers: a roster lump-sum on the principal at month 6 wipes out a disproportionate chunk of interest.

An offset only earns while there's loan left to offset. Its return is your mortgage rate, tax-free — normally unbeatable — but it's capped at your loan balance: once the offset covers the whole loan, every extra dollar sitting there earns exactly 0%. That's why the third option usually wins: fill the offset first (guaranteed, tax-free), then invest everything beyond it. Investment returns are shown pre-CGT and are not guaranteed; the offset's return is. For owner-occupiers, mortgage interest is not deductible — which is what makes the offset so tax-effective. Set the monthly surplus to $0 to compare a one-off lump sum on its own.

Current law applies a 50% discount to nominal gains on assets held ≥ 12 months (since 21 Sept 1999). Proposed new rules (as debated in Parliament) would instead index the cost base by CPI and apply a minimum 30% tax on the real gain — potentially fairer for long-hold investors whose gains are mostly inflation. The new rules are not yet legislated — always consult a registered tax agent. The OIM way: hold quality long-term, let compounding do the work.

Stamp duty estimates are approximate — use your state Revenue Office calculator for exact figures. Excludes rates, maintenance, body corporate, strata and tax benefits. Property also provides peace of mind, stability and forced saving — factors that don’t appear in the numbers. If you have a HECS/HELP debt, your real take-home pay is lower than gross income suggests — check the HECS/HELP tab before locking in a mortgage amount.

Retirement income, side by side. Enter your numbers above.

Tax rules applied. —

How this works. The property investor's out-of-pocket cost is worked out every year — rent in, all costs and interest out, tax refund back. That exact figure is then handed to the A-REIT investor as their contribution, so both commit identical after-tax cash. The A-REIT investor uses their distributions and contributions to clear the loan first, then buys more units. What it does not do: it gives the property no ability to refinance and buy a second one, it assumes you hold for the full period and never sell in a crash, it holds your tax rate flat throughout, and it assumes one house that is always tenanted with no special levies or major defects. CGT assumes you sell everything in one hit at your current rate — in practice you would likely be retired on a much lower rate, and may not sell at all.

Assumes the full carry-forward amount is used as a personal deductible contribution in year one (on top of employer SG), taxed at the flat 15% contributions tax rather than your marginal rate — the actual ATO rule tracks up to five annual "buckets" that expire individually, which this model simplifies into a single pool. Excludes the Division 293 surcharge (an extra 15% contributions tax that applies to income + concessional contributions over $250,000) and assumes your total super balance stays under the $500,000 carry-forward eligibility threshold throughout. Investment returns are shown net of the fund fee entered above and are not guaranteed. Always confirm your exact available cap on myGov before contributing — over-contributing triggers additional tax.

Net position = portfolio value (gross) − loan balance − total after-tax interest paid so far. The interest comparison matters: if you hadn't borrowed, that same after-tax interest money would otherwise have sat safely in cash earning nothing — so it's subtracted here rather than ignored, which is what makes this a fair comparison against the $0 no-debt-recycling reference line. Distributions are taxed annually at your marginal rate with the franking credit assumption above; the remaining capital-growth portion compounds untaxed until sold. Excludes CGT on eventual sale, sequencing risk, and assumes the loan is used solely to acquire income-producing investments — the general condition for interest to be deductible. General education only, not personal advice — debt recycling amplifies both gains and losses. Speak with a licensed adviser and your accountant before acting.

Nominal capital gain at sale: —. Only one column applies to your actual purchase (marked above) — the other is shown for comparison only. As of July 2026, changes to negative gearing and CGT are legislated to commence 1 July 2027: existing investments are generally grandfathered under current rules, while investments made from that date are subject to the new rules (new builds keep full negative gearing; established dwellings have rental losses quarantined). Always confirm your own grandfathering status and the current legislated detail with a registered tax agent — legislation can still be amended before or after commencement.

General education only, not personal advice. This calculator combines the equity released from your home and any new investment-property-secured loan into one interest balance for simplicity — in practice a bank may split these across separate loan accounts or use different rates. The break-even rate and cash-on-cash return are year-1 snapshots, not full-horizon figures. IRR is estimated numerically and assumes the property is sold exactly at the end of your chosen horizon. Excludes loan establishment fees, land tax, and any change to your own home loan repayments. Negative gearing and CGT treatment reflect our understanding of the 1 July 2027 reforms as legislated — always confirm grandfathering status, dwelling classification and current legislative detail with a registered tax agent, and speak with a licensed adviser and mortgage broker before acting — this is a big, hard-to-reverse decision.

The 2025–26 HELP repayment system charges a marginal rate only on the portion of your repayment income within each band (like income tax), replacing the old system where crossing a threshold taxed your whole income at one rate. Repayment income = taxable income + reportable fringe benefits + reportable super contributions (including salary sacrifice) + total net investment losses + exempt foreign income. Indexation applies each 1 June to whatever balance remains after that financial year's repayments. Thresholds, rates and the indexation method are indexed/reviewed periodically — always check your current balance and this year's exact thresholds on the ATO's own HELP repayment calculator before budgeting around this.