A 10% deposit means the lender has to lend up to 90% of the property’s value. This creates a higher risk for the lender if house prices fall, compared to the usual 20% deposit and 80% home loan. That’s why the Reserve Bank limits the number of 10% deposit loans a bank can make. The lender may also charge a higher interest rate to cover their risk. However, the percentage size of your deposit doesn’t dictate how much you can borrow in dollar terms. That depends on your ability to meet the repayments. In general, your regular fortnightly or monthly home loan repayments should be no more than about 35% of your income before tax over the same period. This assumes you have no other debts to repay. New debt-to-income (DTI) restrictions from the Reserve Bank are expected sometime after March 2024. These might limit your total debt from all sources to something like three to six times your annual income. The actual ratio hasn’t been announced yet.