Lender’s Mortgage Insurance (LMI) is insurance that covers the lender’s risk within a residential mortgage transaction in case the borrower fails to make loan repayments. A lender considers a loan to carry a higher risk if the loan-to-valuation-ratio (LVR) is more than 80 per cent of the purchase property price, this is when LMI is payable.
If you consider that the average price of a home in Brisbane is $550,000, that would mean a deposit of around $110,000 would be required. The major benefit of LMI is that borrowers with smaller deposits are able to enter the market sooner rather than later, allowing the dream of homeownership to become a reality for a lot of first home buyers.