Posting cycle home loans
Buying a home while you are posted
A posting order and a property settlement are set by different people, and neither moves for the other. A plain-English guide to buying, keeping or renting out a home around the posting cycle: your loan when you move on, the DHOAS occupancy rules, and settling from anywhere.
How the posting cycle collides with a purchase timeline
Defence puts it plainly: a mobile life is an integral part of military service, and members and families are routinely posted around Australia and overseas. Buying a home does not change that, it changes how much planning the finance needs. We build the loan around the dates you actually have:
- A pre-approval that is still live. Every lender sets its own shelf life. If yours lapses mid-posting or mid-course, we plan the refresh.
- Finance clause dates you can meet. If an exercise, a course, leave or a removal sits inside the finance period, say so before you sign.
- The posting order is the document. Defence conditions turn on the official posting order, not an intent or a verbal heads-up.
- The move and the loan run on separate tracks. Defence coordinates relocations through PostingConnect, with Toll Transitions case-managing and Defence Housing Australia on housing.
Buy, rent, or keep it and rent it out
The same three-way choice comes back at every posting. Check your entitlements against the current Defence rules each time.
Defence housing
Living-in accommodation is barrack-style accommodation, usually on base. A Service residence is the other subsidised option, and Defence's condition is that you may be able to live in one if you do not own a suitable home in that location.
Renting privately with Rent Allowance
Rent allowance helps with renting privately. Defence notes you may not be able to get it if you rejected a Defence Housing Australia offer of a suitable Service residence, or moved out of one at the same location.
Buying where you are posted
Buying changes your position with Defence as well as with a lender. Once you get assistance to buy in your housing benefit or family benefit location, you may not be eligible for other housing assistance there while the home stays a suitable own home. Conditions sit at pay-conditions.defence.gov.au.
What happens to your loan when you are posted away
A home loan is written for a stated purpose. When you move out and tenants move in, that purpose changes from owner-occupied to investment. Tell the lender, because loans are assessed and priced differently on that basis.
Rent counts as income when you next apply, but every lender counts it in its own way rather than in full, and the loan you leave behind stays on your file. Carrying one from an earlier posting? Start with a mortgage health check.
DHOAS occupancy when a posting lands
DHOAS has its own occupancy condition, and it is the rule members most often trip over. The scheme publishes it like this:
- You and your family must occupy the home for at least 12 months from the time subsidy payments start, and the requirement can be met by your dependants while you are away.
- Posted before you move in. If you have a posting order and know you will relocate within a year of subsidy starting, you can receive subsidy until you vacate, and no longer meet the condition once you do.
- Posted after you move in. If the posting arrives after you moved in, in good faith that you would stay 12 months, subsidy can continue, but you must advise DVA on a Change of Circumstances form with your posting order attached before you shift. Afterwards, subsidy may be ceased or suspended, with overpayments to repay.
- After the 12 months. You can keep the subsidy whether or not you live in the house, and you can rent it out, provided the DHOAS home loan remains current.
- Building. On a construction loan you have two years from the first subsidy payment to finish and occupy, then the 12 months runs from when the home is occupiable.
Detail is at dhoas.gov.au. Estimate your tier with our DHOAS calculator, and our DHOAS and ADF home loans page covers eligibility.
Buying at your next posting location before you arrive
Plenty of members buy in the new location before the removal truck does. A lender assesses you, your income, your commitments and the property, so not having a local address yet matters less than it sounds. Three Defence conditions matter before you commit:
- HPAS. Eligibility requires continuous full-time service, and where you buy must continue to be your housing benefit or family benefit location for at least a year. It is payable only once during your service in the Permanent Forces.
- HPSEA. It runs on a sell and purchase cycle for members who are posted, sell in the former location and buy in the new one, and only if you previously received HPAS. Time limits apply, including two years on the sale from written notice.
- DHOAS order of operations. Defence states you must be approved for DHOAS before applying for a home loan with an approved DHOAS home loan provider.
Settling from overseas, at sea or on exercise
Being hard to reach for weeks is not a reason to miss a settlement, it is a reason to start earlier.
- E-signature. Most loan documents are signed electronically now. A few still need a wet signature or a witness, and those are the ones to identify at the start.
- Identity verification. Lenders and brokers have to verify who you are. There are remote and certified-copy pathways, and each lender accepts a different set, so we confirm the method before you go.
- Power of attorney. In general terms, a legal document letting someone you trust sign for you. It has to be prepared properly and in place before you leave, so get legal advice early.
- Contact windows. Tell us when you can be reached and who is your contact at home, and we schedule around them.
The paperwork Defence members are usually asked for
- Recent payslips and your latest income statement or pay summary.
- Bank statements for your everyday and savings accounts, plus loans and credit cards.
- Photo identity documents, verified the way your lender accepts.
- Your DHOAS subsidy certificate, if the scheme is part of the plan.
- A copy of your posting order, including the one DVA needs with a Change of Circumstances form.
Allowances are the part that catches people out. Lenders treat service, separation, uniform and other allowances very differently, some in full, some partly, some not at all. It is why two lenders read the same payslip and land somewhere different.
Postings and bases we work with
We are Queensland-based and lend Australia-wide. Everything runs by phone, WhatsApp, video and e-signature, so nobody visits an office. Members we help are posted to:
Queensland
Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera, headquarters of the 7th Brigade and one of Australia's largest military bases; RAAF Base Amberley, Defence's largest operational air base, south west of Brisbane; Kokoda Barracks at Canungra, a short drive from the Gold Coast; Swartz Barracks at Oakey, home of the Army Aviation Training Centre; and in the north, Lavarack Barracks in Townsville, home of the 3rd Brigade, and RAAF Base Townsville.
Northern Territory and New South Wales
Robertson Barracks, the Army's major establishment in the Territory and home of the 1st Brigade. In New South Wales, Holsworthy Barracks, Blamey Barracks at Kapooka near Wagga Wagga where every Army recruit trains, and RAAF Base Williamtown.
Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia
HMAS Cerberus, the Navy's premier training establishment near Crib Point on Western Port, still searched for under its old name, Flinders Naval Depot; Puckapunyal Military Area in central Victoria; RAAF Base Edinburgh north of Adelaide; and HMAS Stirling on Garden Island near Perth.
If your base is not listed, it changes nothing. Regional, at sea or overseas, the process is the same.
Common questions
Posting questions we hear
Should I buy a home if I might be posted soon?
That depends on your plans, not on a rule. What matters is dates you can meet, a live pre-approval, and a plan for the home if you move on. General information, not personal credit advice.
What happens to my DHOAS subsidy if I am posted before the 12 months is up?
If the posting came after you moved in, in good faith that you would stay 12 months, subsidy can continue. Advise DVA on a Change of Circumstances form with your posting order attached before you shift, or subsidy may be ceased or suspended.
Can I rent out my DHOAS home once I am posted away?
After 12 months of occupancy you can keep the subsidy and rent the home out, provided the DHOAS home loan remains current. Get tax advice from a registered tax agent, and tell your lender.
Can I buy at my next posting location before I arrive?
Yes, and members do it regularly. The lender assesses you and the property rather than your postcode, and the valuation is ordered where the property is.
Can I settle on a house while I am deployed or on exercise?
Often, yes. Most documents are signed electronically and identity checks have remote options, but anything needing a witness, or a power of attorney, has to be organised before you go.
Do you help members posted outside Queensland?
Yes. We are Queensland-based and lend Australia-wide, by phone, WhatsApp, video and e-signature. No office visit, wherever you are posted.
Veteran owned and operated
Posting coming up?
Bring us the dates, the posting order and the plan, and we build the finance around them. The first chat is free and there is no obligation. Queensland-based, lending Australia-wide.