Six times your income. That's the line APRA drew on 1 February 2026 — and if your total debt sits above it, your next application competes for a rationed slice of each lender's loan book. Most borrowers have never worked out their own number.
The debt-to-income (DTI) ratio used to be a figure lenders glanced at and filed. Now APRA polices it: no more than 20% of new owner-occupier or investor loans can be written at six times income or above. If you earn well and hold more than one loan, this one ratio decides which queue you stand in.
The timing is awkward. The RBA has lifted the cash rate three times in 2026 to 4.35%, held in June, and meets again on 11 August 2026. Rising rates trim capacity on one side while the DTI cap squeezes the other. The consolation: fewer buyers are bidding against you right now, so treat this as a preparation window, not a race. Sort your ratio while the crowd sits on its hands.
What is a debt-to-income ratio, exactly?
Your DTI is total debt divided by gross annual household income. All of it counts: home loan, investment loans, car finance, your HECS balance, and at many lenders the full limit on your credit cards rather than the balance you actually carry.
Owe $1.6 million across three loans on a $250,000 household income? That's a DTI of 6.4.
It's a blunter test than borrowing capacity, which models your income and expenses line by line. Serviceability asks whether you can carry the repayments. DTI asks a simpler question: how big is the pile, and how long would it take to clear if life went sideways?
Why is APRA's DTI cap suddenly a big deal?
APRA has held DTI limits in its toolkit since 2021 and never used them. On 1 February 2026 it acted for the first time: a maximum of 20% of each lender's new owner-occupier and investor loans can go to borrowers at a DTI of six or above. Construction loans and new builds are exempt. The full detail sits in our guide to APRA's 2026 DTI limits.
Follow the chain. A cap on the bucket forces lenders to manage the bucket. Some now decline almost anything over six. Others hold that space for their strongest files. Few advertise which camp they're in this month, and we've watched those internal settings move without a word of it reaching the lender's published policy.
The cap also stacks on the 3% serviceability buffer, which APRA reconfirmed at its 28 May 2026 review. You're now tested twice: can you afford repayments at your rate plus three percentage points, and is the total pile under the line?
| Your DTI | How lenders read it since 1 February 2026 |
|---|---|
| Under 4 | Comfortable territory; standard processing |
| 4 to just under 6 | Normal scrutiny; the 3% buffer does the heavy lifting |
| 6 and above | The rationed bucket: capped at 20% of new lending, and each lender chooses who gets in |
Your DTI isn't one number. It's 45.
Same debts, same payslips, different lender, different ratio. One lender counts 90% of your rental income. Another shades it to 80%, or leaves your bonus out entirely. Credit card treatment varies again: a $30,000 card with a zero balance can be the difference between 5.9 and 6.1.
Consider Tanya and Dan, who earn $310,000 combined and own a home in Camp Hill, in Brisbane's inner south-east, with a $780,000 loan plus a $610,000 investment loan. They want a second investment property, borrowing $560,000 and taking total debt to $1.95 million. At a lender that leaves rental income out of the DTI calculation, they sit at 6.3: rationed bucket. At a lender counting 90% of their $58,000 gross rent, income becomes $362,200 and the ratio drops to 5.4. Same couple. Clean lane.
Based on typical scenarios. Individual outcomes vary.
That gap is what the Wity Borrowing Power Assessment is built to find. It models your DTI and capacity across 45+ lenders, not one bank's calculator, and shows which lenders read your file at 5.4 rather than 6.3.
What can you do if your DTI sits above six?
- Cut limits, not just balances. Cancelling an unused $20,000 credit card lowers your debt total the day it closes.
- Pick the lender whose income rules suit you. Rent shading and bonus haircuts move the ratio more than most borrowers expect.
- Consider new builds. Construction and new-build loans sit outside the cap, worth knowing if you're weighing up a first investment property.
- Keep loans standalone. Cross-collateralisation ties your whole portfolio to one lender's DTI treatment; standalone loans let you place each one where it fits.
- Clean up before you buy. Consolidating or refinancing existing debt first can pull the ratio under the line before the new application lands.
The market is giving you time to do it. Cotality's June 2026 data puts the national median at $937,722 with auction clearance rates in the low 40s: fewer competing bidders, more room to restructure before you make an offer.
What should you do this month?
Run your own number tonight. Total debt, divided by gross household income. Under five, the cap likely isn't your problem; the buffer is. Anywhere near six, and lender choice matters more than it has in years.
Want to see how your ratio reads across the market? Start the Wity questionnaire →. Free, no credit check, two minutes.