Portability or further DSH loans

Further advances are available to eligible applicants who paid off a Defence Service Homes loan (excluding Widow/er Advances and Essential Repairs Advances) on or after 9 December 1987, or who can’t arrange portability of their current loan. An application for a certificate of entitlement must be lodged and various conditions apply. Generally, Westpac will secure the loan by way of a FIRST mortgage over the property. This is a requirement of the Defence Service Homes Act 1918. The amount of a Further Advance is restricted to the balance of the loan limit at discharge (that is, the balance remaining after allowing for arrears/excess credits) over the unused term of that loan.

You can take your loan with you

Most new and existing Defence Service Homes loans are portable from one home to another.

Portability allows Westpac to move your current Defence Service Homes loan from one home to the next, without the need to apply for a certificate of entitlement from Defence Service Homes. This arrangement also allows Westpac to take interim security for up to six months if there is a delay between the sale of the existing home and purchase or building of the next.

For the majority of clients who sell their existing home and immediately purchase a new home, the bank will be able to arrange substitution of security and continuation of the subsidised loan account. Contact Westpac for details. A change in the ownership in respect of the new home, or if you are building a new home, may prevent portability.

For those clients who sell and don’t wish to purchase immediately, the Commonwealth and the bank have agreed that a subsidy payment (and therefore continuation of the subsidised loan account) can be made for up to six months from the sale of the existing home provided that:

  • the bank has interim security for the subsidised loan (for example, sufficient funds from the proceeds of the sale held in a term deposit);
  • normal loan repayments on the subsidised loan are maintained.

Clients who are considering selling and buying within a short period should contact their Westpac branch for details.

Clients who do not purchase another home within six months from the sale of their existing home, or whose subsidised loan account has already been closed, will need to complete the application form to obtain a certificate of entitlement. The usual conditions apply.

Widow / Widower Advances, Essential Repair Advances and Assigned Advances are not portable and are excluded from the Portability arrangements.

If you are not, or will not be, the registered proprietor of the property (for example, a retirement village unit or granny flat) please note information about also applying for a Certificate of Assignment in addition to a Certificate of Entitlement.

See: Assigned advances

For more information: