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Do I have to sell, or can I keep this place as a rental?
Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 1 September 2026 · 3 min read
The short answer
It depends on your borrowing capacity and what you're trying to do next. Once we factor in your income, the expected rent from the place you own, and the new loan for the place you're about to buy, it has to pass the bank's tests. If it does, great. You can often pull equity out of the current property to buy the next one, and keep both.
If the numbers don't stack up and you need to sell, you've got three ways to do it: bridging so you can buy before you've sold, a same-day settlement for both, or sell first, rent, and buy again later. So yes, you can keep it and turn it into a rental, as long as the numbers support it.
The one minute version. The rest of this page is the detail underneath it.
The test: can you carry both?
Keeping the old place means carrying two loans at once. The bank runs your income, plus the expected rent from the property you're keeping, against the existing loan and the new one, and it has to pass the borrowing capacity test with both on the books.
If it does, great. And in a lot of cases the deposit for the next place comes from the one you already own: you can often pull equity out of your current property to buy the next one, and hold both.
Why people keep it
If you're interested in holding property for the longer term, keeping the first one is often the preferred route: you already own it, you know it, and turning it into a rental means the tenant helps carry it while it grows.
The tax treatment of a home that becomes a rental is an accountant's question, and it's worth asking before you decide rather than after. The finance side, whether the bank will let you carry both, is mine.
If the numbers say sell
If you can't carry both, or you'd rather not, there are three paths. You can look at bridging finance so you can buy before you've sold. You can try to line up a same-day settlement for both properties. Or you sell first, rent for a while, and buy again later.
Each has its own trade-offs, and each has its own page below. The point is that selling isn't the default. It's one of four options, and the numbers pick between them.
The honest bit: rent isn't income until the bank says it is
The bank doesn't count 100% of the rent you expect. It shades it, and it adds the costs of owning a rental on the other side. So a property that 'pays for itself' in your head can still fail the test on paper. That's not the bank being difficult. It's the bank assuming a vacancy and a repair bill.
Run the numbers before you fall in love with the next place. If keeping the first one is the goal, that shapes what the second one can cost.
Want to know if you can carry both?
A 30 minute call. Your income, the rent the bank would count, both loans, and whether the equity in the place you own covers the next deposit. If the answer is sell, you'll know which of the three ways fits.
No cost to you. The bank pays me when a loan settles. ยท How I get paid
Next question
Do I have to sell my current home before I buy the next one?The sequencing question, if selling is the answer.
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