“How long does approval take?” matters most when you’ve found the property and the clock is running. The honest answer ranges from 24 hours to six weeks, and most of the difference is decided before you apply, by how the application is prepared and which lender it goes to.
The typical timeline
- Pre-approval: 1 day to 2 weeks depending on lender workload and whether your file needs manual assessment.
- Formal approval after you find a property: 3 days to 2 weeks, the valuation is usually the pacing item.
- Settlement: commonly 42 days from exchange in NSW (negotiable), 30–90 days elsewhere.
What slows applications down
- Missing documents, the single biggest cause. One follow-up request can add a week.
- Self-employed income, trusts or complex structures routed to generalist assessors.
- Low valuations that force a re-negotiation or a bigger deposit.
- Lender backlogs, turnaround times swing from 1 day to 15+ between lenders, month to month.
How to get approved fast
Have payslips, bank statements and ID ready before you apply; keep spending clean for three months; and, most importantly, apply to a lender whose current turnaround and credit policy suit your file. Brokers see live SLA data across lenders; borrowers don’t.
Auction purchases are unconditional, you need formal-approval-level confidence before you bid. Talk to Nathan about auction-ready preparation.
Get auction-ready →The broker difference
Nathan packages your application to the standard credit assessors expect, right documents, income presented correctly, valuation ordered early, and lodges it with a lender that’s actually moving quickly that week. Start with a free call.