You’re “Serviceable” — But What Does That Really Mean for Investors Today?
Many investors leave conversations with brokers or lenders feeling reassured after hearing the phrase “you’re serviceable.” On the surface, it sounds like confirmation that things are on track. Yet for a growing number of investors, that reassurance is followed by uncertainty. Being serviceable today does not answer the more important question: how many properties can actually be built over time, and how sustainable that trajectory really is.
The reason for this gap in understanding has become increasingly relevant in the current market environment. Serviceability is often treated as a green light, but in practice it is only a snapshot. It reflects whether a lender is prepared to approve a loan under today’s policies, today’s assumptions, and today’s risk appetite. It does not account for how those policies change, how scrutiny tightens, or how an investor’s position holds up as a portfolio grows. At the centre of this issue sits a concept that many investors hear about but rarely understand in full — Debt-to-Income, or DTI.
DTI is often misunderstood as a score or threshold, something an investor either passes or fails. In reality, lenders do not treat DTI as a hard line in the sand. Instead, it operates more like a speed limit. As an investor’s DTI increases, the way lenders assess applications changes. Files receive more scrutiny, assumptions become more conservative, and flexibility begins to narrow. Approval is no longer just about income and equity, but about how clean, structured, and defensible the entire financial position appears to a credit team.
This matters now more than it has in years. We are approaching a significant shift in how DTI is assessed and applied across lenders. It is not the type of change that attracts media attention or sparks public debate, but it will quietly reshape how borrowing capacity is calculated, how investor applications are reviewed, and how easily approvals move through credit channels. For investors building portfolios over time, these subtle shifts can have outsized consequences.
What many investors fail to realise is that DTI does not simply determine whether a loan is approved. Increasingly, it determines how often an investor can keep borrowing, how smoothly refinancing options remain available, and how adaptable a portfolio is when lending policies tighten. Two investors can sit at the same DTI on paper, yet experience very different outcomes. One continues to acquire, refinance, and reposition with relative ease. The other finds momentum slowing, approvals becoming harder, and options narrowing earlier than expected.
The difference is rarely income or intelligence. More often, it comes down to structure and sequencing. Clean liabilities, well-chosen assets, and lender-appropriate structuring create resilience. Poor sequencing, over-leveraging early, or chasing maximum borrowing capacity without regard for future flexibility can quietly undermine a portfolio long before an investor realises there is a problem.
In today’s environment, borrowing capacity should be treated as an asset, not a target. Many investors unintentionally weaken their long-term position by pushing for the largest possible approval upfront, selecting properties that look appealing in isolation but perform poorly from a lending perspective, or accumulating liabilities that reduce future flexibility. These decisions rarely feel damaging at the time, but they often surface later, when policy settings tighten and finance becomes brittle.
Most property portfolios do not stop growing because markets turn or prices fall. They stop growing because finance becomes constrained. Momentum is lost not through a single mistake, but through a series of small, uncoordinated decisions that reduce adaptability over time. Understanding how DTI actually functions within lender decision-making is therefore critical for investors who want to build sustainably rather than stall prematurely.
To help investors navigate this properly, we’ve put together a short, practical guide that breaks down how DTI is assessed in real lending decisions, what is changing in the current environment, and how experienced investors protect flexibility as their portfolios evolve. It also explains why property selection and finance strategy must work together, rather than being treated as separate decisions.
If, after reading the guide, you want help applying this properly — from selecting the right asset to structuring finance in a way that supports future growth — our discovery process is designed to do exactly that. We’ll walk through your position, your goals, and your sequencing, and connect you with a broker who understands long-term investor strategy rather than short-term approvals.
Speak soon,
Rothmore Property Group
This information is general in nature and does not constitute financial advice. Investors should seek independent professional advice.