Thank you Terry! I found St George Bank to have pretty ok rates of interest. Cheers!

Hello! Sorry I couldn't respond to both your comments sooner. Many many thanks for your help. As you can see, it is rather complicated an issue isn't it.

1. Make sure you can assign the right to purchase in the first place. You wouldn't want any recourse against you if the person you assign to doesn't settle. Yes, my lawyers have confirmed that I can do this. Before I purchase, I will make sure that I'll be clear of any settlement once I assign the property.

2. The idea of a deposit bond is that the bank guarantees that you will be able to come up with a deposit on settlement. If you then assign your right, I can't see why you need the deposit bond anymore as the new purchaser takes over that obligation to give a deposit on settlement. That is, when you assign the person taking up the contract will need their own deposit which should then eliminate you. Yes, I agree. That's why I was doubtful when the real estate agent I spoke to said he would have to hold the deposits in trust account. It all sounded rather fishy to me. I would expect that the assignee's deposit monies will be held in trust, and not mine.  Thanks for explaining how bank guarantees work. Its a lot clearer to me now.

I will definitely look at the stamp duty issue  – that's something that I hadn't thought about, and I appreciate that you've brought it to my attention.

Thank you again for all your help. I'm really grateful.