How long do I need to be in a new job before applying for a home loan?

It depends on the lender. A few, including two of the majors, have no minimum and will work from your employment contract or first payslip. Many want three months in the role. Others want six months with the current employer, but most of those will accept twelve months of continuous experience in the same industry instead.

Does a gap between jobs affect a home loan application?

It can. Only some lenders publish a limit, and where they do it ranges from under a month, to four weeks, to two months on an insured loan, to sixty days in total across the last twelve months. At least one lender says the time between roles does not need to be considered at all. Inside four weeks almost everyone is comfortable. Beyond about two months the field narrows and you should expect to explain the gap.

Does industry experience count instead of time with my current employer?

At most lenders, yes. The common pattern is that twelve months of continuous experience in the same industry or occupation substitutes for six months with the current employer. One lender wants two years in a similar role before it will accept short tenure, one accepts as little as six months in the same field at a previous employer, and one does not allow the substitution at all.

Which lenders require probation to be completed before a home loan?

Only a few. One lender requires probation to be finished with no exceptions. Two others require it to be finished unless you are an essential services worker, have twelve months of continuous employment, or have worked in a similar role with other employers for at least twelve months. Everyone else assesses probationary applicants on their history and the strength of the rest of the application.

Is it different if I switch casual or contract jobs?

Yes. The relaxed treatment described here is for permanent full time and part time employment. Casual income normally needs six to twelve months with the same employer or in the same industry, and a break between casual jobs is looked at more carefully. Contract roles have their own tenure and remaining term requirements.

Home / Straight Answers / Probation and switching jobs

Straight Answers · New job

Can I get a home loan on probation or after switching jobs?

Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Lender policy checked 24 August 2026 · 6 min read

The short answer

Yeah, generally. A lot of the banks nowadays are pretty cool with probation, especially if you’ve got industry experience that’s relevant to the role you’re doing now.

If you’re just changing companies and there isn’t a massive gap between leaving the old job and starting the new one, lenders see that as happy days, provided it’s full time or permanent. Four weeks or less between employers and you can still get a home loan. Switching casual jobs is a different conversation, and we have to be a bit more careful there.

The 40 second version. Everything below is the detail underneath it.

Probation is rarely the problem people think it is

The word sounds like a red flag, so people wait it out. Most of the time they didn’t need to. Across the lenders I work with, the large majority will assess permanent full time or part time income while you’re still inside a probation period. A couple say so in plain words in their policy. Two of the majors don’t even set a minimum time in the role: an employment contract or a first payslip is enough to get started.

Only a few lenders want probation finished before they’ll look at you. One is a hard rule with no way around it. The other two carve out exceptions: essential services workers, twelve months of continuous employment, or twelve months in a similar role with previous employers all get you through.

So “am I on probation” is the wrong question. The lender is really asking four things, and once you know what they are, you can usually see where you land before anyone runs a number.

The four things a lender actually checks

Every lender’s employment policy comes down to some mix of these. What changes from one to the next is where they set each line.

What they check	Where the panel sits	What it means for you
Is probation itself a problem?	Most: no. Three: must be completed, two of those with exceptions	Only a small corner of the panel is closed to you
How long in the new role?	None, three months, or six months	The six month lenders usually have a swap, below
How big was the gap between jobs?	Under a month at the strictest, no limit at the most relaxed	Four weeks or less keeps nearly everyone open
Does industry experience count instead?	Usually twelve months in the same field replaces six months with the current employer	Career continuity matters more than the start date

Three of the four have nothing to do with the word probation. They’re about the shape of your work history. That’s why someone who has done the same job for six years and just moved companies is in a completely different position from someone who has changed careers and started fresh, even if both are technically on probation today.

How long you need to have been in the new job

The minimum time in your current role runs on a ladder, and the rung you need depends on which lender is doing the assessing.

Minimum time in current role	Who sets it there	What gets you over the line
No minimum	A handful of lenders, including two majors	Employment contract or letter of offer, plus your first payslip when it lands
Three months	Several, including a major and some smaller banks	Three months of payslips or salary credits; at one lender it stretches to six months if the loan needs mortgage insurance
Six months	The most common setting, banks and non-banks alike	Six months with the current employer, or twelve months in the same industry at most of them

One lender on the panel doesn’t set a minimum in the current role at all but wants two years of overall employment history. Another looks at it purely on the strength of the whole application. The point is that a start date three weeks ago doesn’t rule you out. It rules out some lenders and points you at others.

The gap between jobs

This is the one I get asked about most and the one with the widest spread. Most lenders don’t publish a gap limit at all, they just want a continuous-looking history. Of the ones that do, the range is enormous.

Published gap limit	How many lenders	Notes
Under a month	One major, one smaller bank	One of them allows a single break only
Two months	Two majors, on insured loans only	Without mortgage insurance the same lenders just want you started and paid once
Sixty days across twelve months	One bank	Adds up every break in the year, not just the latest one
Over three months gets escalated	One non-bank	Not a no, but a manager has to sign it off
No limit	One major	Policy says the time between roles does not need to be considered

My rule of thumb from the calls: inside four weeks, almost everyone is comfortable. Between one and two months, the field narrows and the loan-to-value ratio starts to matter. Past three months, expect to explain it, and know that at least one lender genuinely won’t care.

Two lenders also cap the number of employers: more than two jobs in the last twelve months and you’re outside their policy regardless of how short the gaps were. If you’ve hopped around, that’s worth flagging at the start rather than discovering at assessment.

The swap most people don’t know exists

Here’s the bit from the video that does the heavy lifting. Most lenders that ask for six months with your current employer will take twelve months of continuous experience in the same industry or occupation instead. Same trade, same profession, different company: the clock didn’t reset when you moved.

The edges of that rule are where lenders differ. One only needs six months in the same field at your previous employer. One wants two years in a similar role before it will accept short tenure, which is the strictest version on the panel. And one doesn’t allow the substitution at all: probation has to be finished, full stop.

This is why a nurse who moved hospitals last month, or a sparky who went from one contractor to another, is usually fine. It’s also why a career change is the case to be careful with. New industry, new employer, three weeks in: the substitute doesn’t apply, so you’re down to the lenders with no minimum tenure, and the rest of the application needs to be clean.

Four things that catch people out

Mortgage insurance changes the rules at the majors. Without it, two of the majors just want you commenced and paid once. With it, the same lenders want three months in the role, or twelve months in the same occupation with no more than a two month gap. If you’re buying with a small deposit, the stricter pathway is the one that applies to you, including under the Home Guarantee Scheme.
Casual and contract are a different conversation. Everything on this page is about permanent full time and part time work. Casual income normally needs six to twelve months of history and a break between casual jobs is looked at much more carefully. The casual income answer covers that properly.
Just finished studying? At least one lender has a pathway for that. Recently completed study plus a new job in a related field gets you through probation at that lender without any prior work history in the role. A genuine unlock for graduates that almost nobody mentions.
Essential workers get exceptions. At one lender that normally wants probation finished, police, nurses, paramedics, teachers and similar roles are waved through. Another sets no minimum tenure at all for education and essential services staff. If that’s you, say so early.

What to bring, and what to ask

Your employment contract or letter of offer does most of the work here: start date, whether it’s permanent, hours, salary, and the length of the probation period, all on one document. Add your first payslip when you have it, the final payslip from the last job so the gap is on paper rather than in your head, and if you’re relying on industry experience, enough of your previous payslips or PAYG summaries to show the twelve months.

Then the question to ask isn’t “do you lend to people on probation.” Nearly everyone does. It’s “how long do you need me in this role, and does my time in the industry count toward it.” The answers to those two decide which lenders are open to you this month, and which ones you’d be waiting for.

Lender policies described above were checked in August 2026 and change regularly. Individual lenders aren’t named here on purpose: policy moves, and the right lender depends entirely on your situation rather than on a list in an article.

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Next question

Will the bank give me a home loan if I'm casual?

The version of this question where the answer changes. Same employer test, much less forgiving on the gaps.