Home / Home loans for doctors, nurses and lawyers

Guide · Professionals

Home loans for doctors, nurses and lawyers: how LMI waivers actually work

Bayley Clarke · Mortgage broker on the road · Last checked 7 September 2026 · 9 min read

The short answer

There is no such thing as a doctor's home loan. There is a list, at some lenders, of jobs that get lenders mortgage insurance waived, and every lender writes its own list.

Roughly a third of the lenders I work with run a documented occupation waiver. Most stop at 90% of the property value, medical practitioners can reach 95% at a couple, and the same registered nurse is excluded by name at one big bank and waived at the next. Behind every waiver sits a set of gates: minimum income, current registration, principal and interest, and at some lenders purchase only. This page is the whole thing in order. What the waiver actually removes, who is really on the lists, the gates behind them, and why the lender you walk into decides whether you pay a five figure premium or nothing.

What the waiver is actually waiving

Start with the thing being removed, because most people have never seen the bill. Lenders mortgage insurance is a once-off premium the bank makes you pay when your loan is more than 80% of what the property is worth. It protects the bank if you stop paying and they lose money selling the place. It does nothing for you. The cost slides with your loan to value ratio: just over 80% it may not be much, towards 90% it creeps up, and on a 95% loan it can land anywhere between 20 and 30 thousand dollars. Nobody publishes a rate card, because the insurer behind the loan prices each deal on loan size, LVR and borrower type, which is why every online calculator gives you a different number.

An occupation waiver removes that premium entirely, up to a ceiling. The typical ceiling is 90%. So a nurse, a physio or a solicitor with a 10% deposit and the right lender borrows 90% clean, on standard pricing, with no premium loaded onto the loan and no interest being charged on that premium for 30 years. Doctors and dentists do better at a couple of lenders, where the medical ceiling is 95%. Above the ceiling, everybody pays, whatever the job title.

Two things follow from that, and both get missed. First, the waiver only matters if you are actually above 80%. If you have 20% down, your occupation buys you nothing on LMI, and the professional package you were pitched is worth exactly what its rate and fees are worth. Second, the waiver is worth more than the premium, because of what the premium does to the loan. Most people capitalise LMI, which means adding it to the loan, and at most lenders the stated maximum loan already includes that premium. So capitalising it eats your borrowing rather than adding to it. Illustrative, not a quote: a 90% loan on a $600k purchase is $540k. Where a lender charges its own fee in lieu of insurance, the published schedules run around two percent as you approach 90%, so call it roughly $10,800 added to the loan. On a waiver the same $540k is $540k. That difference is either $10,800 you keep, or $10,800 of extra purchase price the bank will let you reach with the same deposit.

And the waiver is one of three exits, not the only one. The government 5% deposit scheme and a guarantor both get you past LMI by different means, and if your occupation misses every list, one of those two usually does the same job. Paying it and getting in now is the fourth option, and in a rising market it is sometimes the cheapest of them.

Who is actually on the lists, and who isn't

Here is the finding that surprises people when I open the policy books: there is no standard list. Every lender that runs a waiver decides for itself which occupations qualify, how high the ceiling goes for each, and what the gates are. The lists overlap in the middle and disagree at the edges, and the edges are where most of my clients live.

Doctors and dentists. On nearly every list that exists. General practitioners, hospital doctors, specialists and dentists are the core of every medical program, and they are the group that reaches 95% at a couple of lenders. Some lenders run two tiers: a top group of medical practitioners at the higher ceiling, and a second group of allied health at 90%. Registrars and doctors on provisional or postgraduate registration are accepted at some lenders and not others. Medical students and non-practising registrations are generally out.

Allied health. This is where the lists fall apart. Physiotherapists, pharmacists, optometrists, chiropractors, psychologists, occupational therapists, podiatrists, radiographers, sonographers, speech pathologists and vets are on the second tier at some lenders, on the top tier at one or two, and named exclusions at others. A pharmacist is excluded by name at one major and on the list at three other lenders. A physio is excluded at two and included at three. Same registration, same payslip.

Nurses and midwives. The one that gets people most. A registered nurse is excluded by name from the waiver at two of the biggest banks in the country. The same nurse is waived to 90% at three other lenders, one through its medical program and the others through essential services programs that cover registered nurses, paramedics and police. One of those essential services programs wants a minimum income, no casual employment and no probation. Another reaches teachers and firefighters as well, but on purchases only. If you are a nurse and your bank told you there is no waiver for you, that was true of your bank.

Lawyers and accountants. On most lists, nearly always with a minimum income attached, commonly in the low six figures from the qualifying profession, and often with a professional body membership required as well. Solicitors, barristers and in-house counsel generally qualify. Paralegals and law clerks generally do not. Accountants usually need to be a full member of one of the recognised bodies, and actuaries and chartered financial analysts tend to sit alongside them. The ceiling for this group is 90% almost everywhere. Partners of firms and senior executives of large listed companies get their own line at one or two lenders.

The ones people assume are on the lists and aren't. Engineers, IT professionals, teachers, police and paramedics are on a small number of programs and absent from most. One lender runs a professional product that names engineering and IT alongside medicine and law, but on purchases only. Federal public servants above a certain grade and staff of a handful of named technology employers appear on exactly one list. Real estate agents, tradies with a licence, mortgage brokers and pilots appear on none that I have found. And separate to occupation altogether, a couple of lenders simply charge no LMI-style fee up to 85% or 90% for any strong applicant, no job requirement at all, which for someone whose title misses every list can be the better door.

One more thing about the lists: they move. One large lender scrapped its professional and medico waivers entirely this year, confirmed in writing to the policy service I use. A program that was there when your colleague bought two years ago may not be there now, and one that was not may have opened. The short version of this question gets checked against current policy at deal time, not against what was true last year.

The gates behind the waiver

A waiver isn't a discount voucher. It's a policy gate, and being on the list is only the first of several boxes. These are the ones that actually decide it.

1. Minimum income, from the profession. The lawyer and accountant programs nearly all carry an income floor, commonly in the low six figures, and it has to be earned from the qualifying job, not from the household as a whole. Some medical second-tier programs carry a floor too, around ninety thousand combined at one lender. At least one lender goes further and wants at least half of the household's income coming from the qualifying occupation, so a doctor married to someone who out-earns them can miss the waiver on a technicality. The essential services programs have their own floors, single and combined.

2. Current registration or membership. Health practitioners need current registration with the national board. Accountants need full membership of a recognised body. Lawyers need a current practising certificate. Provisional registration is accepted at some lenders. Student registration, non-practising registration and lapsed membership are not accepted anywhere I've looked.

3. Principal and interest. Most waivers are principal and interest only. Interest only above 80% with no LMI is rare, and where it exists it is usually a medical top-tier product. If you are buying an investment property on the waiver, expect the ceiling to drop, often from 95% to 90%, and expect principal and interest.

4. Purchase, or refinance too? This is the least documented corner of the policy books. Some waivers name refinancing explicitly. Some are purchase only, in plain words. Several don't say, which in practice means a phone call to the lender before an application. If you paid LMI on your first loan and your occupation is on a list somewhere, refinancing above 80% without paying it again is a real conversation, not an assumption.

5. How the bank reads your income. The waiver removes the premium. It does not change how much the bank will lend you, and this is where professional borrowers get caught, because professional income is rarely a clean base salary. A nurse's pay is base plus shift penalties and overtime, and lenders split those two apart: several count permanent penalties in full and shade overtime to 80%, some shade both unless you are on their essential services list, and one major restricts the full treatment to hospital-employed nurses. A lawyer's pay is base plus a bonus, and most lenders shade that by 20% and some average it over two years in a way that only ever resolves in the bank's favour. A hospital doctor moving to a regional placement is relocating for work, and the bank wants the transfer letter or the new contract before it counts the new income, though probation is rarely the problem people think it is when the role is in the same line of work.

6. PAYG, locum, or practice owner. Three different reads of the same profession. A salaried employee is the simple case. A locum doctor paid through an agency on an ABN, or a barrister, or a contractor physio, is self-employed in the bank's eyes, which means tax returns instead of payslips, and the general rule is two years of them. A lot of lenders will work off the latest year alone, and a few run a professionals-only version of that one year path for accountants, lawyers, medicos and engineers with a shorter trading history behind them. A practice owner who pays themselves a small wage and leaves the profit in the company gets the profit added back, provided they clear the lender's ownership test and go to a lender that reads company financials properly. The waiver sits on top of all of that. It does not replace it.

Same profession, different lender, different answer

Put the last two sections together and you get the actual shape of this market. Every lender sets every dial itself. Whether your job is on the list. How high the ceiling goes. Whether the floor is income from the job or income from the household. Whether it covers a refinance. How much of your overtime counts. Whether your locum income needs one return or two. And whether the stated maximum loan includes the premium or sits under it, which on a 95% medical loan is the difference between borrowing 95% and borrowing 97% of the value at a lender that lets the premium sit on top.

Take a registered nurse buying a first home with 10% down. At one major, the waiver excludes her by name, her overtime is shaded to 80% unless she works in a hospital, and she pays LMI. At a lender with an essential services program, the waiver takes her to 90% with no premium, her penalties count in full, and the loan is standard pricing. Same person, same payslips, same house. Illustrative, not a quote, but on a $540k loan the gap is a five figure premium and a few thousand dollars of assessed income in the same direction.

Take a solicitor two years out of admission on a salary just under the income floor at the lender her firm banks with. That lender says no waiver. Another lender's floor is lower, or is measured on a different basis, and says yes. A third has no professional program at all but charges no fee up to 90% for a strong applicant, so the question of whether she is a lawyer never comes up.

Take a GP who owns the practice through a company, pays himself a modest wage, and wants 95%. The medical ceiling is there at a couple of lenders, but only one of them reads the company profit the way his accountant structured it, and only if he holds enough of the shares. The waiver was never the hard part. The income read was.

None of this is on a comparison site, and nobody in a branch is going to mention that the lender down the road has your job on its list when theirs doesn't. Their list is the only list they have. That is the whole reason a broker with a panel exists for this question, and it is the reason the first thing I check for anyone in healthcare, law, accounting or emergency services buying with less than 20% down is the waiver, before the rate, before anything.

The questions, one by one

Each of these has its own full answer. Find where you're at and go down a level.

Do doctors, nurses and lawyers get LMI waived?

Yes, at some lenders, up to a ceiling, if you tick their boxes. The same registered nurse is excluded at one big bank and waived to 90% at another. The three minute version of this page.

What is lenders mortgage insurance, what does it cost, and can I add it to my loan?

Insurance that protects the bank, not you, priced per deal by the insurer. The shape of the cost by LVR, the three versions of it across the panel, and why capitalising it can eat your borrowing.

Should I pay LMI or keep saving for 20%?

If no waiver, scheme or guarantor fits, it's a numbers call. Twenty percent of a moving price is a moving target, and in a rising market the premium can be the cheaper of two bad options.

Guarantor loan or the government 5% scheme: which one is best?

The other two exits from LMI. If your occupation misses every list, one of these usually does the same job by different means, and you can't stack them.

What's an LVR tier, and can I get revalued into a lower one?

Banks price in bands: 80% is standard, 90 and 95 sit above it with fees and higher rates. Growth or a renovation that drops you under 80 takes you out of the LMI band altogether.

Do shift allowances and penalties count as income?

Yes, generally. What changes enormously is how much of them a lender counts. Permanent penalties and overtime are not the same thing to a bank, and every lender writes its own essential services list.

Will the bank count my bonus income?

Yes, shaded by 20% at most lenders. The bigger lever is whether they average your last two bonuses or use the latest one, and the two year rule only ever works one way.

What does the bank need if I'm relocating for work?

Same employer, a transfer letter does it. New role in the new place, the bank wants you moved and the contract signed, then most are fine with probation in the same line of work.

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

Generally, yes. Most lenders assess permanent income inside probation, and a couple of the majors don't set a minimum time in the role at all. The four things they actually check.

I'm self-employed. How many years of financials do I need?

Two years is the rule of thumb, but a lot of lenders use the latest year alone, and a few run a professionals-only version of that path for medicos, lawyers and accountants with a shorter trading history.

I pay myself a small wage from my company. Can the bank still use the profit?

Yes. Because you own the practice, the bank adds your wage back on top of the net profit, plus depreciation and extra super. Ownership is the gate, and the add-back rules differ by lender.

What documents do you actually need from me for a home loan?

ID, payslips, a tax return or income statement, evidence of savings, and statements for any debts not on your file. Ten minutes if you sit down and do it. Add your registration for a waiver.

The honest part

This is occupation arbitrage, and most people never find out it exists. Nobody's bank tells them the lender across the road would have waived a twenty thousand dollar premium for their job title. Why would they? The waiver only exists if you apply where it lives, and every list is a moving target. I check the current policy across the panel at deal time, because a list I read six months ago is a list I don't trust.

The other honest bit is that a professional package is not automatically the best loan. A waiver on a loan with a higher rate and an annual fee can cost more over five years than paying a modest premium on a sharper loan, especially just over 80% where the premium may not be much. And the waiver does nothing for you at 20% down. If someone leads with "doctor's home loan" before they've asked what your deposit is, they are selling a label. The question is always the whole loan, with the waiver as one line in it.

And if your job misses every list, that is not a no. It's a different door: the 5% scheme, a guarantor, the no-fee lenders, or paying the premium and getting in before the 20% target moves again. I'll tell you which one straight.

What to bring, and the question to ask

Four things. The usual documents: ID, a couple of payslips, and your last income statement or tax return, because the income floor and the overtime and bonus treatment are read off those. Your current registration or practising certificate, or your membership number, because that is the gate. If you're a locum, a contractor or a practice owner, your last two returns, or just the numbers off them. And a rough idea of your deposit, because if it's 20% or more this whole page stops applying to you and we go straight to how much you can borrow.

Then the question to ask isn't "do you have a doctor's loan". Everyone will say yes to that. The question is "is my exact occupation on your list, what's the ceiling, what's the income floor, and does it cover a refinance?" If the answer is a brochure instead of four numbers, you're being sold a package rather than shown a policy. And on my side: if your job isn't on a list that fits, I'll say so, and show you the other three doors instead of pretending the waiver was the whole story.

Want to know if your job is on a list?

A 30 minute call. Tell me what you do, what you earn and what you've got saved, and I'll check the current waiver policies across the lenders I work with. If a waiver fits, we aim there. If it doesn't, I'll show you the other ways around LMI and what each one costs. Before anything goes near an application.

Book a 30 minute call Call 0437 189 939

No application, no credit check, nothing on your file. The bank pays me when a loan settles.

Common questions about professional LMI waivers

Do nurses get LMI waived?+

At some lenders, yes, up to 90% of the property value. Registered nurses are excluded by name at two of the biggest banks and waived at three other lenders, through either a medical program or an essential services program that also covers paramedics and police. Those programs usually want a minimum income, permanent employment and principal and interest repayments. So the answer depends entirely on which lender the application goes to.

What is the minimum income for a professional LMI waiver?+

It varies by lender and by profession. The lawyer and accountant programs nearly all set a floor, commonly in the low six figures, earned from the qualifying job rather than the household. Top-tier medical programs often have no floor at all. Second-tier medical and essential services programs sit somewhere in between, and at least one lender wants at least half the household income to come from the qualifying occupation. The floor is checked against your payslips and income statement, so overtime and bonus treatment can decide whether you clear it.

Can I get an LMI waiver on a refinance?+

Sometimes. Some waivers name refinancing in plain words, some are purchase only, and several don't say either way, which means confirming with the lender before an application goes in. If you paid LMI on your first loan and your occupation is on a list somewhere, refinancing above 80% without paying the premium again is worth checking, because LMI never transfers between lenders and you would otherwise pay it twice.

Do locum doctors and contractors qualify for the waiver?+

Generally the occupation still qualifies, but the income is read as self-employed. That means tax returns instead of payslips, usually two years of them, though a lot of lenders will use the latest year alone and a few run a professionals-only version of the one year path with a shorter trading history. The waiver sits on top of the income assessment, so the lender has to be one that both runs the program and reads locum or contractor income properly.

Is a professional package always the best home loan for a doctor or lawyer?+

No. The waiver only has value if the loan is above 80% of the property value, and even then it is one line in the whole loan. A waiver attached to a higher rate and an annual fee can cost more over a few years than paying a modest premium on a sharper loan, particularly just over 80% where the premium may not be much. With 20% or more saved, the occupation changes nothing on LMI and the loan should be compared like any other.

Next question

Do doctors, nurses and lawyers get LMI waived?

The three minute version, on camera. Who offers it, how high it goes, and the boxes you still have to tick.