Home Loans for Nurses in Australia: The 10% Deposit, No-LMI Policy Most Nurses Don't Know About (2026 Guide)
The short answer: Registered Nurses and Midwives earning $90,000 or more can borrow up to 90% of a property's value with no LMI through select lenders, saving roughly $15,000 to $30,000 upfront. Some lenders also count overtime and shift allowances in full, which on its own can add significantly to how much you can borrow.
Most nurses we speak to assume they need a 20% deposit before they can buy without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance. Right across the country they are pulling punishing shifts, racking up overtime and banking penalty rates, all while assuming the same lending rules apply to them as to everyone else. The same full-recognition logic applies to other shift workers, see our guide to home loans for police, firefighters and paramedics. The same logic scales up for resources workers, see our FIFO and mining home loans guide. Update, July 2026: the NSW ruling and the 4.75 per cent award increase are now landing in pays, and our nurses pay rise analysis runs what the new payslip does to borrowing power.
They don't. Over the last two years, largely without fanfare, the major banks have rewritten their home loan policies for nurses and midwives. If you're a Registered Nurse or Midwife earning at least $90,000, select lenders will let you borrow up to 90% of the property's value with no LMI, saving $15,000 to $30,000 in upfront costs that most other borrowers have to pay.
And the bigger win, which almost nobody talks about: your overtime and shift allowances can be counted in full, not shaded down like standard policy. That one difference alone can lift how much you can borrow by $100,000 or more.
This 2026 guide walks through how the nurse home loan policies actually work, who qualifies, the income recognition rules that matter most, and how to use them properly when you're buying in Australia. We're independent mortgage brokers based in South Yarra, and these are the conversations we have every week.
Buying in Melbourne? See our Home Loans for Nurses Melbourne guide for local examples and Melbourne-specific scenarios.
Yes. Many nurses can buy with a 10% deposit and pay no LMI. Several Australian lenders waive Lenders Mortgage Insurance for eligible registered nurses and midwives borrowing up to 90% of the property value, treating them as lower-risk essential workers. Eligibility depends on registration, income and the lender, so terms vary.
- The headline: 10% deposit, $0 LMI for nurses
- The bigger win: how nurse income actually gets counted
- Who qualifies for a nurse home loan in Australia
- What else you get with a nurse home loan
- Common scenarios we see in Australia
- Stacking with the First Home Guarantee scheme
- Why use a mortgage broker for nurses instead of going straight to your bank
- How to get a nurse home loan in Australia: the five-step process
- Frequently asked questions: nurse home loans
- The honest summary
- Stamp duty for nurses depends on which state you buy in
- The other way nurses skip LMI: the First Home Guarantee
- Salary packaging: the borrowing-power boost most nurses miss
The headline: 10% deposit, $0 LMI for nurses
Standard borrowers in Australia who put down less than 20% are charged Lenders Mortgage Insurance, a one-off premium that protects the lender (not you) and typically costs $15,000 to $30,000 depending on loan size and LVR.
For Registered Nurses and Midwives on $90,000 or more a year, select lenders will waive it outright up to 90% LVR. At least one major lender sets this offer out openly on its own website, and others run the same or very similar policies, they simply do not market them as loudly. Lists and thresholds change, which is why we check current policy before you apply rather than assume.
The bigger win: how nurse income actually gets counted
This is the part most general brokers miss, and it's the difference between a loan that lets you buy what you want in Australia and one that doesn't.
Run your file through ordinary lending policy and the bank discounts your variable income. Overtime, shift allowances, weekend penalties and on-call work, often only 60% to 80% of it ends up counted in the borrowing calculation. For a salaried office worker who lands the odd bonus, that caution is reasonable. For a hospital RN, whose penalty rates and overtime are a built-in, predictable part of the pay packet, it makes very little sense.
For front-line hospital-employed nurses, several major lenders now count 100% of overtime and shift allowances when assessing serviceability. one major lender spells this out directly on its public site. CBA, another major lender and a number of second-tier lenders run comparable rules.
For a nurse earning $95,000 base plus $30,000 in overtime, allowances and penalty rates:
- Under standard policy (variable income shaded to 80%): assessed income around $119,000
- Under nurse specific policy (variable income counted at 100%): assessed income of $125,000
- What it means in practice: in the order of $50,000 to $100,000 in extra borrowing capacity, purely from how the same income is read
The lender, the paperwork and the income do not change. What changes is the policy your file is read under, and choosing where to lodge for your particular income mix is exactly the part a broker is paid to get right.
Who qualifies for a nurse home loan in Australia
The exact lists move around a little from lender to lender, but the shared picture across the major banks through 2026 reads roughly like this:
Generally eligible
- Registered Nurses (RNs)
- Registered Midwives
- Nurse Practitioners
- Clinical Nurse Specialists
Conditionally eligible (lender-dependent)
- Enrolled Nurses: most lenders leave EENs off their medical waiver lists, though the First Home Guarantee frequently delivers the same result, a 5% deposit with no LMI
- Agency or non hospital nurses: some lenders insist on hospital employment
- Casual nurses: eligible at most lenders, with casual earnings assessed over a 48 week base
Income threshold
As a rule of thumb, lenders look for at least $90,000 a year in total assessable income from a nurse. If your base wage alone falls short but overtime and allowances carry you past that line, you can generally still qualify, provided the income is evidenced cleanly across recent payslips.
Some waivers are written narrowly. A number of lenders leave out office-based emergency services staff, contractors, self-employed nurses and nursing roles outside a hospital. If you have moved from the ward to a clinic, an agency or your own ABN, the medical waiver may not fit, yet other routes such as the First Home Guarantee, a guarantor structure or standard high-LVR lending will often still get you there. The education and healthcare waiver landscape moved again in July 2026: our strike-week analysis covers the offer that now includes next-home buyers.
What else you get with a nurse home loan
The waiver grabs the headline, but the wider professional package usually brings more with it:
- Sharper interest rates, commonly 0.10% to 0.20% under the lender standard variable rate, held for the life of the loan
- A 100% offset account as standard, which can quietly save tens of thousands in interest over the years you hold the loan
- Waived or reduced package fees at a number of lenders
- The same waiver on investment properties at most lenders, handy if you intend to keep building a portfolio
- Quicker credit assessment at lenders that run dedicated medical or healthcare teams
Common scenarios we see in Australia
To make this concrete, here are the situations nurses most often come to us with:
Stacking with the First Home Guarantee scheme
If you are an Enrolled Nurse, a casual not yet at the $90k mark, or you simply favour a 5% deposit, the federal First Home Guarantee is well worth understanding as an alternative.
The First Home Guarantee lets eligible first home buyers anywhere in Australia buy with a 5% deposit and no LMI, whatever their job, with the government guaranteeing the gap. You use it instead of the medical waiver rather than alongside it, and for nurses who sit just outside the medical criteria it can be the better of the two doors.
The scheme is income tested and capped on places each year, and whether the 10% medical waiver or the 5% First Home Guarantee wins comes down to your actual numbers. We model both before pointing you at one.
Why use a mortgage broker for nurses instead of going straight to your bank
Your own bank can only ever quote you its own policy. If that bank shades your overtime to 80% and does not run a nurse waiver, that is simply the answer you get, and you will never know a better one existed two doors down. A mortgage broker for nurses compares the policies side by side: which lenders waive LMI at 90% for RNs and Midwives, which count overtime and penalty rates at full value, which assess part time hospital income pro rata, and which read salary packaging generously.
We are ex-bankers, so we know how credit teams read a nurse's payslip and where the discretion sits, and we lodge your file with the lender whose policy already fits it. It is the same lender-policy work we do on dentist home loans and home loans for accountants, applied to nurse income. And it costs you nothing. The lender pays us at settlement, the rate and fees are the same as going direct and often sharper because we argue your file, and every commission is disclosed to you in writing before anything proceeds.
How to get a nurse home loan in Australia: the five-step process
If you have never taken out a home loan as a nurse before, here is how the process actually runs with us:
- A first call, no documents: we walk through your income mix, savings, timing and goals, and you finish the call knowing what is achievable and which lenders suit your profile.
- A lender comparison in a few days: the strongest options laid out side by side, covering rate, fees, LMI position, offset features and the fine print of each nurse policy, rather than whichever brand advertised at you most recently.
- Application and documents: payslips, ID, bank statements and an employment letter from the hospital, with the file prepared and lodged by us
- Approval and valuation: the lender works through your file and orders a valuation on the property, and on a tidy nurse application formal approval generally comes back inside 5 to 10 business days.
- Settlement: the loan draws down on the date your contract sets, with us coordinating the lender, your conveyancer and the agent
Frequently asked questions: nurse home loans
Are there special first home buyer programs for nurses?
Yes, and they stack. A nurse buying a first home can potentially combine the government’s Home Guarantee Scheme (buying with as little as 5% deposit and no LMI, subject to eligibility and property price caps), profession-based LMI waivers at select lenders for 10% deposits, state first home owner grants and stamp duty concessions, and full counting of overtime and penalties for borrowing power. Which combination fits depends on your price point, state and income shape, which is exactly what we map in the first conversation, free.
Do nurses get a home loan LMI waiver in Australia?
Yes, at select lenders. As of mid 2026, eligible Registered Nurses and Midwives can borrow up to 90% LVR with no LMI, commonly with a minimum income around $90,000 a year. Lists and thresholds change and not every lender takes part, so we verify current policy before you apply. This can save $15,000 to $30,000 in upfront LMI costs on a typical purchase.
Do I have to be a hospital nurse to qualify for the LMI waiver?
At the major lenders the answer is usually yes, with direct hospital employment the simplest case to get across the line. A handful extend to community and aged care nursing, while agency shifts, clinic roles and self-employed nursing are often left out, so we confirm your exact position lender by lender.
What if I'm a casual nurse?
Casual income is accepted for the waiver at most lenders, worked out over a 48 week base rather than a full 52. You will usually need to show 6 to 12 months of steady shifts with one employer, or in the same role across a few.
Does the nurse LMI waiver apply to investment properties in Australia?
At some lenders, yes: the waiver can carry across to investment purchases under the same policy. A few want your own home financed first, but plenty do not. This is one of the biggest leverage advantages nurses have when building a property portfolio.
I'm an Enrolled Nurse, am I excluded from the LMI waiver?
Most often yes, straight from the medical waiver. Where it does not quite fit, the federal First Home Guarantee reaches the same place, a 5% deposit with no LMI, for eligible first home buyers in any job, and we weigh both routes for you.
Can my partner be a non-nurse and we still get the waiver?
Yes. Where one applicant qualifies under nurse policy and holds a genuine share of the income or equity, many lenders can apply the waiver across the whole loan, so a partner outside healthcare is no barrier.
Will the lender count my penalty rates and shift allowances?
For nurses on a hospital payroll, several major lenders recognise overtime, shift allowances and penalty rates at their full value under healthcare policy, evidenced through your payslips and a recent ATO Notice of Assessment.
Does going through a mortgage broker cost me anything as a nurse?
It costs you nothing. The lender pays us at settlement, the rate and fees match going direct and are frequently sharper because we argue your file, and every commission is disclosed to you in writing before anything proceeds.
How much can a nurse actually borrow in Australia?
The honest answer is that it turns on your base pay, how much of your income is variable, the debts you already carry and the lender you choose. As a rough guide, one registered nurse on a $95k base with $25k of overtime and allowances can usually borrow somewhere between $550,000 and $700,000 under nurse policy, and two nurses together can often clear $1m. A quick first call will give you a real figure for your own situation.
How long does it take to get approved for a nurse home loan?
On a clean nurse file with documents in order, formal approval usually arrives within 5 to 10 business days, and settlement typically follows around 30 days later in line with your contract.
The honest summary
For years, lenders that never really understood healthcare income simply slotted nurses into ordinary borrower policy. That has shifted. The major banks have rewritten the rules, they just rarely tell existing customers, and plenty of general brokers still fail to push the income recognition as far as it can go.
If you're a Registered Nurse, Midwife or Nurse Practitioner thinking about buying or refinancing in Australia in the next 6 to 12 months, the first move is a quick conversation. No documents, no obligation, no pressure. Just clarity on what's possible.
The bottom line: being told you need a full 20% deposit, or that your overtime barely counts, is advice written for an ordinary borrower. A registered nurse or midwife is not playing by those rules, so make sure you are using the ones built for you.
Stamp duty for nurses depends on which state you buy in
The LMI waiver is a lender policy, so it works the same way across Australia. Stamp duty does not. Each state and territory sets its own first home buyer thresholds, and they vary widely. Here is roughly where they sit in 2026:
| State | No stamp duty up to | Concession up to |
|---|---|---|
| VIC | $600,000 | $750,000 |
| NSW | $800,000 | $1,000,000 |
| QLD | $700,000 established (new builds exempt) | $800,000 |
| WA | $600,000 (from May 2026) | $800,000 |
SA, TAS, ACT and NT run their own first home buyer schemes with different thresholds. Always confirm the current figure with your state revenue office before you commit.
The other way nurses skip LMI: the First Home Guarantee
If your lender will not waive LMI, there is a federal scheme that removes it a different way. Under the Australian Government First Home Guarantee, eligible first home buyers can buy with as little as a 5% deposit and pay no LMI, because the government guarantees the gap up to 20% so the lender treats the loan as fully secured. From October 2025 the scheme dropped its income caps and place limits, and lifted the property price caps (for example up to $1.5 million in Sydney and $1 million in Brisbane). You still borrow up to 95% of the value, you apply through a participating lender, and you must live in the home. For a nurse who does not qualify for a lender waiver, this is often the cleaner route to a low deposit purchase.
Sources and useful references
Salary packaging: the borrowing-power boost most nurses miss
If you salary package through a public hospital or not-for-profit health service, the right lender will gross that benefit up and count it as income. Because packaged dollars are effectively pre-tax, grossing them up can add a meaningful amount to your assessable income, and to how much you can borrow, often without you earning a cent more.
This is the most overlooked advantage nurses have. Public and not-for-profit health workers can salary package a portion of their pay for living expenses, plus a separate meal and entertainment cap, free of fringe benefits tax. Most nurses use it to save tax and never think about it again. But a lender that understands health-sector packaging grosses those benefits back to their pre-tax value when assessing you, which can lift your borrowing power by a worthwhile margin. Not every lender does this, and the ones that do treat it differently, so it pays to be matched to a lender that reads it generously. It is one of the first things we check for a nurse.
Borrow smarter as a nurse.
A free quick review. We will tell you plainly where you stand, what each lender will put on the table, and how to use the nurse policy for everything it is worth.
Book a free reviewThis guide is part of our home loans for professionals series covering every occupation that can buy with no LMI.