Home Loans for Tech Employees in Australia (2026): The Named-Employer LMI Waiver
Somewhere along the way, a rumour spread through Australian tech that "IT professionals get an LMI waiver". It is wrong in a way that matters. Job titles get you nothing: there is no waiver for being a software engineer, a product manager or a data scientist as such. What actually exists at select lenders is sharper and stranger: eligibility lists written by employer name, where working for one of a handful of named technology companies puts you on the same no-LMI footing as a surgeon, and working for the startup across the street, doing the identical job, does not. Borrow up to 90 per cent with no lenders mortgage insurance if your badge matches the list; standard rules if it does not. This guide to home loans for tech employees in Australia covers how the named-employer lists work, the calibre of companies on them, the question that actually decides most tech applications, how lenders read a pay packet built from base, bonus and RSUs, and the honest path when your employer is not on anyone's list, written by former bankers who read credit policy for a living.
- There is no waiver for "IT professionals" by title. At select lenders, eligibility is by named employer.
- The lists feature the global and local tech majors; think the calibre of Atlassian, Apple or Microsoft, and they change.
- Eligible employees can borrow up to 90 per cent with no LMI, typically after around 6 months of direct employment.
- RSUs and bonuses are the real battleground: lenders differ enormously on how much of tech pay they count.
- Book a chat with a former banker to check your employer, and your equity, against current policy.
Do tech workers get an LMI waiver in Australia?
Not by job title. At select lenders, eligibility runs on named-employer lists: direct employees of certain major technology companies can borrow up to 90 per cent with no lenders mortgage insurance, typically after around 6 months of employment, while the same role at an unlisted company gets standard treatment. The employer decides, not the occupation.
Professional LMI waivers were built on occupations: medicine, law, accounting, professions with registration bodies and predictable careers, all mapped in our guide to who qualifies for the 90 per cent LMI waiver. Technology broke that model. There is no registration board for software engineers, titles are invented freely, and the same title spans a graduate at a two-person startup and a principal engineer on many multiples of the pay. So the credit teams that wanted tech talent solved it differently: they stopped asking what you do and started asking who pays you.
The result is the named-employer list. Work for one of the companies on it, as a direct employee, for around the tenure the policy asks, and the professional treatment applies, up to 90 per cent borrowing with no LMI, standard criteria otherwise. Work anywhere else and the list simply does not see you, no matter how senior the role. It is blunt, a little unfair at the edges, and, if your badge happens to match, extraordinarily valuable: the premium avoided typically runs roughly $15,000 to $30,000 at common price points, indicative only.
The rumour version of this policy, "tech workers get 90 per cent no LMI", omits the only part that matters. The list is the policy. Which brings us to the obvious question.
Which tech employers make the lists?
The global majors and the largest local names: lists at select lenders feature companies of the calibre of Adobe, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Atlassian, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce and Xero. Each lender writes its own list and revises it, so the practical step is checking your employer against current policy rather than assuming from a published article.
Lenders do not publish these lists on their websites, which is half the reason the rumour mill fills the gap. But the shape is consistent: scale, stability and pay. The companies that appear are the ones whose Australian workforces are large enough to matter, whose balance sheets make redundancy risk boring, and whose compensation makes serviceability easy. In practice that means names of the calibre of Adobe, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Atlassian, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce and Xero, the global majors plus the biggest Australian-grown names.
Read that list the right way: it is indicative of calibre, not a promise about any particular lender this quarter. Lists differ between lenders, get revised as companies grow and shrink, and sit inside credit policy documents that change without announcement. The company that IPO'd last year may be on someone's list next year; the acquired subsidiary may inherit its parent's eligibility or lose its own. If your employer is in this weight class, the check is absolutely worth making; if the answer comes back yes, the deal is as real as the doctors' version.
Notice also what the list logic quietly excludes: the rest of tech. Scale-ups, agencies, consultancies and startups, which is to say most of the industry, sit outside the named lists no matter how well they pay, and pretending otherwise wastes application time. The honest playbook for that majority is further down, and it is stronger than people expect.
How do lenders read tech pay: base, bonus and RSUs?
Base salary counts in full everywhere; everything above it depends on the lender. Cash bonuses are commonly averaged over two years and partly counted. Equity income divides the market: some lenders count a portion of vested RSUs with a consistent vesting history, others ignore equity entirely. On a big-tech pay packet, that split changes budgets dramatically.
Here is the part that decides more tech applications than any waiver: at the companies this article is about, base salary can be half the story. The rest arrives as annual bonus and, above all, as restricted stock units vesting on a schedule, and lenders read those components with wildly different generosity.
| Pay component | The cautious read | At some lenders |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | 100% | 100% |
| Cash bonus | Averaged over two years, partly counted | Counted more fully with consistent history |
| RSUs and vested equity | Ignored entirely | A portion counted, given a vesting track record |
| Sign-on payments | Excluded as one-off | Case by case |
| Employee share purchase plans | Treated as savings, not income | Treated as savings, not income |
Indicative only, not a loan offer. Equity income treatment depends on vesting history, the stock, and each lender's current policy. This is general information, not credit or financial advice.
We quote no percentages on the equity row deliberately: the honest answer is that RSU treatment is one of the most divergent policies in the market, and it moves. What is consistent is what makes equity countable at all: a vesting history long enough to look like income rather than a lottery ticket, evidence from vesting statements and payslips, and a stock the lender is comfortable relying on. A senior engineer with three years of clockwork vests presents very differently from a new joiner holding an unvested grant, even at identical total compensation.
The practical consequence is the same one running through every article we write, at higher stakes: the same pay packet supports very different loans at different lenders. On a big-tech comp structure, the spread between an equity-blind lender and an equity-literate one is not a rounding error, it can be the difference between suburbs. Matching the pay structure to the policy, before applying anywhere, is the whole game.
Job changes, probation and the tenure clock
The lists typically want around 6 months of direct employment, so a job change resets a clock worth knowing about. Probation is a separate, lender-by-lender question. Contractors and agency placements generally sit outside the lists entirely, and moving from contract to permanent starts the tenure count from the permanent start date.
Tech careers move fast, and the eligibility mechanics reward a little sequencing:
- The tenure clock. Around 6 months of direct employment is the common requirement. If you are three months into a listed employer, the waiver is a season away, sometimes worth timing a purchase around.
- Probation. Distinct from the list question: lenders differ on lending during probation generally, some comfortable with it, some not. A listed employer plus active probation is a genuine it-depends, resolved by checking policy, not by hoping.
- Job changes in-flight. Moving between two listed employers is usually survivable with sequencing; moving from a listed employer to an unlisted one just before applying deletes the eligibility. If a move is coming, the order of operations matters, the same lesson our FIFO guide teaches about resigning before applying.
- Contractors. Direct employment is the rule; agency placements and ABN contracting sit outside the lists however blue the chip. The contractor path runs through self-employed and contractor policy instead, and it is a well-worn road.
What if your employer is not on a list?
Then no waiver applies, and the honest move is to stop chasing one. Unlisted tech workers remain strong borrowers: high stable incomes, and at times equity that some lenders will partly count. The First Home Guarantee, a family guarantee or a 20 per cent deposit handle the LMI question the way they do for everyone.
Most of Australian tech works for companies no lender has ever listed, and we would rather say that plainly than let another rumour grow. No named-employer list means no waiver, and no amount of title inflation changes it. What it does not mean is a weak application. A staff engineer at a healthy scale-up is still a high-income, low-risk borrower; the difference is that the LMI question gets answered the ordinary ways: the First Home Guarantee for eligible first home buyers at 5 per cent deposit with no LMI, a family guarantee where parents can offer security, or the classic 20 per cent deposit, which big-tech-adjacent salaries assemble faster than most.
The equity conversation from above still applies in full: vested RSUs at an unlisted company are still income to the lenders that read equity, and still invisible to the ones that do not. And if your career is heading toward one of the majors anyway, remember the tenure clock: eligibility starts existing about half a year after the badge does. The wider occupational map, including who genuinely holds waivers and who does not, lives in our guide to home loans for professionals in Australia.
Why tech employees work with Everstone
Because both halves of the tech lending question, whether your employer is on a current list, and how much of your equity a lender will count, live inside unpublished credit policy, and reading credit policy is what former bankers do. Everstone checks both against current settings before anything is lodged, at no cost to you.
A tech application done well is two checks and a structure. The employer check: is your company on a list at any lender this quarter, as a direct employee, with your tenure. The equity check: which lenders would count your bonus and vesting history, and how the file should present them, statements, payslips and grant letters reconciled so an assessor sees income rather than speculation. Then the structure: matching the whole picture, sometimes including the professional waiver, sometimes not, to the lender whose policy reads your pay most completely. None of that is on a comparison site, and all of it changes.
We are former bankers; policy documents are home ground, and the difference shows most exactly where tech pay is most unusual. The process runs on your clock, video calls after standup, documents handled digitally, and the recommendation lands in writing either way, including the times the honest answer is "no list, no waiver, here is the strongest ordinary path".
There is no cost to you: like most Australian mortgage brokers we are paid by the lender on settlement, and the Best Interests Duty legally requires the recommendation to serve your interests rather than any lender's. Moneysmart's guide to using a mortgage broker explains the arrangement.
Two questions decide your file. We can answer both.
Is your employer on a current list, and how much of your equity would a lender count? Send the company name and a payslip, and we will run both checks against live policy. No cost, no obligation.
Book a chat with a former bankerFrequently asked questions
Do IT professionals get an LMI waiver in Australia?
Not by occupation. There is no waiver for software engineers, developers or IT professionals as job titles. What exists at select lenders is eligibility by named employer: direct employees of certain major technology companies can borrow up to 90 per cent with no lenders mortgage insurance, while identical roles at unlisted companies receive standard treatment.
Which tech companies qualify for the LMI waiver?
Lists at select lenders feature the global and local majors, companies of the calibre of Adobe, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Atlassian, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce and Xero. Each lender writes and revises its own list, and none publish them, so the reliable answer for your employer comes from checking current credit policy rather than any published article, including this one.
Do lenders count RSUs as income for a home loan?
Some do, partially, and some not at all, which makes it one of the most divergent policies in the market. Lenders that count equity generally want a consistent vesting history evidenced by statements and payslips, and count a portion rather than the full value. On big-tech pay structures, choosing an equity-literate lender can change the budget dramatically.
I just changed jobs. When can I apply under the waiver?
Named-employer eligibility typically asks for around 6 months of direct employment, so a fresh start at a listed company usually means the waiver is about half a year away. Probation is a separate question that lenders treat differently. If a job change is coming, sequencing the application before or well after the move usually beats applying mid-transition.
Do contractors at big tech companies qualify?
Generally not. The lists require direct employment, so agency placements and ABN contractors sit outside them regardless of the logo on the building. Contractors still borrow successfully through standard and self-employed policy, where contract history and how a lender annualises the income become the key variables, covered in our self-employed guide.
My employer is not on any list. What are my options?
The ordinary LMI-free paths: the First Home Guarantee for eligible first home buyers with a 5 per cent deposit, a family guarantee where parents can offer security, or a 20 per cent deposit. Unlisted tech workers remain strong applicants on income grounds, and lenders that read equity can still count vested RSUs, so lender choice matters even without a waiver.
Does using a broker cost tech employees anything?
No. The lender pays our commission on settlement, and the Best Interests Duty legally binds our recommendation to your interests. Given that both the employer lists and equity policies are unpublished and shifting, the practical value of a broker on a tech file is checking live policy in an afternoon instead of guessing from forums.
Vesting cliff coming up? Good timing to plan. Book a time with a former banker, after standup works, and we will map your employer, your equity and your budget in one call.
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About the author. Ahmed Lotfi is co-founder of Everstone Finance and a former banker who now works as an independent finance and mortgage broker in South Yarra, Melbourne, arranging home, investment and commercial lending for clients across Australia. Everstone Finance operates under the Best Interests Duty as Credit Representative 526374, Australian Credit Licence 391237.
Your comp is engineered. Your loan should be too.
Base, bonus, equity, employer list, tenure clock: five variables, one right structure. We run them against live lender policy and hand you the answer.
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