Two in Three Nurses Think About Leaving. The Pay Rise That Just Landed Changes the Home Loan Maths (2026)
- A University of Sydney survey of more than 2,000 nurses and midwives, published today, found two in three often think about leaving the profession, and 48 per cent have already started looking.
- The same weekend, the fifth and final aged care pay increase took effect. A senior aged care Registered Nurse now sits at $71.35 an hour, and a mid-level RN has gained roughly $36,000 a year since 2022.
- Permanent pay is pay a lender can count. Every $10,000 of extra salary can support up to roughly $50,000 of additional borrowing under a debt-to-income cap of five, subject to full serviceability assessment.
- Registered Nurses and Midwives earning $90,000 or more can borrow up to 90 per cent with no LMI through select lenders. On a $700,000 purchase that is roughly $22,000 you keep. The full policy picture is in our guide to home loans for nurses.
- Two nurse stories landed on the same day. They belong together
- What the survey actually says
- The pay rise that just became permanent
- What permanent pay does to a nurse’s borrowing power
- Thinking about leaving? Read this before you change anything
- If you already own: the five minute check
- Frequently asked questions
Two nurse stories landed on the same day. They belong together
On 3 August 2026, a University of Sydney survey found two in three nurses and midwives often think about leaving the profession, while the fifth and final aged care Work Value pay increase took effect the same weekend, completing a rise worth roughly $36,000 a year for a mid-level Registered Nurse since 2022. For lending purposes the two stories connect: pay that is permanent and visible in payslips increases borrowing power, while career moves made under burnout, such as going agency or casual, can reduce what a lender will assess.
This morning’s news carried two nursing stories that were reported separately and belong in the same sentence.
The first: researchers at the University of Sydney surveyed more than 2,000 nurses and midwives and found that two in three often think about leaving the profession altogether. Almost half have moved past thinking and started looking.
The second: as of this weekend, the final instalment of the largest pay correction in aged care nursing history is in force. It is the fifth increase from the Fair Work Commission’s Work Value case since 2022, and it is not a bonus or a one-off. It is the new permanent floor.
One story says the work is grinding people down. The other says the pay, at least in aged care, has genuinely moved. Both are true at once, and if you are a nurse weighing up what to do next, both belong in the same decision, because the version of you that exists on paper today, permanent, employed, freshly better paid, is the version a bank is most willing to lend to.
What the survey actually says
The University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion at Work surveyed more than 2,000 NSW nurses and midwives. Two thirds often think about leaving the profession, 48 per cent have begun seeking other employment, 80 per cent report excessive workloads and 56 per cent regularly work beyond their rostered shifts. Australia is projected to need around 80,000 additional nurses by 2035.
The survey was run by the University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion at Work, across more than 2,000 nurses and midwives in NSW. The headline numbers:
- Two in three often think about leaving the profession.
- 48 per cent have begun seeking alternative employment.
- 80 per cent say their workload is excessive.
- 56 per cent regularly work beyond their rostered shifts.
The mechanism described is a cycle: understaffing creates overwhelming workloads, which feeds regular overtime, which erodes the job until leaving feels like the only lever left. The survey is NSW data, but no Victorian nurse we have sat across from would call the pattern unfamiliar. Nationally, the projection behind all of this is stark: Australia needs roughly 80,000 additional nurses by 2035.
Here is why a mortgage broker is writing about it. Nearly half the profession is quietly updating a resume, and almost none of them are being told that the order in which you change jobs and apply for a home loan changes the outcome. That is the gap this article covers.
The pay rise that just became permanent
The fifth and final aged care Work Value increase took effect on 1 August 2026. A first-year Level 1 aged care Registered Nurse now earns $29.54 an hour, about $1,122 a week before penalties, and a Level 5 RN $71.35 an hour, about $2,711 a week. Since the case began, a Registered Nurse Level 2 pay point 3 has gained roughly $36,000 a year and an Enrolled Nurse at the most common level roughly $32,000, backed by close to $18 billion in government funding.
On 1 August the fifth and final wage increase from the Fair Work Commission’s aged care Work Value case took effect, closing out a process the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation started in 2021. The numbers, now permanent award rates:
| Where it landed | What it means |
|---|---|
| Registered Nurse Level 1, first year | $29.54 an hour, roughly $1,122 a week before penalty rates |
| Registered Nurse Level 5 | $71.35 an hour, roughly $2,711 a week before penalty rates |
| Registered Nurse Level 2, pay point 3, since 2022 | A cumulative rise of roughly $36,000 a year |
| Enrolled Nurse, most common level, since 2022 | A cumulative rise of roughly $32,000 a year |
The government has put close to $18 billion behind the five increases. If you work in aged care, this is not a proposal or a claim in a bargaining round. It is in force now, and it will be in your payslips, which is the only place a lender ever looks.
Hospital nurses are on a different track, and it points the same direction. Victorian public sector nurses and midwives are inside a 2024 to 2028 agreement worth 28.4 per cent compounded by its end, with further increases due in May and November 2026. NSW nurses secured their own award outcome this year, which we covered in detail in our piece on what the nurses pay rise does to borrowing power.
What permanent pay does to a nurse’s borrowing power
Lenders assess borrowing power on permanent, evidenced income. Under a debt-to-income cap of five, every $10,000 of additional annual salary can support up to roughly $50,000 of extra lending, subject to full serviceability assessment. Many lenders also count regular overtime and penalty rates for nurses, some at full value, and Registered Nurses and Midwives earning $90,000 or more can access up to 90 per cent lending with no LMI through select lenders.
Three things in a nurse’s file move the number a lender writes down, and all three just got stronger.
First, the base. A pay rise that is ratified and visible in your payslip counts in full. As a rule of thumb, under a debt-to-income cap of five, every $10,000 of additional annual salary can support up to roughly $50,000 of additional lending, subject to full serviceability assessment. A $36,000 correction is not a rounding error; it is potentially six figures of borrowing capacity that did not exist in 2022.
Second, the shifts. Nursing income arrives messy: base plus penalties plus overtime plus allowances. Many lenders count regular overtime and penalty rates for nurses, some at full value, where the pattern shows consistently across payslips. The difference between a lender that shades your shift income to 80 per cent and one that takes it in full can be tens of thousands of dollars of capacity. This is precisely the kind of policy detail a broker is for.
Third, the deposit. Registered Nurses and Midwives earning $90,000 or more can borrow up to 90 per cent of a property’s value with no Lenders Mortgage Insurance through select lenders. On a $700,000 purchase with a 10 per cent deposit, that is roughly $22,000 you keep. The full mechanics are in our national nurses guide, and Melbourne buyers have a dedicated local edition covering hospitals, agency work and Victorian stamp duty in our Melbourne nurses guide.
Your payslip is stronger than it was. Find out what it now supports.
Bring one recent payslip. We will tell you plainly what your base, penalties and overtime add up to in a lender’s hands, which lenders take shift income at full value, and whether the no-LMI route fits. No cost, no obligation.
Book a chat with a former bankerThinking about leaving? Read this before you change anything
Lenders assess the income you currently evidence, so the sequence of career moves matters. Going agency or casual can mean waiting six to twelve months for income history and can sit outside some professional LMI waivers, while dropping hours or taking a break reduces assessable income. A nurse planning both a career change and a property purchase within the next year will usually preserve more options by arranging finance while still permanently employed. The same sequencing logic applies well beyond nursing: our piece on how lenders read a career change generalises it for the restructure era.
If you are one of the 48 per cent with a resume quietly open in another tab, nothing here argues you should stay in a job that is burning you out. But sequence matters, because a lender does not assess the person you are becoming. It assesses the paperwork you have.
Moves that change how your file reads:
- Going agency. Often better paid per hour, but many lenders treat agency nursing like casual work and want six to twelve months of history before counting it, and it can sit outside some professional LMI waivers. Not a dead end, as the Melbourne guide explains, but a different conversation.
- Dropping to part time. Entirely reasonable, and it reduces assessable income in direct proportion.
- A career break. Restores you; also resets income continuity in the eyes of most credit policies.
- Leaving nursing entirely. New industry usually means probation, and probation means a narrower lender panel until it ends.
None of these moves are wrong. Every one of them reshapes what a bank will lend you, usually downward, at least for a while. So the practical rule is simple: if a purchase or a refinance is anywhere in your next twelve months, arrange it from the strong file, not the transitional one. Same person, different paperwork, different answer.
And to be equally plain: this is not an argument to borrow the maximum while you can. If you are half out the door, the last thing you need is a repayment sized for an income you are about to walk away from. It is an argument for keeping your options open, at a repayment you would still be comfortable with on the other side of whatever you decide.
If you already own: the five minute check
Nurses who already own a home can convert the pay story into savings without moving house: check the offset account is genuinely reducing interest, compare the current rate against the market, and consider holding repayments steady after any rate cut to take years off the loan. Everstone’s free calculators cover each check and store nothing you enter.
If you bought years ago and the mortgage has been on autopilot through every double shift since, three checks take minutes and none require moving house:
- Is your offset actually working? ASIC recently found plenty are not. Our offset check calculator answers it with your own numbers.
- What is your rate worth against the market? Our refinance savings calculator shows the gap over one, ten, twenty and thirty years.
- Could you finish years early? If rates fall and you hold repayments steady, our years-off calculator shows what that quietly does to the length of your loan.
A pay rise you do not redirect gets absorbed. A pay rise pointed at a well-structured loan shortens it.
Reading this on a break between shifts? That is exactly who this was written for. A quick chat with a former banker will tell you what your payslip now unlocks, whether you are buying, refinancing or just deciding. Book a time that fits your roster.
Frequently asked questions
Does the 1 August pay rise apply to hospital nurses?
No. The 1 August increase is the final tranche of the Fair Work Commission’s aged care Work Value case and applies to nurses working in aged care under the relevant awards. Hospital nurses are covered by their own enterprise agreements: Victorian public sector nurses and midwives are inside a 2024 to 2028 agreement worth 28.4 per cent compounded with increases due in May and November 2026, and NSW has its own award outcome.
When can a lender count my new pay rate?
Once it is ratified and visible: in your payslips, or evidenced by an employment letter confirming the new permanent rate. A rise that is still a claim in a bargaining round adds nothing to your file, which is why the aged care increase matters. It is already in force.
Do penalty rates and overtime count towards my borrowing power?
With many lenders, yes. Where regular overtime and penalty rates show consistently across your payslips, some lenders assess them at full value for nurses rather than shading them. Policies differ widely between lenders, and choosing the one that treats shift income best is one of the larger levers a broker can pull for a nurse.
I am seriously thinking about leaving nursing. Should I still buy?
That is your decision, not ours, and no article can make it. What we can tell you is the mechanics: your borrowing power is assessed on your current, evidenced, permanent income, so capacity is at its highest while you are still in the permanent role. If you do buy, size the repayment for the life you are planning, not the maximum a calculator offers. An honest conversation about both halves costs nothing.
Does going agency ruin my chances of a home loan?
No, but it changes the assessment. Many lenders treat agency nursing like casual employment and want six to twelve months of history before counting the income, and some professional LMI waivers exclude agency arrangements. The First Home Guarantee, a family guarantor structure or standard lending can still work. It is a policy-matching exercise, not a closed door.
What deposit does a nurse actually need?
Registered Nurses and Midwives earning $90,000 or more can borrow up to 90 per cent with no LMI through select lenders, so 10 per cent plus costs. Eligible first home buyers may use the federal Home Guarantee Scheme from 5 per cent with no LMI. Which route wins depends on price, income and eligibility, and the two are compared in our national nurses guide.
Do midwives and enrolled nurses get the same lending treatment?
Midwives generally sit alongside Registered Nurses in the professional waiver policies we see. Enrolled Nurses are excluded by some lenders and accepted by others, so the answer is lender-specific rather than a flat no. The income threshold, commonly $90,000, applies either way.
Is there a Melbourne-specific version of this?
Yes. Our Melbourne nurses guide covers which hospital employers qualify, how shift income is counted, where agency nurses get caught, and how Victorian stamp duty thresholds map against real Melbourne prices.
The honest summary
The survey and the pay rise are the same story told from opposite ends: the work asks too much, and the system has finally started paying more for it. We cannot fix rosters. What we can do is make sure that if you are one of the two in three doing the quiet arithmetic about your future, the home loan part of that arithmetic is done properly: your pay counted in full, your shifts assessed by a lender that respects them, your deposit not consumed by an LMI premium your profession can waive, and your timing sequenced so that whatever you decide about nursing, the property decision was made from strength.
Two in three think about leaving. All of them should know what their payslip is worth first.
Whether you are buying your first home, refinancing one you already own, or deciding what comes next, one conversation maps what your income actually supports. Former bankers, plain answers, no obligation.
Book a chat with a former bankerAbout the author. Ahmed Lotfi is co-founder of Everstone Finance and a former banker who now works as a mortgage and finance 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 574314 of LMG Broker Services Pty Ltd, Australian Credit Licence 517921.