Last updated: August 2026.
LMI Waiver for Nurses and Healthcare Workers: 2026 Lender List and Eligibility
Quick answer: Yes, nurses can get an LMI waiver. Registered nurses and registered midwives earning at least $90,000 a year can borrow up to 90% of a property's value with no lenders mortgage insurance at Westpac and St George, and People First Bank waives LMI to 90% LVR for registered nurses, fully qualified paramedics and sworn police officers on loans up to $1.2 million. On a $900,000 Sydney purchase with a 10% deposit, that waiver is worth roughly $33,100.
Can nurses get an LMI waiver in Australia?
Yes. For years the profession-based LMI waiver was a doctors and lawyers club. That changed. Registered nurses and registered midwives now sit on the published eligible list at multiple lenders, with a maximum loan to value ratio of 90% and a minimum income test of $90,000 a year at the two we could verify directly from lender documents.
That means a 10% deposit instead of 20%, and no insurance premium on top.
Everything below is drawn from lender-published material as at August 2026. Lender policy changes constantly, and a lot of what you will read elsewhere is out of date, so treat this as a starting point and have a broker confirm live policy before you apply.
What LMI actually costs a Sydney buyer
Lenders mortgage insurance protects the lender, not you, and you pay for it. It applies when your loan is more than 80% of the property value. The premium is not small.
| Property price | Deposit (10%) | Approximate LMI in NSW |
|---|---|---|
| $700,000 | $70,000 | $25,641 |
| $800,000 | $80,000 | $29,408 |
| $900,000 | $90,000 | $33,108 |
| $1,000,000 | $100,000 | $36,808 |
| $1,500,000 | $150,000 | $60,519 |
Source: LMI estimates published in the Money.com.au lenders mortgage insurance guide (updated 30 June 2026), calculated using Westpac's LMI calculator for a New South Wales property. Your actual premium depends on the insurer, the lender, the loan amount and your profile, so treat these as indicative.
Two things people miss. First, LMI is usually capitalised, meaning it gets added to your loan and you pay interest on it for 30 years. Second, it is not refundable and it is not transferable, so if you refinance later with less than 20% equity you can be charged again.
Which lenders waive LMI for nurses and healthcare workers
This table only includes lenders whose current policy we could verify from the lender's own published material. Everything else is described below it.
| Lender | Who qualifies | Max LVR | Minimum income | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westpac | Registered nurses and registered midwives, plus audiologists, chiropractors, occupational therapists, optometrists, osteopaths, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, radiographers, sonographers, speech pathologists and veterinary practitioners | 90% | $90,000 a year | Casual income annualised over 52 weeks for waiver applicants. Doctors, dentists, GPs, hospital-employed doctors and medical specialists get a 95% LVR waiver with no minimum income. |
| St George | Same allied health and nursing list as Westpac (same banking group) | 90% | $90,000 a year | Cannot be combined with the bank's Fast Track assessment. Medico list gets 95% LVR with no minimum income, max loan $5m and $7.5m total lending with the waiver. Flyer current as at 23 February 2026. |
| People First Bank | Registered nurses, fully qualified paramedics, sworn state or federal police officers (Essential Services Package) | 90% | Applies, amount not published | Maximum borrowing $1.2 million. Available for owner-occupier and investment loans. For joint applications only one applicant needs to qualify. |
What we could not verify. We did not find a current, publicly published nurse-specific LMI waiver at CBA, NAB or ANZ as at August 2026. Their published profession waivers centre on medical practitioners and a handful of other occupations. CBA ran a frontline worker pilot that has since ended. Bank of Melbourne and BankSA sit in the same banking group as Westpac and St George and are commonly reported to run matching policy, but we did not confirm that from their own published documents, so we have left them out of the table. There are also member-owned banks built around specific workforces, including police and health mutuals, that publish essential-worker packages. Those are worth checking, and they are exactly the kind of lender most borrowers never think to call.
If a lender is not in the table, it does not mean the waiver does not exist. It means we could not verify it on the day of writing. Policy in this corner of the market moves every few months, which is the honest argument for using a broker rather than walking into one branch.
What "registered" means and what the lender will ask for
Eligibility is checked, not assumed. Expect to provide:
- Current AHPRA registration. Your registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Board through the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency is the primary proof of occupation. Lapsed or pending registration will stop the waiver.
- Evidence of employment and position. An employment contract or letter confirming your role and classification, particularly if you are agency, casual or working across multiple facilities.
- Income evidence. Recent payslips and a year-to-date figure, plus PAYG summaries or tax returns depending on the lender. Enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing are not the same classification as registered nurses, and lenders read the wording closely.
- Standard credit and serviceability checks. The waiver removes the insurance premium. It does not remove the assessment.
A quick word on the classification point, because it costs people the waiver. The published lists say "registered nurse" and "registered midwife". If your AHPRA registration says enrolled nurse, you sit outside those specific policies and need a different route. That is not the end of the road, it just changes the lender shortlist.
The $90,000 income question, and how shift penalties count
This is where most nurses assume they miss out, and where most of them are wrong.
Base pay under the New South Wales public health system nurses and midwives award runs from about $1,566.70 a week ($81,748 a year) at the bottom of the registered nurse scale to about $2,199.60 a week ($114,772) at the top, based on the award pay rates published by the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association. Those figures are base rates. They exclude night and weekend shift penalties, allowances and overtime.
For a nurse working a normal rotating roster, penalties and overtime are not a rounding error. They are often the difference between $84,000 and $97,000.
Two published policy points matter here:
- Casual income is annualised over 52 weeks for Westpac LMI waiver applicants, rather than being discounted the way casual income often is.
- Overtime and allowances can be assessed at 100% for eligible healthcare and emergency services workers at both Westpac and St George, where the usual treatment across the market is to shade non-base income. Westpac's policy requires the income evidence to cover at least six months with the same employer.
So before you conclude you are under the threshold, get someone to add up your actual assessable income the way a lender would, including penalties. Our borrowing power calculator will give you a rough view, and a broker will do the precise version against each lender's income policy.
If you are applying with a partner, ask specifically how the income test is applied, because lenders differ on whether the threshold is per applicant or combined. People First Bank publishes that only one applicant needs to qualify on a joint application.
Worked example: a Hills District nurse buying at $900,000
Meet a registered nurse working at a Sydney hospital, part way up the award scale on about $88,000 base. Add night and weekend penalties plus regular overtime and her assessable income lands near $97,000.
She has saved $90,000 and is buying a townhouse in the Hills District for $900,000.
| Without a waiver | With the nurse LMI waiver | |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit | $90,000 (10%) | $90,000 (10%) |
| Loan amount | $810,000 | $810,000 |
| LVR | 90% | 90% |
| LMI premium | About $33,108 | $0 |
| Extra monthly repayment from capitalised LMI | About $198 | $0 |
| Extra paid over 30 years on that LMI | About $71,500 | $0 |
The capitalised LMI figures use an illustrative 6.00% p.a. over 30 years. That rate is a round illustration to show the mechanics, not a quote and not an advertised rate.
The alternative route to zero LMI without a waiver is a 20% deposit, which on a $900,000 purchase means $180,000. That is another $90,000 saved, and on a nurse's savings rate in Sydney that is years, during which the price of the townhouse is not standing still.
Do not forget the other upfront costs while you are modelling this. Stamp duty on a $900,000 NSW purchase is a large number in its own right, so run it through the stamp duty calculator before you set your deposit target.
Paramedics, ambulance officers, police and firefighters: the honest picture
Here is where a lot of online guides get sloppy.
For paramedics, the verified LMI waiver we found is People First Bank's Essential Services Package: up to 90% LVR with no LMI for fully qualified paramedics, on borrowing up to $1.2 million. Paramedics are not on Westpac's or St George's published LMI waiver lists.
What paramedics, ambulance officers, front-line police and front-line firefighters do get at Westpac and St George is different and still valuable: 100% of overtime and allowances assessed as income. For shift workers with heavy penalty loadings, that treatment can lift borrowing capacity more than a waiver would save in premium. It is a serviceability benefit, not an LMI benefit, and the two get confused constantly.
So the right question for a paramedic or police officer is not only "who waives my LMI" but "who counts all my income". Sometimes the best answer is one lender for the waiver and a different one for capacity. That comparison is the job, and it is what our specialist lending team does.
Where the waiver runs into APRA''s rules
A waiver removes the insurance premium. It does not remove the two constraints that decide how much you can borrow.
The serviceability buffer is 3 percentage points. Every lender must assess your repayments at your actual rate plus at least 3%. APRA has held that setting since October 2021.
High debt-to-income lending is now rationed. From 1 February 2026, banks can write no more than 20% of new lending at a debt-to-income ratio of 6 times or higher, measured separately for owner-occupier and investor books.
That second rule matters directly to the example above. An $810,000 loan against $97,000 of income is a DTI of about 8.4, well above 6. The loan is not prohibited, but it competes for a limited share of the bank's book, which means lender choice and timing genuinely affect your answer. It is also why two nurses with identical payslips can get two very different outcomes from two different banks in the same week.
For context on the wider rate environment, the RBA held the cash rate at 4.35% on 11 August 2026.
What to do if you do not hit $90,000
Plenty of nurses, especially early career or part time, sit under the threshold. You still have routes to a low deposit purchase without LMI:
- The First Home Guarantee. Eligible first home buyers can purchase with a 5% deposit and no LMI, and the Sydney property cap is now $1.5 million. Full detail in our First Home Guarantee 2026 guide.
- A guarantor. A family member's equity covers the shortfall so LMI is not required.
- 85% LVR no-LMI products. Some lenders waive LMI at up to 85% LVR on owner-occupied principal and interest loans regardless of occupation. Money.com.au listed ubank as offering this on selected products as at mid 2026, with conditions.
- Wait and use the penalties. Six months of consistent overtime can move your assessable income over the line, which is a faster path than saving another $90,000 of deposit.
The full menu is in our guide on how to avoid LMI in Sydney, and the broader occupation list is in our LMI waiver for professionals guide, which covers doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants and engineers.
Get your nurse LMI waiver checked properly
If you are a nurse, midwife, paramedic or allied health professional in Sydney, the waiver is worth real money and the eligibility rules are narrower than most articles suggest. Getting it wrong means a wasted credit enquiry and a premium you did not need to pay.
RyRo Loan Centre checks your AHPRA classification, works out your true assessable income including penalties and overtime, and matches you to the lender whose current policy actually fits. We work with healthcare families across the Hills District every week, from Castle Hill to Kellyville to Rouse Hill.
Book a free strategy call or talk to our Hills District mortgage broker team, and if Norwest is closer to your hospital, our Norwest mortgage broker page has the local detail.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Registered nurses and registered midwives earning at least $90,000 a year can borrow up to 90% of the property value with no lenders mortgage insurance at Westpac and St George, based on those lenders' published policy. People First Bank waives LMI to 90% LVR for registered nurses, fully qualified paramedics and sworn police officers on borrowing up to $1.2 million. Eligibility is checked through AHPRA registration and income evidence.
On a New South Wales purchase with a 10% deposit, published estimates put LMI at roughly $25,600 on a $700,000 property, $33,100 on a $900,000 property and $36,800 on a $1,000,000 property. A waiver removes that cost entirely. If you would otherwise have capitalised the premium, the saving over a 30 year loan is considerably larger than the premium itself.
$90,000 a year at Westpac and St George. That is assessable income, not just base salary, so shift penalties, allowances and overtime count. Both lenders can assess 100% of overtime and allowances for eligible healthcare workers, and Westpac annualises casual income over 52 weeks for waiver applicants. People First Bank applies income requirements but does not publish the figure.
The published policies name registered nurses and registered midwives, so enrolled nurses generally sit outside those specific waivers. That does not mean you are stuck with LMI. The First Home Guarantee, a guarantor structure or an 85% LVR no-LMI product may work instead. Talk it through with a broker before you assume the answer.
Some do. People First Bank's Essential Services Package covers fully qualified paramedics at up to 90% LVR with no LMI on borrowing up to $1.2 million. Paramedics are not on Westpac's or St George's published LMI waiver lists, but front-line ambulance officers and paramedics do get 100% of overtime and allowances assessed as income at both, which lifts borrowing capacity.
It depends on the lender. People First Bank publishes its Essential Services Package as available for both owner-occupier and investment loans. Profession-based waivers at other lenders are often restricted to owner-occupied purchases or apply at a lower LVR cap for investments. Confirm before you sign a contract, because getting this wrong late is expensive.
With a waiver, 10% plus costs. On a $900,000 Sydney purchase that is $90,000 for the deposit, plus stamp duty and conveyancing on top. Without a waiver you would need 20%, or $180,000, to avoid LMI. First home buyers using the First Home Guarantee can go as low as 5% with no LMI, subject to the scheme's eligibility rules and price caps.
The waiver is about the insurance premium, not the interest rate. Rate is negotiated separately, and it is where a broker running your file across several lenders earns their keep. What healthcare workers do often get is more generous income treatment, particularly on overtime, penalties and casual shifts, which affects how much you can borrow rather than what you pay.
No, but it reduces your borrowing capacity because the compulsory repayment is treated as a commitment in the serviceability assessment. With the debt-to-income limits that took effect on 1 February 2026, that matters more than it used to. Run the numbers before you go shopping rather than after.
There is no separate application. You apply for a normal home loan and provide proof of occupation, which is your AHPRA registration, plus your income evidence. The lender's policy team confirms eligibility and the LMI line in your loan offer goes to zero. The real work is choosing the lender whose policy fits your income structure, which is what we do at RyRo Loan Centre. Contact us and we will check your position against current policy.
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