Home Buying Assistance for Nurses

Nurses are named more often than any other profession

If you are a registered or enrolled nurse, you are the profession most commonly recognised in both lender occupation lists and key worker housing programs. That recognition is worth real money, but it arrives as separate offers from separate institutions, each with its own conditions.

Lender LMI waivers that name nurses

Lenders Mortgage Insurance is normally charged when you borrow more than 80% of a property's value. Several lenders waive it for listed professions.

• Westpac publishes a waiver of up to 90% LVR for registered nurses earning at least $90,000 a year, alongside a longer list of allied health professions on the same terms.
• People First Bank publishes a waiver of up to 90% LVR on loans up to $1.2 million for registered nurses, fully qualified paramedics and sworn police officers, subject to income and lending conditions.
• Bank First publishes a waiver of up to 90% LVR for eligible education and healthcare first home buyer owner-occupiers, excluding off-the-plan, construction and refinance loans.
• NAB publishes waivers for AHPRA-registered medical practitioners, but its published list does not include registered nurses. Ask directly rather than assuming.

A waiver removes the insurance premium; it does not reduce the purchase price or fund your deposit. Each lender sets its own income test, loan type limits and LVR caps, and lists change. Westpac also publishes that it can assess 100% of overtime and allowances as income for eligible healthcare applicants, which matters if a large part of your pay is loadings.

Government support is separate, and not occupation-based

• 5 percent Deposit Scheme. Eligible first home buyers can buy with a 5% deposit; eligible single parents or legal guardians with 2%. There is no income cap and no limit on places, but property price caps apply by location and applications go through participating lenders.
• Help to Buy. Shared equity with published taxable-income limits of $103,000 for individuals and $165,000 for joint applicants or single parents, subject to property caps and occupancy conditions. For a nurse working full time, that individual limit may be the binding constraint, so check it before assuming you qualify.
• State duty concessions. These depend on where you buy, not on your job. A Queensland home under $700,000 attracts a full duty concession; a Victorian home under $600,000 attracts no duty.

The schemes cannot always be combined. A government guarantee, a shared-equity contribution and a lender waiver each change the structure of the loan, and some combinations are not permitted. Ask the lender which benefits can be used together with the loan you are being offered.

Nursing income is financeable, with the right paperwork

Rosters, penalties and shift loadings are ordinary income to most lenders, but they need to be evidenced. Collect 12 months of payslips or a payment summary showing the loadings separately, a current roster, and a letter from your employer stating your ordinary earnings and your employment basis. If you work agency shifts or across two employers, expect a longer record.

Also test the commute at the hours you actually travel. A home that is 25 minutes from the hospital at midday can be an hour at 6:30am, and a night shift changes what safety and parking mean at 10pm.

A sensible order

Confirm your borrowing position, then your deposit and any government support, then the area, then the property. Building a realistic deposit and finance plan takes you through the numbers, and understanding whether you qualify for Key Worker housing covers the eligibility questions that sit before it.

EWH is a private service, separate from government programs and from any lender. We work with providers and developers selling at a genuine discount to eligible Essential and Key Workers, and we will tell you honestly what your position looks like.