Home loans for nurses: no LMI from a 10% deposit

A nurse home loan is a standard home loan where the lender waives lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) for an eligible registered nurse, up to 90% of the property's value. That means you can buy with 10% plus costs and pay no LMI. I'd still compare the saving with how much of your pay the bank will count, because a waiver only helps if the loan covers the home you want with repayments you can manage.

If you'd like more background, our LMI guide explains the premium and our LMI waiver guide covers the wider options. The deposit calculator can help you add up the cash you'll need.

A bank's first answer isn't always its final answer. A branch can tell you the waiver is only for doctors, or count half your penalty rates, and both can be wrong for your situation. So I check the written policy before you accept a no. Here's what I do with your application:

Eligible registered nurses can buy with a 10% deposit plus buying costs and no LMI through Westpac, St George or People First Bank. Without a waiver, you'd usually need 20% to avoid LMI, or as little as 5% through the 5% Deposit Scheme if you're eligible and buying a home to live in.

Our 90% no-LMI home loan guide compares the wider options when you have 10%. I'd check what fits your registration, income and the property before you rely on a number.

If you are comparing a loan without an LMI waiver or government scheme, our LMI calculator estimates the cost using your purchase price and deposit. The lender or insurer confirms the final premium.

The loan to value ratio, or LVR, is the loan divided by the value the bank accepts. On an $800k home, a $720k loan is 90% LVR. You cover the other $80k of the price, plus buying costs.

Suppose you've saved $80k and found an $800k home. A 10% deposit uses all $80k, leaving a $720k loan. Before going further, I'd want to know how you'll cover the buying costs and what you'd have left in the bank.

If you qualify for the 5% Deposit Scheme, the home is within your area's price cap and the lender accepts the minimum deposit, you could put in $40k and borrow $760k. You keep $40k more of your savings, but you also owe $40k more.

This example assumes the bank values the home at the $800k purchase price. A lower valuation could mean you need more cash. A Scheme lender may also ask for more than the minimum 5% deposit.

I'd allow separately for duty, registration, legal fees and inspections. Our buying costs guide helps you work through those bills before deciding how much of your savings to use.

On a separate $1m purchase, say you've saved $130k and the bank values the home at $1m. A 10% deposit is $100k, so the loan starts at $900k, and I've allowed $25k for buying costs. A standard loan could add about $20.6k of LMI. An eligible nurse waiver removes it.

Same home and same deposit, about $20.6k apart. The waiver leaves you $5k after costs. The standard loan leaves you about $15.6k short, so you'd need more cash or to add the premium to the loan.

These figures use our LMI calculator's estimate of about $20.6k for a $1m Queensland purchase with a $100k deposit, paid upfront, and an assumed $25k for buying costs. Your lender's actual premium and your duty, fees and concessions can differ. If the lender lets you add the premium to the loan, you'd owe about $921k and pay interest on it too.

If a waiver doesn't fit, I'd still compare the LMI quotes. The earlier comparison below used a $650k loan on a $725k property. Total premiums, including duty, ranged from about $15.7k to $21.8k, a difference of about $6k for the same loan and property figures.

Those are historical figures, not a quote for your application. They show why I'd compare the premium alongside the interest, fees and features rather than assume every standard loan costs the same.

There isn't one borrowing limit for nurses. It comes down to your income, living costs and debts, and how much of your shift pay each bank will use. Banks also compare your total debt with your yearly income, called your debt-to-income ratio, and set limits on how high that can go.

The same payslip can come out quite differently. CBA counts 100% of overtime for a permanent nurse employed by a hospital, but only 80% if you work anywhere else, with no exceptions. NAB treats overtime for nurses and midwives like normal pay. ANZ uses 80% of overtime but 100% of shift loadings and penalty rates, so how your payslip labels each line matters there. None of these 3 offers a nurse waiver, but they're back in play if you have 20% saved or the waiver doesn't fit.

HECS changes the number too. Westpac and St George can leave your HECS repayments out if the debt will be paid off within 12 months, while People First always counts them. Our HECS guide explains how.

Use our borrowing power calculator for a starting figure. Then I'd run your actual payslips past the lenders that fit before you set a budget.

Your base salary is the easy part. Most banks count it in full. The differences are in shift penalties, overtime, allowances and casual or agency pay, where one bank can use 100% of a payslip line and another 80%.

If overtime and shift penalties make up a fair chunk of your pay, I'd look at those before comparing lenders, because they can change how much you can borrow.

I'd check which payments People First will count towards the waiver's income minimum. That's separate from how much of your overtime and allowances it uses to work out the loan amount.

Westpac and St George can count 100% of eligible overtime and allowances if you're a nurse or midwife employed by a hospital, usually once you've had that pay from the same employer for 6 months. If you work in aged care, community health or another non-hospital role, they count 80% of it instead. Self-employed income is assessed differently.

On $30k of regular annual overtime, accepting 100% instead of 80% means the lender uses another $6k of income. It doesn't mean you can borrow only $6k more. I'd work through your debts, expenses and repayments to see what difference it makes to your borrowing amount.

Alongside a nurse LMI waiver, compare Health Professionals Bank if regular shift pay makes up a large part of your income. Its treatment depends on your nursing role and pay history, and it does not offer a professional LMI waiver.

If your work has changed, our casual employment and new job loan guides explain the evidence that can help. Our HECS guide covers how student loan repayments can affect the amount you can borrow.

Planning leave? Our parental leave home loan guide explains the return to work evidence to prepare.

Casual and agency work can count with Westpac and St George, which both include casual nurses in their waiver. They want 6 months with the same employer or agency, and they work out casual pay over 52 weeks of the year. People First excludes casual work from its waiver.

If you've moved between hospitals through the same agency, tell me. Changing placements isn't the same as changing employers, and an agency letter showing continuous work can change how the bank reads your history. Our agency worker home loan guide covers the evidence.

If you're a nurse practitioner, lenders look at your RN registration, so the same nurse waivers apply. If you run your own practice or contract through an ABN, Westpac and St George can work with 1 full financial year of tax returns under their health professional policy, where many self-employed loans need 2. I'd check the income left after business costs before relying on it. People First's waiver lists permanent and fixed term employment, so I wouldn't start there. Our self-employed home loan guide explains the wider options.

Your Ahpra registration decides which nurse waiver you can use. Registered nurses fit Westpac, St George and People First, and midwives fit Westpac and St George. I'd start with your registration and the role on your payslip. You might be a clinical nurse, educator or nurse manager, but it's your underlying registration that helps determine which professional waiver is available.

Working outside a public hospital doesn't automatically rule you out. Tell me if you're in a private hospital, aged care, community nursing or an agency so I can compare the right employment requirements.

If you're in your graduate year, your registration is usually the easy part. The income minimum is what I'd check first. Westpac and St George need $90k a year from nursing, alone or combined with another eligible health professional on the loan, and People First needs $80k and won't use its waiver while you're on probation. If you're not there yet, the 5% Deposit Scheme or a standard loan can get you in sooner.

Branch staff don't always know their own bank's health list. If you're told the waiver is only for doctors, ask which policy they're reading, or send it to me and I'll check it. That's what happened to Phoebe.

If you're registered as a midwife only, our home loans for midwives guide covers the lenders and income rules that apply to you.

You can look up your registration on the Ahpra register. I'd then check the income minimum and employment rules in the lender comparison. Your deposit, debts, credit history and the property still need to fit.

3 banks we compare offer a nurse waiver: Westpac, St George and People First Bank. ANZ, NAB, CBA, Bankwest and Suncorp don't. Saving LMI is a good start, but I'd also want to know what the loan costs each month and how much cash you'll have left after buying. If an option with LMI works out cheaper overall, I'll put it beside the waiver.

The sources below include public lender offers checked 20 October 2026 and People First's lending conditions dated 8 September 2026. Buying costs are extra for every option.

Permanent hospital nurse buying with 10%. I'd compare Westpac and St George first. Both waive LMI at 90% and can count your eligible overtime and allowances in full, which matters when penalties are a big part of your pay. If you're on $80k or more but under their $90k minimum, People First is the one I'd check next.

Casual or agency nurse. I'd start with Westpac and St George again, because both include casual nurses and work out casual pay over 52 weeks. You'll want 6 months with the same employer or agency. People First won't use its waiver for casual work, so I'd leave it off the list until you're permanent.

Graduate nurse or earning under $80k. The waivers' income minimums are the hurdle here. I'd compare the 5% Deposit Scheme and ubank's 10% no LMI option first, then look at the nurse waiver again once your pay clears the minimum.

If your pay moves with the roster, I'd usually start with a variable loan and an offset account. You can park overtime in the offset in a good month, draw on it in a quiet one and still pay less interest. Fixing gives you a set repayment but limits extra repayments. People First's nurse waiver and ubank's no LMI loan are principal and interest only, so interest-only isn't an option with either above 80%.

Westpac, St George and People First offer their nurse waivers for investment purchases as well as homes, and ubank's no LMI option covers eligible investment purchases too. The 5% Deposit Scheme is only for a home you'll live in.

With an investment, I'd compare the rent each bank will count, your existing debts and the repayment type before choosing. People First prices waiver loans of $500k or more at its 70% to 80% LVR rates, so a smaller loan can price differently. Our investment loans guide covers the rest.

If it's your first home, I'd look at 4 things together: the nurse waiver, the 5% Deposit Scheme, your state's first home grant and the stamp duty concession. The waiver and the Scheme both remove LMI, so you'd use one or the other. Grants and duty concessions sit alongside whichever loan you choose.

If you have less than 10% saved, I'd look at whether the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme could help. It has no income cap, but you still need to meet the buyer rules, stay within your area's price cap and get approval from a participating lender. With 10% saved, I'd compare the 2 on the same home. The Scheme lets you keep more cash but you borrow more. The waiver has no government price cap, and you can use it for a tenanted home or an investment.

If you've just started a new job, check the timing. Westpac and St George assess 5% Deposit Scheme applications on their stricter time in the job test: 3 months in your current role, or 12 months in the same occupation with no more than a 2 month gap.

For an existing home, you need to move in within 6 months of settlement. Ines's story shows why I'd ask about the lease before you commit to a tenanted property.

A family member may be able to use equity in their property to help you buy with less cash and reduce or avoid LMI. I'd talk through the risk with you both: their property is at risk if you can't repay, and they need independent legal advice. You still need enough income to afford the loan. Our guarantor guide explains how it works, and our guarantor vs 5% Deposit Scheme guide compares the 2.

I'd check grants and stamp duty concessions separately from the loan. What you can claim depends on where you buy, the property and whether you've owned a home before. A first home owner grant can go towards your deposit and costs with Westpac and St George, though they don't count it as genuine savings. Our first home buyer grants guide, Queensland grant guide and first home buyer stamp duty guide explain the options. If you're saving through super, see our First Home Super Saver guide.

Before counting a grant or concession in your budget, check the current conditions with Queensland Revenue Office, Revenue NSW, State Revenue Office Victoria or the authority where you're buying.

We'll also need your ID, savings and debt details. I'd use those with your pay records to compare the borrowing amount and cash needed for each option. Our pre-approval guide explains what the lender still needs to check before you buy.

The lender pays us commission, which we disclose before you proceed. Hunter Galloway is independently owned and compares more than 30 lenders. If a nurse waiver isn't the right fit for you, we'll explain the alternatives.

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Compare the options that fit your work and deposit.

Client examples are based on real situations. Names and identifying details have been changed.