LMI Waivers: Who Qualifies and How Much You Save

What is an LMI waiver?

An LMI waiver lets you borrow more than 80% of the property's value without paying LMI, because the lender agrees not to charge it for your profession. Some people call it an LMI exemption. It is not a legal exemption: it is the lender's choice, and each lender sets its own list.

Every waiver comes with four parts:

• A list of professions.
• Proof you are in it: AHPRA registration for medical roles at NAB and ANZ, a practising certificate for lawyers, or membership of a listed body for accountants.
• An LVR ceiling, usually 90% or 95%.
• For some professions, an income floor (Westpac asks $90,000 a year for its health group and $120,000 for accountants and lawyers) or loan caps (ANZ: $4.5 million for legal professionals).

NAB puts it plainly: its waivers depend on “profession, loan type and loan-to-valuation (LVR) ratio thresholds”.

Which professions qualify for an LMI waiver?

Doctors, dentists, lawyers and accountants qualify at most lenders that offer waivers. Allied health workers, vets, actuaries and financial analysts qualify at some lenders only.

Nurses and midwives can get a waiver at Westpac if they earn at least $90,000 a year, up to 90% LVR. BCU Bank, P&N Bank and People First Bank also name registered nurses. ANZ lists nurses as not eligible, CommBank's health package excludes them, and NAB does not list them.

None of the big four banks names teachers, police, paramedics or firefighters. Smaller lenders do: Bank First, BCU Bank and P&N Bank for teachers, and BCU Bank, P&N Bank, People First Bank and BankVic for emergency service workers. No lender we read names engineers.

Which lenders offer LMI waivers?

CommBank, Westpac, St.George, NAB and ANZ publish LMI waivers for listed professions, each with its own ceiling and rules.

All four ANZ sheets also ask the professional to hold an equal or majority share in the property. Macquarie says it offers no LMI waiver at all, because it charges its own Low Deposit Fee instead of LMI. We found no published waiver at ING. Bankwest confirms it has an industry professional waiver but does not publish who qualifies. Waivers are lender policies that can change without notice, so every row carries the date we read it. These are published rules, not an approval: the lender decides.

Home loans and LMI waivers by job

Each page lists the lenders that name the job, their maximum LVR, income and registration rules, how lenders assess that job's income, and what the waiver saves.

• Home loans for doctors: GPs, specialists and junior doctors, up to 95% at some lenders.
• Home loans for dentists: Dentists, and how the rules differ from doctors.
• Home loans for nurses: Registered nurses and midwives, with the lenders that exclude them.
• Home loans for pharmacists: Pharmacists, and the split between lenders that name or exclude them.
• Home loans for vets: Veterinarians, with the income rules at each lender.
• Home loans for allied health: Physiotherapists, psychologists, OTs and eight more allied health roles.
• Home loans for lawyers: Solicitors, barristers, judges and magistrates.
• Home loans for accountants: Accountants, actuaries and CFA charterholders, and the bodies lenders accept.
• Home loans for teachers: The two smaller lenders that waive LMI for teachers, and their conditions.
• Home loans for police and paramedics: Police, paramedics, firefighters and prison officers.
• Home loans for engineers: Why no lender publishes a waiver for engineers, and what to use instead.

Jobs with no published LMI waiver

We found no lender page that waives LMI for engineers, IT and technology workers, mining workers or defence force members, as at 29 September 2026. Broker and press articles that say otherwise did not match the lenders' own pages.

• Engineers: no waiver list we read names them. Westpac lists some trades and engineering roles only in a policy that counts overtime and allowances as income. See home loans for engineers for the broker claims we checked and the ways engineers can still avoid LMI.
• IT and technology workers: Bankwest has an industry professional waiver but publishes no list of who qualifies.
• Defence force members: NAB's Defence Force Home Loan and Defence Bank both charge LMI above 80% LVR. Eligible members may get the government's DHOAS interest subsidy instead, which Defence Bank puts at up to $1,166 a month.

The widest option for these jobs is ubank, which charges no LMI up to 90% for any occupation on purchases repaying principal and interest, to live in or to invest. First home buyers can also use the 5% Deposit Scheme.

How much does an LMI waiver save?

A waiver saves the whole LMI premium and any duty on it: typically about $14,400 on an $800,000 home with a 10% deposit, and about $31,900 with a 5% deposit.

ANZ's own waiver sheets put the LMI saved on the same two examples at $17,699 with a 10% deposit and $36,187 with a 5% deposit. Compare the saving at other deposits in how much LMI costs.

A waiver removes LMI, not every low deposit cost. Ask whether the rate changes above 80% LVR: St.George, for example, adds 0.30% a year to some rates above 80% (checked 29 September 2026).

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