Home Loans for Nurses and Midwives: LMI Waivers by Lender
In short
- The Westpac group waives LMI for registered nurses and midwives up to 90% LVR if you earn at least $90,000.
- BCU Bank, P&N Bank and People First Bank also waive LMI for registered nurses up to 90%, with no published income floor at BCU and P&N.
- CommBank and ANZ exclude nurses, and NAB does not list them.
- Enrolled nurses are not named by any lender we checked.
Which lenders waive LMI?
Nursing is one of the few occupations where the exclusions matter as much as the offers. The table shows the lenders that waive LMI for nurses, the ones that cover health workers by sector, and the three big banks that do not.
| Lender | Status | Max LVR | Conditions | Investment loans |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westpac, St.George, Bank of Melbourne, BankSA | Waiver | 90% | $90,000 minimum income, with casual income counted over 52 weeks. St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA include self-employed or casual nurses. Midwives included. | Yes, with a 10% deposit |
| BCU Bank and P&N Bank | Waiver (offer, can be withdrawn) | 90% | Clinical, registered and travel nurses. Minimum loan $250,000, principal and interest, direct applications only, probation completed. P&N lends in Perth, Bunbury, Busselton, Albany and Geraldton. | No, owner-occupied only |
| People First Bank | Waiver (offer, can be withdrawn) | 90% | Registered nurses. Borrow up to $1.2m. Income requirements apply but the amounts are not published. | Yes |
| Bank First | Waiver for healthcare workers | 90% (some of its pages say 85%) | First home buyers only, owner-occupied, employed in healthcare or education, and ineligible for government schemes. A higher rate applies above 80%. | No |
| BankVic | Waiver for health employees | 90% | Health and emergency services employees, new purchases in metro Melbourne and Geelong. Full terms not published. | Not stated |
| CommBank | Excluded | Not applicable | Its health package footnote excludes nurses. | Not applicable |
| ANZ | Excluded | Not applicable | Lists nurses and midwives as ineligible. | Not applicable |
| NAB | Not named | Not applicable | Nurses and midwives are not on its waiver list. | Not applicable |
Lenders' own published policies, checked 29 September 2026. A policy is not an approval: each lender assesses your application and can change or withdraw an offer.
How much LMI does a waiver save?
A waiver removes the whole premium. At 90% LVR, published lender figures put the LMI you would otherwise pay at about:
| Home price | Loan at 90% | Typical LMI | Published range |
|---|---|---|---|
| $600,000 | $540,000 | $10,800 | $8,100 to $14,200 |
| $800,000 | $720,000 | $14,400 | $10,700 to $19,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $900,000 | $18,000 | $13,400 to $23,700 |
NSW, where there is no duty on LMI. Other states add 9% to 11% to the premium. Built from LMI figures Australian lenders publish.
Estimate the LMI for your own loanWho qualifies for the nurse LMI waiver?
Every lender that names nurses asks for a registered nurse. The Westpac group adds an income test of $90,000 a year, which rules out many part-time nurses. BCU Bank and P&N Bank publish no income floor but require a completed probation period, a loan of at least $250,000 and an application made directly with them, not through a broker.
Midwives have one option: the Westpac group names them on the same terms as nurses. Enrolled nurses are not named anywhere, so the routes in the last section are the realistic ones.
How lenders assess a nurse's income
If your pay mixes base salary with casual shifts, overtime or salary packaging, lenders publish different rules for each part.
| Part of your pay | What lenders publish |
|---|---|
| Casual shifts | The Westpac group averages casual income over 52 weeks for waiver applicants. CommBank asks casual employees for 6 months of bank statements unless the pay goes into a CommBank account. BankVic said in 2021 that it checks your last two annual group certificates. |
| Overtime and allowances | The Westpac group can count 100% for hospital-employed nurses and midwives. St.George needs 6 months with the same employer and excludes self-employed nurses. BankVic said in 2021 that it counts up to 100% of overtime and penalty pay. |
| Salary packaging | Westpac asks you to declare each salary sacrifice and may count it as income available for repayments. BankVic said in 2021 that it treats the packaged part of your pay as tax free. |
APRA's guidance to banks says prudent practice is to discount most non-salary income, such as overtime, by at least 20%, so a lender that counts it in full assesses you on more of your pay. St.George says the overtime policy and the LMI waiver can both apply to one application. Its pages do not say whether overtime can make up part of the $90,000 needed for the waiver, so ask before you apply.
If you work in a public or not-for-profit hospital, the ATO caps the FBT exemption on packaged benefits at $17,000 of grossed-up value a year, and those benefits still show on your income statement as reportable fringe benefits. For a joint application, People First Bank needs only one of you to be an eligible worker, and BCU Bank and P&N Bank publish no income floor.
Nurse LMI waiver or the 5% Deposit Scheme?
If you are a first home buyer, compare the waiver with the 5% Deposit Scheme. The scheme removes LMI with a 5% deposit for any occupation, but only within its price caps. The waiver needs a 10% deposit, and the Westpac group publishes no price cap for it. Bank First will not let you do both: its healthcare waiver is only for buyers who are ineligible for any government scheme.
What if you are not eligible?
If you earn under $90,000, are an enrolled nurse, or bank with a lender that excludes nurses, ubank charges no LMI up to 90% for any occupation on owner-occupied and investment principal and interest purchases. A family guarantee, such as Westpac's Family Security Guarantee or St.George's Family Pledge, is another route.
Compare every route in how to avoid LMI, or see all professions in LMI waiver rules.
Frequently asked questions
Do midwives get the same LMI waiver as nurses?
Only at the Westpac group, which names midwives alongside registered nurses at 90% LVR with a $90,000 minimum income. BCU Bank, P&N Bank and People First Bank name nurses but not midwives, and ANZ lists midwives as ineligible.
Do enrolled nurses qualify for the LMI waiver?
No lender we checked names enrolled nurses. The Westpac group and People First Bank name registered nurses, and BCU Bank and P&N Bank name clinical, registered and travel nurses.
Can nurses use the LMI waiver on an investment property?
At some lenders. Westpac's investing page says healthcare practitioners earning $90,000 can apply for the waiver with a 10% deposit, St.George and Bank of Melbourne say it applies whether you live in the home or invest, and People First Bank includes investors. BCU Bank and P&N Bank are owner-occupied only.
I work casual or agency shifts. Can I still qualify?
Possibly. The Westpac group counts casual income over 52 weeks, and St.George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA say the waiver includes self-employed or casual professionals. BCU Bank and P&N Bank name travel nurses but require probation to be completed.
Do lenders count salary packaging for nurses?
Some do. Westpac's salary sacrifice declaration says it may count amounts you sacrifice as income available for your loan repayments, and BankVic said in 2021 that it treats the packaged part of your pay as tax-free income. For public and not-for-profit hospital staff, the ATO caps the FBT exemption at $17,000 of grossed-up benefits a year, and packaged benefits still appear on your income statement as reportable fringe benefits.
Does Health Professionals Bank waive LMI for nurses?
We found no published LMI waiver at Health Professionals Bank. Its home loan pages point first home buyers to the government 5% Deposit Scheme instead.
Sources
Each source was checked on 29 September 2026.
- Westpac: LMI waiver for healthcare professionals
- St.George: profession home loans
- Bank of Melbourne: profession home loans
- BankSA: profession home loans
- BCU Bank: essential services offer terms
- P&N Bank: essential services offer terms
- People First Bank: essential services package
- Bank First: complete home loan
- BankVic: first home buying
- CommBank: health professional home lending
- ANZ: LMI waiver fact sheet (PDF)
- NAB: LMI waiver
- Health Professionals Bank: home loans
- Westpac: salary sacrifice declaration (PDF)
- CommBank: applying for a home loan
- BankVic: overtime, casual shifts and salary packaging (2 September 2021)
- APRA: APG 223 Residential Mortgage Lending
- ATO: FBT-exempt organisations and capping thresholds
- ubank: no LMI home loans
- 5% Deposit Scheme price caps (firsthomebuyers.gov.au)
Researched and maintained by
PhD in Financial Studies, 5 years in finance
Every figure on this page comes from a lender, insurer, government or regulator source listed above. Read our editorial policy.