Lenders mortgage insurance typically applies when you borrow more than 80% of a property’s value. For most Australian home buyers, this insurance can cost anywhere from $15,000 to over $100,000 depending on the loan size and deposit amount. As a medical professional, you can access home loans for doctors with completely waived LMI at loan-to-value ratios (LVR) up to 95%, and in some cases, even 100%.
This single benefit alone represents the most substantial saving available to doctors. On a $1,000,000 property purchase with a 5% deposit, standard LMI would cost approximately $40,850. With a doctor home loan, this cost is entirely eliminated, meaning your deposit goes further and you can enter the property market sooner without accumulating additional debt.
Beyond LMI waivers, home loans for doctors typically include interest rate discounts of 0.10% to 0.50% below the lender’s standard variable rate. While this might seem modest, the compounding effect over a 30-year mortgage term is substantial. On a $950,000 loan, a 0.30% interest rate reduction saves you approximately $54,000 in interest over the life of the loan. Our mortgage brokers negotiate these exclusive rates on your behalf, ensuring you receive the most competitive pricing available in the Australian market.
At Unconditional Finance, we’re so confident in the value we provide that we pay your annual loan fees for any doctor home loan over $500,000. Standard annual package fees typically range from $395 to $700 per year. Over a 30-year loan term, this benefit alone saves you up to $21,000, letting you keep more money in your offset account where it works to reduce your interest costs.
Not all medical professionals automatically qualify for specialised doctor home loans, and eligibility criteria can vary significantly between lenders. Understanding where you stand is crucial before beginning your property search. At Unconditional Finance, we work with the full spectrum of medical professionals and understand the nuanced requirements of each lender’s medical professional loan program. Our team can quickly assess your eligibility and identify which lenders offer you the best terms based on your specific qualifications and career stage.
Most Australian lenders offering home loans for doctors extend these benefits to a comprehensive range of medical specialists and general practitioners. The key requirement is current registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) as a medical practitioner. Your registration type can impact which specific products you can access, with general and specialist registrations typically receiving the most favourable terms.
Eligible Medical Specialties and Roles:
| General Practitioners (GPs) and Family Medicine Doctors | Medical Specialists (Cardiologists, Oncologists, Neurologists, Surgeons, etc.) | Anaesthetists and Intensivists | Radiologists and Diagnostic Imaging Specialists | Pathologists and Laboratory Medicine Specialists |
| Paediatricians and Neonatologists | Obstetricians and Gynaecologists | Emergency Medicine Physicians | Psychiatrists and Addiction Medicine Specialists | Medical Registrars (specialty training) |
| Medical Residents and Interns (with some lenders) | Dentists, Dental Surgeons, and Orthodontists | Pharmacists (with selected lenders) |
Your AHPRA registration status plays a crucial role in determining your eligibility for home loans for doctors. Most lenders require general or specialist registration, though several progressive lenders now extend benefits to doctors with provisional or limited registration, particularly recent graduates and medical registrars. This is particularly important for younger doctors who may be early in their careers but already earning substantial incomes. For medical residents and interns, we work with two major Australian banks that specifically cater to your situation. While you may not receive the full suite of benefits available to specialists, you can still access LMI waivers at 90% LVR and competitive interest rates that recognise your career trajectory. These lenders understand that while you’re early in your medical career, your earning potential and job security are exceptional.
Unlike professional home loan packages for other occupations (such as accountants or engineers), home loans for doctors typically have no minimum income thresholds. Your eligibility is primarily based on your medical qualifications and current employment status rather than arbitrary income cut-offs. This is particularly beneficial for doctors in rural or regional areas, those working part-time, or professionals in the early stages of specialist training who may not yet have reached their peak earning years.
It’s important to understand that these specialised loan products are generally restricted to medical doctors and select allied health professionals. Nurses, paramedics, medical researchers without clinical practice, naturopaths, and other healthcare workers typically don’t qualify for doctor-specific home loans. However, some of these professionals may be eligible for other professional package loans or LMI waivers based on high income thresholds. Our team can explore all available options for healthcare professionals who fall outside the standard doctor home loan criteria.
| Property Value | Loan Amount (95%) | Standard LMI Cost | Your Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| $600,000 | $570,000 | $18,500 | $18,500 |
| $800,000 | $760,000 | $28,400 | $28,400 |
| $1,000,000 | $950,000 | $40,850 | $40,850 |
| $1,200,000 | $1,140,000 | $53,300 | $53,300 |
| $1,500,000 | $1,425,000 | $70,110 | $70,110 |
| $2,000,000 | $1,900,000 | $96,520 | $96,520 |
Home loans for doctors aren’t one-size-fits-all products. Your specific needs will vary depending on whether you’re buying your first home, upgrading to a larger property, building an investment portfolio, or refinancing existing debt. Understanding the different structures available helps you make informed decisions that align with your short-term needs and long-term financial goals. At Unconditional Finance, we specialise in matching medical professionals with the precise loan structure that maximises their benefits while providing the flexibility they need throughout different career stages.
For doctors purchasing their primary residence, owner-occupied home loans for doctors provide the foundation for long-term wealth building. These loans typically offer the lowest interest rates and the most generous LMI waivers, with most lenders comfortable extending up to 95% LVR without insurance costs. If you’re a specialist or have been in practice for several years, some lenders will even consider 100% LVR for owner-occupied purchases.
The structure you choose matters significantly. Many doctors benefit from split loans that combine a fixed-rate portion (providing certainty for budgeting) with a variable-rate portion linked to a 100% offset account (providing flexibility and interest savings). This structure is particularly valuable for medical professionals whose income may include variable components like overtime, after-hours work, or private practice billings.
Medical professionals represent some of Australia’s most active property investors, and home loans for doctors extend to investment purchases as well. You can typically access waived LMI up to 90% LVR for investment properties, with some lenders offering 95% LVR for doctors with established practices or specialist qualifications.
Investment loans are usually structured as interest-only for the first five to ten years, maximising tax deductibility and cash flow. This structure allows you to use your surplus income to build your portfolio more quickly rather than paying down principal on investment debt. Our brokers help you structure these loans correctly from the outset, ensuring optimal tax treatment and maintaining your borrowing capacity for future purchases.
Key Points:
Many established doctors didn’t use specialised home loans for doctors when they first purchased property, often because they weren’t aware these products existed or didn’t qualify at earlier career stages. Refinancing allows you to access these benefits retrospectively. If you’re currently paying LMI as part of your loan, refinancing won’t recover those sunk costs, but you can access better interest rates, eliminate annual fees, and structure your loans more effectively for future property purchases or renovations.
One of the most significant advantages of home loans for doctors is the flexibility in loan-to-value ratios without the burden of lenders mortgage insurance. However, choosing the right LVR isn’t just about borrowing the maximum amount available. Your optimal LVR depends on your deposit size, risk tolerance, interest rate considerations, and long-term financial strategy. Higher LVR loans provide faster entry into the property market but come with slightly higher interest rates and reduced equity buffers. Lower LVR loans offer better rates and more financial security but require larger deposits. Let’s examine each option to help you determine which approach suits your circumstances.
Borrowing at 90% LVR represents the most conservative approach among doctor home loans with waived LMI. This option is available to virtually all medical professionals, including medical registrars and some doctors with provisional registration. With a 10% deposit plus costs, you’ll typically secure the most competitive interest rates available under professional loan packages, often 0.30% to 0.50% below standard variable rates.
This LVR is particularly suitable for doctors who have been saving for several years, have equity in an existing property, or are receiving family assistance with their deposit. The lower LVR provides a comfortable equity buffer that protects you if property values soften and gives you more flexibility with future refinancing or accessing equity for renovations or investment purchases. Most lenders are also more flexible with casual or ABN income at 90% LVR compared to higher ratios.
The 95% LVR option represents the sweet spot for many doctors, particularly first home buyers or those upgrading properties while managing existing commitments. With just a 5% deposit plus costs for stamp duty and fees, you can enter the market years earlier than saving for a 20% deposit would allow. The interest rate premium compared to 90% LVR is typically minimal, usually 0.10% to 0.20%, making this an attractive option.
At 95% LVR, you’re still saving the entire LMI cost, which would be approximately $40,850 on a $1,000,000 purchase. This is the maximum LVR most lenders offer for investment properties to doctors, making it the standard choice for medical professionals building property portfolios. If you’re buying in Sydney or Melbourne, where property values are highest, 95% LVR maximises your purchasing power while keeping your initial capital outlay manageable.
For specialists and doctors with established practices, some lenders offer 100% LVR or even loans covering stamp duty and costs (effectively 105-107% LVR). These options eliminate the deposit requirement entirely, allowing you to preserve your cash for other investments, working capital for private practice, or emergency reserves.
These higher LVR products typically involve a split loan structure. The first tranche covers 95% of the property value as a standard doctor home loan. The remaining 5-10% is provided as a separate loan facility, sometimes called a professional package or equity acceleration loan, with a higher interest rate (often 2-3% above standard rates) and a shorter term of 5-10 years. While the overall interest cost is slightly higher, this structure allows doctors to purchase property immediately rather than waiting years to accumulate a deposit, potentially capturing property growth they would otherwise miss.
Medical professionals often have complex income structures that combine base salaries with overtime, allowances, on-call payments, private practice billings, and various other components. Understanding how lenders assess these different income types is crucial for maximising your borrowing capacity with home loans for doctors. Unlike standard applications where lenders may take conservative approaches to non-base income, medical professionals typically receive more favourable treatment. However, significant variations exist between lenders in how they calculate your income, and choosing the right lender can increase your borrowing capacity by $100,000 to $300,000 or more. Our brokers specialise in matching your specific income structure with lenders who will maximise your application.
Your base PAYG salary forms the foundation of your income assessment for home loans for doctors. Whether you work in public hospitals, private practices, or a combination, lenders accept 100% of your permanent full-time or part-time base salary. For doctors in permanent roles, you typically need to provide your two most recent payslips and your most recent payment summary or tax return. The assessment is straightforward for base salary, but the real differences between lenders emerge when evaluating your supplementary income components.
Overtime represents a significant income component for many doctors, particularly those in public hospitals or emergency medicine. While most lenders accept 80% of your average overtime over 12 months, some lenders will assess 100% of your overtime if you can demonstrate consistent patterns. This difference might seem minor, but on $40,000 in annual overtime, using 100% versus 80% increases your borrowing capacity by approximately $50,000 to $70,000.
The assessment period also varies. Some lenders require 12 months of overtime history, while others will accept just three months if your employment contract specifies expected overtime or if you can provide a letter from your employer confirming ongoing overtime availability. For doctors who have recently increased their hours or taken on additional shifts, choosing a lender with shorter assessment periods can significantly improve your borrowing position.
Key Points with brief explanations:
Many doctors operate private practices or bill services through an ABN, creating more complex income assessment scenarios. Traditional lending criteria require two years of tax returns showing consistent or growing income from self-employment. However, home loans for doctors often include more flexible policies that recognise medical professionals establish viable practices more quickly than other businesses.
Some specialist medical lenders will assess ABN income with as little as six months of history if you can provide business activity statements, bank statements showing consistent deposits, and evidence of professional contracts or hospital privileges. For doctors transitioning from public to private practice, or those who have recently established their own practices, this flexibility can be the difference between waiting two years for approval or purchasing property immediately.
We also work with lenders who understand mixed income scenarios where you maintain part-time public hospital work while building private practice revenue. These lenders will combine your PAYG income with a percentage of your ABN income, even during the early establishment phase of your practice.
Applying for home loans for doctors follows a similar overall process to standard home loans, but with some important differences in documentation requirements and lender selection. Understanding what to expect helps you prepare properly and avoid delays that could jeopardise property purchases in competitive markets.
At Unconditional Finance, we streamline this process significantly by pre-qualifying you with appropriate lenders, preparing your documentation correctly from the outset, and managing all lender communications on your behalf. Most of our doctor clients receive conditional approval within 48-72 hours of submitting a complete application.
Your journey begins with a comprehensive discussion about your goals, current financial position, and property plans. We’ll review your income structure, existing debts, deposit position, and credit history to identify any potential issues before approaching lenders. This consultation also covers your career stage and future plans, as these factors influence which home loans for doctors provide the best long-term value.
During this session, we’ll also discuss property strategy. Are you buying your first home, building an investment portfolio, or refinancing existing loans? Your goals determine which loan features matter most, whether that’s offset accounts, redraw facilities, interest-only options, or the ability to split loans across multiple properties.
Once we’ve determined your optimal loan structure and lender, we’ll guide you through document collection. For doctors, this typically includes:
We then submit your pre-approval application to our selected lender. Pre-approval confirms your borrowing capacity and gives you confidence when making offers on properties. Most lenders provide conditional approval within 2-3 business days for straightforward doctor applications, subject to property valuation.
Once you’ve found your ideal property and had your offer accepted, we progress to formal approval. This involves the lender conducting a property valuation and reviewing the contract of sale. For home loans for doctors, valuations occasionally come in slightly conservative in markets where bidding has been competitive, but medical professionals typically have more flexibility to manage small valuation shortfalls than standard borrowers.
After formal approval, we coordinate with your solicitor or conveyancer to ensure all settlement conditions are met. This includes building and pest inspections, insurance arrangements, and final financial checks. Your loan funds are released on settlement day, and ownership transfers to you. The entire process from initial consultation to settlement typically takes 4-8 weeks depending on the settlement period negotiated in your contract.
We’ve helped hundreds of medical professionals navigate home loans for doctors over the past two decades. These are the questions we hear most frequently, along with detailed answers that provide the clarity you need to make informed decisions about your home loan strategy.
Potentially, yes, although there may be some limitations depending on the lender. While many medical-specific home loan products are designed for doctors with general or specialist AHPRA registration, some lenders may consider applications from medical residents or interns. In these cases, lending options may involve lower maximum loan-to-value ratios compared to those available to established practitioners.
You may be asked to provide evidence of current hospital employment, recent payslips showing base income and any overtime, and confirmation of AHPRA registration status. Some lenders may take your career progression into account when assessing applications, although borrowing eligibility and loan features can vary. Your options may expand as you move further into residency or specialty training, subject to lender criteria at the time.
In many cases, yes. Some lenders allow joint applications where one applicant is a medical professional and the other works in a different field. Both incomes are usually assessed together to determine borrowing capacity, and any medical professional benefits offered by the lender may apply to the loan overall, subject to eligibility.
How income is assessed and which benefits apply can vary between lenders. Your partner’s occupation or income source is generally considered as part of the overall application rather than a restriction, although final outcomes depend on lender policy and individual circumstances.
Generally, doctor-specific home loan programs are limited to certain medical professions, such as medical doctors, dentists, and in some cases pharmacists. Most allied health professionals, including nurses and physiotherapists, are typically not eligible for these particular programs.
That said, some lenders offer alternative lending options for higher-income professionals across a range of occupations, which may include features such as reduced LMI at certain loan-to-value ratios. Availability and eligibility depend on income levels, employment structure, and lender policy at the time. Exploring a broader range of loan options may help identify suitable alternatives for healthcare professionals who do not qualify for doctor-specific products.
Loan-to-value ratio (LVR) refers to the proportion of the property value that is being borrowed. At around 90% LVR, a deposit of approximately 10% of the property value is generally required, plus associated purchase costs. At around 95% LVR, the deposit requirement is lower, while higher LVR options may reduce the upfront deposit needed further.
Differences between LVR tiers can include interest rate pricing, eligibility requirements, and the level of equity buffer built into the loan. Higher LVR loans may be subject to stricter criteria or fewer lender options. The suitability of a particular LVR depends on individual financial circumstances, risk tolerance, and lender availability at the time of application.
Timeframes can vary depending on the lender, application complexity, and how quickly documentation is provided. In some straightforward cases, conditional approval may be issued within a few days once complete information is submitted. Formal approval, which typically includes property valuation and contract review, may take additional time.
Overall, the process from initial consultation through to settlement may take several weeks, although this can differ depending on property settlement terms and lender processing times. Delays can occur if documentation is incomplete or if additional assessment is required.
In some cases, yes. Certain medical professional loan products may be available for both owner-occupied and investment property purchases, although the terms and maximum LVRs can differ. LMI waivers, where available, are often capped at lower LVRs for investment properties compared to owner-occupied loans.
Investment loans may be structured in different ways depending on lender policy and borrower preference, and interest rates for investment lending are often higher than owner-occupied rates. Whether these options are suitable depends on your broader financial position and objectives.
Self-employed doctors may still be eligible for medical professional home loans, although documentation requirements are usually more detailed than for PAYG employees. Many lenders request two years of financial information, such as tax returns and financial statements, to assess income stability.
Some specialist lenders may consider shorter trading histories if additional evidence is available, such as business activity statements, bank statements, or professional contracts. In certain cases, previous PAYG income may be considered alongside business income, depending on lender policy. Assessment outcomes vary based on income consistency and serviceability.
HECS/HELP debt is generally included in lender serviceability assessments as an ongoing financial commitment. Repayments are typically calculated based on income thresholds and incorporated into borrowing calculations.
The impact on borrowing capacity can vary between lenders, as assessment methods differ. Some lenders may apply more flexible serviceability models for medical professionals, which could partially offset the effect. Decisions around voluntary repayments or deposit allocation depend on individual circumstances and should be considered carefully.
Documentation requirements can vary by lender but commonly include proof of identity, evidence of income, confirmation of AHPRA registration, and details of assets and liabilities. This may involve providing payslips, employment contracts, tax returns, business financials (if applicable), bank statements, and statements for existing debts.
Additional documents may be requested depending on your employment structure and financial profile. Preparing documentation early can help reduce assessment delays, although final requirements are determined by the lender.
Refinancing may be an option for some doctors who now meet eligibility criteria for medical professional loan products. This can allow borrowers to explore alternative interest rates, fee structures, or loan features, depending on lender availability.
While refinancing does not typically recover LMI already paid, it may allow for changes to loan structure or pricing. Whether refinancing is suitable depends on factors such as current loan balance, costs involved, and remaining loan term, and should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Doctors with prior credit issues may still be considered by some lenders, although options can be more limited. Lender assessments often take into account how recent the issue was, whether it has been resolved, and the surrounding circumstances.
Older or satisfied defaults may be viewed more favourably by certain specialist lenders, while recent credit issues can restrict access to premium products. Reviewing your credit file and addressing any inaccuracies before applying may help improve outcomes, although eligibility is never guaranteed.
Private health insurance is not generally a requirement for doctor home loan eligibility. Lenders typically assess applications based on professional qualifications, registration status, income, and employment structure.
In some higher-LVR scenarios, certain lenders may request income protection insurance as part of their risk assessment. This relates to income continuity rather than health cover and varies depending on lender policy and loan structure.
Whether you’re a medical resident looking to purchase your first home, an established GP considering investment property, or a specialist seeking to refinance and restructure your existing loans, home loans for doctors provide significant advantages that can accelerate your property and wealth-building goals. The benefits are substantial, the process is straightforward, and the support we provide ensures you make informed decisions that align with your long-term objectives.
Don’t let another year pass paying rent or paying more than necessary on your existing loans. The property market rewards those who act decisively with proper professional guidance.
Contact Unconditional Finance today for a complimentary, no-obligation consultation about your home loan needs. Our team is available Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6:00pm, and we offer flexible appointment times including evenings and weekends to accommodate busy medical professional schedules. Call us on 1300 484 390 or complete our online enquiry form, and one of our specialist mortgage brokers will contact you within 24 hours to discuss your situation and outline your options.
Unconditional Finance offers comprehensive mortgage solutions for medical professionals at every career stage.
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