LMI Waivers: Eligible Professions and Lenders 2026

An LMI waiver lets an eligible professional borrow above 80% of the property’s value without paying lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), usually up to a 90% or 95% loan-to-value ratio (LVR). Each lender writes its own list of eligible occupations, registration tests, income floors and loan limits. The same client can qualify at one bank and miss out at the next.

Registration type often decides the outcome before the job title does. ANZ’s medical waiver excludes doctors on provisional or limited registration, while CommBank (CBA) widened its waiver to doctors on limited registration in July 2025. Start with the exemption route that fits your client, then open the profession guide for their role to see each lender’s test.

Choose the Exemption Route

A client avoids LMI through one of four routes: a lender-paid professional waiver, an insurer concession, a government guarantee or borrowing at 80% LVR or less. Each route changes who carries the cost of a high-LVR loan. None of them replaces the lender’s credit assessment.

What LMI Covers

Lenders mortgage insurance protects the lender if the borrower defaults and the sale of the property doesn’t cover the debt. Moneysmart’s LMI definition says the borrower pays a one-off premium when the loan is more than 80% of the property’s value, yet the cover benefits only the lender. Helia’s LMI overview says the premium can be paid at settlement or added to the loan.

An exemption removes or reduces that premium for the borrower. The lender still assesses servicing, credit history, the security and the source of the deposit in the usual way. A waiver doesn’t lift the borrowing figure or approve a loan the client couldn’t otherwise service.

Compare the Four Routes

Route	Who bears the high-LVR cost	Usual LVR ceiling	Who it fits
Lender-paid professional waiver	The lender, which doesn’t charge the borrower an LMI premium	90% or 95%, depending on lender and role	Clients in an occupation the lender lists, who pass its registration, membership and income tests
Insurer concession	The borrower, at a reduced premium, because the loan stays insured	The insurer’s and lender’s usual limits	Clients who miss a full waiver but qualify for a discounted premium
Government guarantee	The Australian Government, which guarantees part of the loan	Set by the scheme	Eligible home buyers who meet the scheme’s criteria
Borrowing at 80% LVR or less	No one, because LMI doesn’t apply	80%	Clients with a 20% deposit, or extra security that brings the LVR down

The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme is the government guarantee route, and the lender charges no LMI on a guaranteed loan. A family guarantee is another way to reach 80% LVR, because the guarantor’s property adds security. The home loan guarantor guide explains who can act as guarantor.

What a Waiver Saves

On a fictional $700,000 owner-occupied home with a 10% deposit, Helia’s LMI fee estimator gave a premium of $14,617 including goods and services tax (GST) in September 2026. That estimate assumes a buyer who has owned a home before and a 30-year term. A professional waiver removes that premium, while reaching 80% LVR on the same home needs another $70,000 of deposit.

Under Helia’s 10 August 2026 underwriting guidelines, LVR uses the lower of the price and the lender’s valuation. A low valuation can push a 90% loan above a waiver’s limit, so check the LVR calculation before choosing a route.

Profession Index

Eligible roles fall into four evidence groups, and each group proves eligibility with a different document. A job title alone never establishes eligibility, because lenders also test registration type, membership, income and the loan itself. Find your client’s group, then use its profession guide for the lender-by-lender test.

Registered Health Practitioners

Doctors, dentists and specialists prove eligibility through their entry on the register of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Lenders give this group the highest limits, often 95% LVR, and the doctors guide compares those tests. Allied health roles, such as physiotherapists, optometrists and pharmacists, usually sit at 90% LVR and sometimes need a minimum income.

Nurses and midwives also register with AHPRA, but fewer lenders accept them. Westpac lists registered nurses and midwives for its 90% waiver with a $90,000 income floor, as at 17 August 2026, while NAB’s waiver page lists no nursing roles. The nurses guide covers the lenders that accept them.

Here’s the difference in one hypothetical file:

• Incorrect: “She’s a registered nurse, so the lender will waive her LMI.”
• Correct: “She holds general AHPRA registration as a nurse and earns $95,000, so she meets the role and income parts of Westpac’s 90% LVR waiver test. NAB’s page doesn’t list her role.”

Legal Practitioners

Solicitors and barristers prove eligibility with a current practising certificate from their state or territory law society, bar association or legal regulator. Judges and magistrates usually show a commission, letter of appointment or recent payslip instead. The lawyers guide sets out each lender’s test.

Accounting and Finance Professionals

Accountants prove eligibility with current membership of a recognised body, such as Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ) or CPA Australia. Some lenders extend the same waiver to actuaries and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholders. The accountants guide shows which bodies each lender accepts.

Engineers, Teachers and Paramedics

These roles have the narrowest lender support, and eligibility often rests on employment evidence instead of a register. NAB’s waiver page and Westpac’s August 2026 broker guide name no engineering or teaching roles for an LMI waiver. Check the engineers guide and the teachers guide before you promise a waiver.

Paramedics register with AHPRA, yet none of the waiver documents in the lender table below lists them. CommBank piloted a case-by-case waiver for paramedics, nurses, police and firefighters in March 2025, limited to owner-occupied loans with principal and interest repayments. The paramedics guide tracks the lenders that accept them.

Lender-Level Checks

Compare lenders on one fixed set of client facts, because the maximum LVR, income floor and loan cap change with the lender and the profession. Use the same borrower, income, property, loan purpose and ownership split for every lender. A waiver that looks generous on one bank’s page can fail on a joint purchase or an interest-only loan.

Compare LVR, Income and Membership Conditions

Lender	Roles named	Maximum LVR without LMI	Income and membership conditions
Westpac	Dentists, GPs, specialists and hospital-employed doctors	95%	No minimum income
Westpac	15 health and veterinary roles, including registered nurses, midwives, pharmacists and vets	90%	$90,000 a year minimum income
Westpac	Accounting and legal professionals	90%	Industry accreditation and income requirements
ANZ	Medical practitioners, dentists and specialists	95%	General or specialist AHPRA registration, with no provisional or limited registration
ANZ	Optometrists, physiotherapists, chiropractors and vets	90%	General registration and no minimum income
ANZ	Accountants, actuaries, CFA charterholders, lawyers, barristers, judges and magistrates	90%	Current membership or practising certificate and no minimum income
NAB	Medical and allied health professionals (including pharmacists, physiotherapists and vets), accountants, actuaries, financial analysts and lawyers	Not stated on NAB’s page	AHPRA registration, or current membership of CA ANZ, CPA Australia, the Institute of Public Accountants or a state legal body
CommBank	Doctors, lawyers and accountants	90%, from a 10% deposit, on its public page	Pharmacists need $100,000 gross income for each eligible applicant

The Westpac rows come from its broker product guide, current as at 17 August 2026, which sets a $5 million maximum loan for its medical and health waivers. St.George and BankSA publish the same terms in their guides. Westpac’s healthcare home loan page lists the same health roles for customers.

The ANZ rows follow its broker flyers for medical practitioners, allied health roles, accountants and legal professionals, dated 2024 and still published in October 2026. They cap borrowing at $4.75 million for medical professionals and $4.5 million for the other groups. The eligible professional must hold the largest or an equal-largest share of the property, so a joint purchase can lose the waiver on ownership alone.

NAB’s LMI waiver page, as at October 2026, names the eligible fields and bodies but no LVR or income figures. CommBank’s low deposit options page, as at October 2026, names doctors, lawyers and accountants. Mortgage Professional Australia reported in July 2025 that CommBank cut the pharmacist income floor to $100,000 and accepted doctors on limited registration.

Hold the Client Facts Constant

Loan purpose and repayment type change the waiver at several lenders. ANZ’s 10% deposit applies to owner-occupier and investor loans with principal and interest repayments, and an interest-only period needs a different deposit. Westpac’s 90% waiver for health roles can’t be combined with its Fast Track self-employed income method.

Income floors also need the same basis at every lender. CommBank applies its pharmacist floor to each eligible applicant, so two pharmacists on $60,000 each don’t pass by combining their income. Record whether each threshold uses gross salary, overtime or a self-employed assessment.

Separate a Waiver From a Different Premium or Charge

A waiver removes the LMI premium, but a lender can charge its own high-LVR fee instead. CommBank’s Low Deposit Premium (LDP) is a one-off, non-refundable bank fee added to the loan, and a borrower pays either LDP or LMI, not both. A quote that says “no LMI” can still carry LDP, so record which charge the lender removes.

An insurer concession works differently again. The loan stays insured and the client pays a lower premium, which still appears on the settlement figures. Write the actual premium or fee into the comparison, not only the label on the offer.

Build the Evidence File

Before you rely on a concession, record the client’s registration, membership, employment, income and a dated lender confirmation on the file. Lenders check most of these at application. ANZ, for example, requires the membership or practising certificate to be current when the application reaches it.

1. Save the AHPRA register entry, or the state veterinary register entry, showing the registration type and the date you checked it.
2. Keep the current membership certificate, an invoice with proof of payment or the body’s online confirmation, which are the three forms ANZ accepts for accountants.
3. Record the employer and role, such as a hospital contract for Westpac’s hospital-employed doctors or a commission for a judge.
4. Keep the payslips or tax returns behind the figure each lender’s income floor uses, calculated for each applicant.
5. Note the lender’s policy document and its date, such as Westpac’s guide current as at 17 August 2026, and file any business development manager (BDM) confirmation.

Recheck each item if settlement falls after a membership renewal date or a lender policy update. The file then shows why you chose that lender, which supports your best interests duty record. Bulma quotes the lender’s policy wording with the date Bulma last updated that policy, and you can copy both into your file notes.