Nurse LMI: Waiver Eligibility and Lender Rules

Westpac and St.George waive lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) for registered nurses and midwives who earn at least $90,000 a year, up to a 90% loan-to-value ratio (LVR). NAB’s and CommBank’s current waiver pages list no nursing roles, so a nurse borrowing above 80% LVR with those banks pays LMI or uses another route. BankSA, part of the Westpac Group, publishes the same nurse terms as Westpac and St.George.

Registration division decides a nurse LMI waiver before income does. An enrolled nurse doesn’t appear on either Westpac Group list, even with the same pay as a registered nurse on the same ward.

Registration and Role

Westpac and St.George accept two nursing classifications for their 90% LVR waiver: registered nurses and midwives. Enrolled nurses, assistants in nursing and personal care workers aren’t on either bank’s list.

Read the Register Entry

Nurses and midwives register with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) through the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). The AHPRA list of professions and divisions splits the Nurse profession into two divisions. Midwife is a separate profession on the same board.

Register entry	Division	Westpac and St.George waiver	NAB waiver	CommBank waiver
Registered nurse	Division 1	Listed, up to 90% LVR	Not listed	Not listed
Midwife	Separate profession	Listed, up to 90% LVR	Not listed	Not listed
Enrolled nurse	Division 2	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Nurse practitioner	Registered nurse (Division 1) with an endorsement	Holds registered nurse registration	Not listed	Not listed

The public register shows each practitioner’s division, endorsement, registration type, status and any condition. Print the entry for your client’s file. A client registered as both a nurse and a midwife qualifies through either entry.

Specialty and Employment Setting

The Westpac and St.George lists don’t limit the nursing waiver by specialty or workplace. An intensive care nurse, a mental health nurse and a nurse in a general practice clinic face the same role test. The $90,000 income floor is what separates them.

Workplace matters for overtime instead. Westpac’s broker guide, current as at 17 August 2026, gives 100% overtime and allowances only to hospital-employed nurses and midwives. A nurse in aged care or a private clinic can still meet the waiver’s role test but may not get that overtime treatment at Westpac.

When the register shows anything other than general registration, or carries a condition, get the lender’s answer in writing before you rely on the waiver. Neither bank’s published list addresses those cases.

Employment Evidence

Permanent nurses prove base salary with two recent payslips, while casual nurses need six months of year-to-date pay or a tax document. Those are the minimums in Westpac’s documents checklist (version WBC22133 0226). The checklist covers every Westpac application, including a waiver application.

Employment type	Westpac minimum documents	What the waiver test uses
Permanent full-time	2 consecutive payslips no more than 2 months old at formal approval, or 1 year-to-date (YTD) payslip covering the last 2 pay cycles	Base salary against the $90,000 floor
Permanent part-time	The same documents as full-time	Actual part-time pay, not the full-time equivalent
Casual	1 YTD payslip covering at least 6 months, or 2 consecutive payslips plus a Group 2 document	Casual pay annualised over 52 weeks
Overtime and allowances	1 payslip plus a YTD income statement, or 1 YTD payslip covering at least 3 months	Eligible at 100% for qualifying roles

A Group 2 document is a tax-year income record. It can be last financial year’s final YTD payslip, a PAYG payment summary, an ATO income statement or the latest tax return with its notice of assessment. The YTD payslip guide explains how lenders read a year-to-date figure.

Part-Time Nurses

Part-time pay often decides the floor. In a hypothetical case, a registered nurse on a $105,000 full-time salary works 0.8 of full-time hours and earns $84,000. That client misses the $90,000 floor even though the role qualifies.

Casual and Agency Nurses

Westpac’s nurses and midwives page, as at October 2026, calculates casual income over 52 weeks for LMI waiver applicants. In a hypothetical case, a casual nurse’s YTD payslip shows $46,280 over 26 weeks. That averages $1,780 a week, or $92,560 over 52 weeks, which clears the floor.

St.George’s profession home loans page, as at October 2026, says its waiver includes casual and self-employed professionals in the listed roles. An agency nurse invoicing through an Australian Business Number (ABN) is self-employed.

Both banks’ broker guides say the 90% waiver can’t be combined with the Fast Track self-employed method, so that nurse is assessed under the bank’s standard (non-Fast Track) self-employed method. The self-employed home loan guide covers that assessment.

Overtime and Allowances

St.George’s public page says the waiver and 100% overtime and allowances can apply to the same application. The overtime treatment needs at least 6 months with the same employer and excludes self-employed nurses.

Neither bank says whether overtime counts toward the $90,000 floor, so test the floor on base pay first. The overtime income guide and the casual employment guide explain how lenders shade that income elsewhere.

Bank-Specific Options

Of the four banks compared here, only Westpac and St.George publish a nurse LMI waiver. NAB’s and CommBank’s current waiver pages name no nursing roles, so a nurse’s loan above 80% LVR with either bank carries LMI or CommBank’s Low Deposit Premium. The matrix below puts the four banks side by side for the same hypothetical client.

One Client Across Four Banks

In this hypothetical file, a registered nurse (Division 1, general registration) works permanent full-time at a public hospital on a $96,000 base salary. She and her partner, who isn’t a nurse, are buying a $700,000 home to live in. Their 10% deposit leaves a $630,000 loan at 90% LVR.

Lender and source date	Nurse roles named	Maximum LVR without LMI	Income floor	Maximum loan	Joint applicant condition	Outcome for this client
Westpac, broker guide current as at 17 August 2026	Registered nurses, midwives	90%	$90,000 a year	$5 million ($7.5 million total lending with the waiver)	None published	Within the published waiver terms
St.George, broker flyer current as at 17 August 2026	Registered nurses, registered midwives	90% (minimum 10% deposit)	$90,000 a year	$5 million ($7.5 million total lending with the waiver)	None published	Within the published waiver terms
NAB, waiver page as at October 2026	None	No nurse waiver listed	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	LMI applies at 90% LVR
CommBank, low deposit page as at October 2026	None	No nurse waiver listed	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable	LMI or CommBank’s Low Deposit Premium applies at 90% LVR

On this home, Helia’s LMI fee estimator gave a premium of $14,617 including GST in September 2026. That estimate assumes a buyer who has owned a home before and a 30-year term. The Westpac or St.George waiver removes a cost of that size, while a NAB loan at the same LVR carries a premium set by NAB’s insurer.

Westpac Nurses Home Loan

Westpac’s nurse waiver sits inside a wider package for nurses and midwives. Its public page combines the 90% waiver with 52-week casual income and 100% overtime and allowances for nurses. The broker guide adds the $5 million maximum loan and the Fast Track exclusion.

St.George Nurse LMI Waiver

St.George’s broker flyer carries the same terms as Westpac’s guide. Its public page adds that the waiver applies to fixed and variable loans, whether the client buys to live in or to invest. St.George’s public page says its residential lending isn’t available to non-Australian resident borrowers.

NAB LMI Waiver for Nurses

NAB’s LMI waiver page lists 18 medical professions, from anaesthetists to veterinary practitioners, with no nursing or midwifery roles. It also lists accountants, actuaries, financial analysts and lawyers. Without a listed nursing role, a nurse’s loan above 80% LVR at NAB carries LMI.

CommBank LMI Waiver for Nurses

CommBank’s low deposit options page names doctors, lawyers and accountants for a waiver, and no nursing roles. The Adviser reported on 13 March 2025 that CommBank piloted a waiver for nurses, midwives, paramedics, police and firefighters. That pilot covered owner-occupier loans with principal and interest repayments and doesn’t appear on CommBank’s current pages.

A CommBank loan at 90% LVR carries either LMI or the bank’s own Low Deposit Premium, a one-off fee, but not both.

The Joint Applicant Case

Change one fact and the result moves. If the nurse earns $84,000 and her partner earns $70,000, their combined income is $154,000. Westpac’s page ties the floor to “a registered nurse or midwife earning over $90k”, and St.George’s wording also attaches it to the nurse, so the combined figure doesn’t lift her over it.

Neither bank publishes a rule on ownership share or on a second applicant outside the listed roles. Ask the business development manager (BDM) to confirm the joint structure in writing before lodgement. A first home buyer who misses the floor can check the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme, which removes LMI for eligible buyers through a government guarantee.

Before Submission

Test income and deposit together, because the 90% limit applies to the bank’s valuation, not the contract price. Both Westpac and St.George define LVR as the loan compared with the bank’s valuation of the property. A low valuation can push a qualifying nurse over the limit after the income test has passed.

On the hypothetical $700,000 home, a valuation of $680,000 turns the $630,000 loan into a 92.6% LVR. The waiver then caps the loan at $612,000, so the client needs another $18,000 of deposit. The bank property valuation guide explains how a valuation shortfall changes the loan.

Above 90% base LVR the loan needs LMI anyway, and Westpac’s checklist then asks for 5% genuine savings. Purchase costs such as stamp duty sit on top of the 10% deposit.

Broker Checklist

1. Registration: print the AHPRA register entry showing Nurse (Registered nurse, Division 1) or Midwife, the registration type, any condition and the date you checked it.
2. Employment: record the employer, the workplace type and the employment basis, with the payslips that basis needs.
3. Income: calculate the nurse’s own base income against $90,000, annualising casual pay over 52 weeks and keeping overtime separate.
4. Deposit: work out 10% of the lower of the price and an expected valuation, then add stamp duty and other purchase costs.
5. Property: confirm the loan purpose and that the loan sits under the $5 million maximum.
6. Written confirmation: get the BDM’s written answer for any unclear role or structure, such as a registration condition, an ABN agency arrangement or a joint purchase with a lower-earning nurse.

Bulma’s Policy Advisor can put the same nurse question to 52+ lenders and quote each lender’s policy wording with the date Bulma last updated it. You can keep that wording beside the BDM’s confirmation in your best interests duty file notes.

When every item clears, lodge with Westpac or St.George and state the waiver in the application notes. When the floor or the valuation fails, compare the LMI cost against the 5% Deposit Scheme and the other routes on the LMI waiver guide.