Buying your first home as a Queensland paramedic: a 2026 checklist

1. Know where you will be working

Buy near the station you will actually work from, and find out where that is before you fall for a suburb.

• The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) employs graduate paramedics right across the state. Its recruitment material names the Metro North and Metro South regions, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast as the most sought-after locations, so be ready for a regional start.
• A permanent appointment comes with at least two years at that location before you can request a voluntary transfer. Treat that as a planning window, not a promise you will never move.
• In the metro regions and on the two coasts, you may be required to work anywhere within your district or region, so allow for the drive.
• On-call stations need you to live within a set response time of the station's area, generally 10 minutes under the QAS agreement. At those stations, the home you buy has to be close.
• Housing is up to you. QAS says limited housing may be available only in very rural or remote locations, and graduate paramedics pay their own relocation costs.

We are not part of, or endorsed by, any ambulance service.

2. Build the deposit, and the costs around it

Lenders look at how much you have saved and how you saved it. A deposit built from your own pay over months reads better than a lump sum that arrived last week, though a gift from family can work with the right paperwork.

Then budget for the costs on top: conveyancing, building and pest inspections, lender fees, any transfer duty that still applies, and the move itself. If a graduate posting sends you across the state, keep a buffer beyond the deposit for that too.

3. Compare an LMI waiver with the 5% Deposit Scheme

Lenders mortgage insurance, or LMI, is a one-off cost most lenders charge when your deposit is small. It protects the lender, not you. As a paramedic buying your first home, there may be two ways around it worth comparing.

A lender's own waiver. Some lenders waive or cover LMI for paramedics. Conditions apply, and they can include your role, whether you are permanent, how much you borrow against the property's value and the property itself. Some may not be limited to first home buyers. They come and go, so ask us who is offering one right now. Our home loans for paramedics page has more.

The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme. Eligible first home buyers can buy with a minimum 5% deposit and no LMI, because the government guarantees part of the loan to the lender. Since 01-10-2025 there are no income caps and no waitlists. The conditions to know:

• you must have saved a deposit of at least 5% of the property's value, so ask us before counting a family gift towards it;
• each location has a price cap, and both the price and the lender's valuation must sit at or under it (check yours on the scheme's price cap page);
• you must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, and you apply through a participating lender as part of your home loan;
• you must move in within six months of settlement (or of the occupancy certificate on a new build) and keep living there while the loan is supported by the scheme; and
• renting the home out ends the guarantee, and your lender may then charge LMI.

Which route suits you depends on the price, the cap where you are buying, how long you expect to stay and the lender behind each option. We put the two side by side for you.

4. Plan for a regional posting

A regional posting raises one big question: buy where you are posted now, or keep renting and buy where you plan to end up. What matters is knowing the rules before you sign.

• If you buy under the 5% Deposit Scheme and a transfer moves you out, the guarantee can end unless an exemption applies. Raise it with the lender before you buy, not after.
• A locality allowance at a remote station is tied to that posting. A lender may count it while you are there, but not for a home you are buying for later.
• Some lenders limit how much they lend against homes in small towns, so in a regional market the choice of lender matters more.
• Queensland's first home grant and duty concessions have move-in rules of their own. Check them on our first home buyers page before you commit.

5. Time your pre-approval

Get pre-approved before you start making offers, so you know your ceiling and can move quickly. A pre-approval is conditional: final approval comes after the lender values the property and checks the contract.

• Most pre-approvals last a few months, and each lender sets its own window. Under the 5% Deposit Scheme, you have 90 days from pre-approval to find a home and sign a contract.
• In your graduate year or on probation? Some lenders may pre-approve you now, others want probation finished first. Your letter of offer helps either way.
• Hold off on new debts, such as a car loan, while you are pre-approved, and tell us about any roster change or transfer before you sign.

6. Get your documents together

• your two most recent payslips, with year-to-date figures;
• last financial year's income statement from myGov, once it is marked "Tax ready";
• your contract or letter of offer, showing whether you are permanent, part-time or casual, and for graduates what happens when the program ends;
• photo ID, plus proof of citizenship or permanent residency and the scheme's Home Buyer Declaration if you are using the 5% Deposit Scheme;
• bank statements showing your savings growing and your pay going in;
• details of any debts, including HECS-HELP, credit cards and buy now pay later; and
• your Ahpra registration details, if a lender's offer depends on your job.

7. Check the grants and stamp duty

Queensland has a first home grant for new homes and transfer duty concessions for first home buyers, and they can sit alongside the 5% Deposit Scheme. Each has its own rules on the type of home, the price and when you move in, and the figures change with state budgets. Rather than repeat them here, we keep the current details on our first home buyers page, with links to the official sources.

Where we come in

We help paramedics buy their first home in Brisbane and right across Queensland, and we know how lenders read shift pay, graduate contracts and regional postings. Send us your last two payslips through our paramedic home loans page and we will tell you how much you could borrow and which of these options you could use.

Sources

• First Home Buyers (Housing Australia), Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme, the Information Guide for first home buyers (1 July 2026) and property price caps, all checked 23-10-2026.
• Queensland Ambulance Service, Graduate paramedic program and Graduate Paramedic FAQs, checked 23-10-2026.
• Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, Queensland Ambulance Service Certified Agreement 2025, checked 23-10-2026.
• ATO, Access your income statement, checked 23-10-2026.

This article is general information only. It is not credit advice or an offer of credit, and it does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Scheme rules change, and the official source is firsthomebuyers.gov.au. Consider your circumstances and talk to us before acting.

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