Home loans for junior doctors: interns, residents and registrars

The short answer

Being early in your medical career does not stop you buying a home. Lenders look for three things: registration that lets you work, income they can see and expect to continue, and repayments that fit your budget. For junior doctors each of those has a few quirks, and this article walks through them.

Your registration changes as you train

Lenders with doctor policies check your registration type, and for a junior doctor it changes in steps.

• Intern year: Australian and New Zealand graduates hold provisional registration while they complete an accredited internship, also called postgraduate year one (PGY1). The Medical Board of Australia requires 47 weeks full-time equivalent, including at least four terms of 10 weeks or more in different specialties.
• After your internship: you apply for general registration, which is then renewed every year by 30 September.
• Specialists: specialist registration follows fellowship of a specialist college accredited by the Australian Medical Council, or a college assessing you as eligible for fellowship.
• Trained overseas: international medical graduates may hold limited or provisional registration while they work under supervision.

Some lenders' doctor policies ask for general or specialist registration, while others accept provisional or limited registration. If you are a few months away from general registration, that timing can change which lenders are open to you, so talk to us before you sign a contract on a property. Lenders can check your details on the Ahpra register of practitioners, which is public and updated every day.

Rotations and one-year contracts

Junior doctors move around. Interns rotate through different specialties under supervision, and resident jobs can be offered one clinical year at a time. In Queensland, for example, Queensland Health runs a campaign each year to recruit resident medical officers (RMOs) and registrars, and says its RMO appointments are for 52 weeks. Registrar jobs are generally training positions, on an accredited path to a higher medical qualification.

A fixed-term contract does not automatically rule you out. What a lender weighs up is whether your income is likely to continue. These help:

• your signed contract or letter of offer, and next year's if you have it
• a run of contracts that have been renewed, or a letter confirming your place on a training program
• recent payslips that match the contract

Some lenders want you past any probation period with a new employer, while others may consider a doctor's new contract straight away. If your contract ends soon after settlement, expect questions, and have the next offer ready if you can.

Moving hospitals or states

Your registration moves with you. Ahpra says that once you are registered with your National Board, your registration is recognised in all states and territories. What changes is your employer, and a lender may read a new employer as a new job.

• Tell us early. Lenders ask about changes you know are coming. A move usually means new documents: the new contract and often your first payslip.
• Think about where you will live. If you buy in one place and rent near the hospital, lenders usually treat the purchase as an investment loan, which can change the deposit you need.
• Check the state rules. Stamp duty and first home buyer concessions are set by each state, so a move can change your costs. Our first home buyers guide covers Queensland.

Overtime, on-call and allowances

Hospital pay is more than base salary. In Queensland public hospitals, for example, the medical officers' agreement includes overtime, on-call and recall payments, and extra pay for afternoon and night shifts. Lenders treat each part differently: most count part of your overtime, some count all of it, most want to see that it is regular, and how much history they want varies.

• Year to date beats one big payslip. A payslip showing steady extras across the year carries more weight than one busy rotation.
• Rotations change your extras. One term can carry far more after-hours work than the next, so we look at your whole year, not one fortnight.
• Allowances vary. Under the same Queensland agreement, resident medical officers can be paid a professional development allowance, or a vocational training subsidy once they are on a specialty training program. Some lenders count allowances like these, others leave them out.
• Interns have one job. The Medical Board does not allow interns to do clinical work outside their allocated position, so extra shifts elsewhere, such as locums, come later.

Our income annualiser turns a payslip into a yearly figure. A HELP debt also changes what lenders see, and we explain how in HELP debt and borrowing power for doctors.

How a professional LMI waiver generally works

Lenders mortgage insurance, or LMI, protects the lender, not you. Moneysmart explains that it is usually a one-off cost when you borrow more than 80% of the property's value, paid at settlement or added to your loan.

Some lenders waive LMI for eligible medical professionals, which may let you borrow above that 80% mark without paying it. In general terms:

• Each lender sets its own list. Who qualifies depends on your profession, your registration type and sometimes your income or how you are employed.
• There is usually a ceiling. Lenders generally cap the loan size their waiver covers, and each sets its own limit.
• You still need savings. A waiver does not pay your deposit, stamp duty or other buying costs.
• Your budget still has to work. The lender still checks that you can afford the repayments on your income and debts.
• The loan purpose matters. Some lenders also apply the waiver when you refinance or invest, sometimes with a bigger deposit. Others are narrower.

Conditions apply, so ask us. Our home loans for doctors page shows the professions some lenders include. Buying your first home? Government schemes can also help some first home buyers with a smaller deposit, and our first home buyers guide explains them.

What to have ready

• your Ahpra registration number
• your contract or letter of offer, and next year's if you have it
• your two most recent payslips and last financial year's income statement
• your HELP balance, which you can see in ATO online services or the ATO app
• statements for your savings and any debts

How we help

We match the doctor policies on our panel to your registration, your contract and the way you are paid, then handle the application from pre-approval to settlement. We work around rosters, by phone or video. There is more on our home loans for doctors and dentists page. We are not part of, or endorsed by, any health service.

Sources

• Medical Board of Australia, Interns, General registration, Specialist registration, Limited registration and Registration renewal, all checked 23-10-2026.
• Ahpra, Graduate registration, checked 23-10-2026.
• Queensland Health, Medical career structure, RMO and Registrar campaign and RMO and registrar term dates, all checked 23-10-2026.
• Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, Medical Officers' (Queensland Health) Certified Agreement (No. 7) 2025 and Queensland Health, Resident medical officer professional development allowance rates, both checked 23-10-2026.
• Moneysmart, lenders mortgage insurance and Save for a house deposit, both checked 23-10-2026.
• ATO, View your study loan account online, 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 medicalboard.gov.au. Consider your circumstances and talk to us before acting.

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