Doctor home loans in Canberra and the ACT

Start with how you are paid

A lender's first question is how your income reaches you, because each answer comes with its own rules. For a Canberra doctor, that is usually one of four ways:

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• Salaried in a hospital. Interns, resident medical officers, registrars and specialists employed by Canberra Health Services, or by a private hospital. Lenders work mainly from your payslip.

• GP registrar in a training practice. Usually an employee of the practice, paid the greater of a minimum base rate or a share of your billings.

• Sole trader in a practice or rooms. Most fellowed GPs bill under their own ABN and pay the practice a service fee out of their billings. Many specialists do private work from rooms on the same basis, paying a service fee or a fixed rent.

• Practice owner. You own the practice, often through a company or trust, and the doctors and staff who work there are employed or contracted by it.

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Many doctors mix two of these, such as a specialist with a public appointment and private rooms, or a registrar picking up locum shifts. Lenders assess each income stream separately, and this guide covers each one.

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Salaried doctors: how lenders read a Canberra Health Services payslip

Canberra's public hospitals, including Canberra Hospital and North Canberra Hospital, have all been run by Canberra Health Services since July 2023, and the doctors who work in them are ACT Public Service employees. Their pay is set by the ACT Public Sector Medical Practitioners Determination, which places junior doctors by postgraduate year.

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Base salary is the part lenders find easiest. It is fixed by a public instrument, it doesn't move from one pay to the next, and every lender counts all of it. The extras on the payslip are where lenders may look at things differently.

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Base salary by stage

Rates from the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2025:

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• Intern. Postgraduate year: 1. Base salary per year: $88,485.

• Resident medical officer (RMO 1, senior RMO 1 to 3). Postgraduate year: 2 to 5. Base salary per year: $102,486 to $135,446.

• Registrar 1 to 4. Postgraduate year: 4 to 7. Base salary per year: $125,473 to $155,223.

• Senior registrar. Base salary per year: $173,760.

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Source: ACT Public Sector Medical Practitioners Determination 2023-2026, Annex A and clause 15. Specialists are paid from separate rates and are not shown.

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These rates come from a determination the Fair Work Commission made in November 2025, after bargaining between the ACT Government and the doctors' unions was declared intractable. It passed its nominal expiry on 31 March 2026 and still applies while a new agreement is negotiated, so these are the rates on a payslip today. Lenders generally want to see at least one payslip at a new rate before they use it, so until a new agreement is being paid, they assess you on the rate your payslip shows.

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Overtime, on-call and allowances

On top of base pay, a registrar's payslip can carry overtime, on-call allowances, shift penalties and other allowances. Lenders read public hospital overtime and on-call as ordinary overtime. Because doctors are essential workers, most lenders count all of it, but some shade it to 80%, and not every lender counts allowances in full. Most want to see at least three months of it on your payslips before they count it. The result is that two lenders can reach quite different borrowing figures from the same payslip.

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Rotations and contracts

Because Canberra's public hospitals share one employer, a rotation between them doesn't change who pays you, and lenders accept a rotation that keeps you with the same employer. A move to a different employer depends on the lender: some accept it during an application and others don't.

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If a move changes your pay, the lender will want the change confirmed with an updated payslip and a new contract or employment letter. A change of income partway through an application can make things harder, but with enough supporting evidence it can usually be worked through, and some lenders handle it better than others.

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Lenders will also want to see your employment contract, to confirm the role is ongoing. A fixed-term contract in health counts as full-time employment, unless it is close to ending and the next contract hasn't been issued yet.

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Salary packaging

ACT Public Service staff can salary package part of their pay, which lowers the taxable figure on the payslip. How a lender treats it depends on the lender and on what you package.

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For a novated lease, some lenders treat the lease as a repayment and use your gross pay, while others use only your net pay. Voluntary packaging is simpler, and most lenders will let it be included in your income. If your borrowing is tight, the lender you choose can make the difference. Expect to be asked for your salary packaging statement, and sometimes a letter confirming the packaging is voluntary and can be cancelled at any time.

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GPs, specialists and doctors in private practice

When your income comes through your own ABN, lenders stop working from payslips and start working from tax returns and billing statements. What counts is your taxable income, after the service fee and your own costs, not what you bill. Lenders can add some items back, such as depreciation, interest, one-off expenses and super above the guarantee rate.

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GP registrars

GP registrars are the exception. Under the National Terms and Conditions for the Employment of Registrars (NTCER), you are usually an employee of your training practice, paid the greater of a minimum base rate or a share of your billings. That income comes on a payslip, and most lenders count whichever of the two you are actually paid, though some will ask for supporting documents such as the practice's billing statements, a BAS or interim figures.

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Sole traders in a practice or rooms

This is how most fellowed GPs work. You bill patients and Medicare under your own provider number, and the practice keeps a service fee, usually a percentage of what you bill. Specialists doing private work from rooms are in the same position, whether they pay a service fee or rent. Lenders treat this as self-employed income and assess it from your tax returns and notices of assessment. When your income is rising, most use the latest year by itself rather than averaging it with the year before.

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Moving from a hospital salary into a practice doesn't always mean waiting a year for a tax return. Some medico lenders (lenders with their own policies for medical professionals) can assess you from about three months in. They will want the practice's monthly billing statements, backed up by your bank statements, and may look at your BAS and your service agreement. Depending on the lender and how much your income moves around, some also want interim financials from your accountant. Other lenders will wait for a full year's tax return.

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Practice owners

Most practices have several owners. In that case lenders generally work from your personal tax return: the income the practice pays or distributes to you. If you own a practice outright, through a company or trust, the lender may look at the company or trust financials as well. For a home loan, though, the income that counts is what reaches you. The practice's own profit matters mainly when the loan is for a commercial purpose, such as buying a practice or its goodwill.

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Where financials are needed, lenders usually want the most recent year's, and some will also consider interim figures and your BAS. Expect a check of your ATO account too: any tax debt generally has to be paid before you apply. Some medico lenders offer short-term low doc loans for doctors, but not all do.

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Private practice on top of a hospital salary

Many Canberra specialists earn both: a public appointment paid through Canberra Health Services' payroll, and private work from rooms. Lenders treat that as two income streams. Your salary is read from your payslip like any other salary. Your private rooms income is assessed as self-employed income, in the same way as a sole trader's.

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Locum shifts on top of a salaried job work the same way. Medico lenders will usually consider that income, often after about three months. Other lenders may want financial statements and tax returns, as for any self-employed income.

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ACT schemes: what a doctor can and cannot use

The ACT's main help for home buyers is now a stamp duty exemption rather than a grant, and since 1 July 2026 it has no income test, which matters for doctors because medical pay rises quickly.

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Stamp duty and the Home Buyer Concession Scheme

Under the Home Buyer Concession Scheme, an eligible buyer pays no stamp duty on any ACT home or residential land, new or established, with no limit on the price. You don't have to be a first home buyer. The main conditions are that every buyer is an individual aged 18 or over, that no buyer or their partner has owned or held an interest in any property, in Australia or overseas, in the five years before the contract, and that you live in the home as your main residence for at least a year, starting within a year of settlement. Until 30 June 2026 the scheme also had an income limit, $250,000 of combined taxable income for a household without children, which many doctor households were over. That limit has gone.

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If you don't qualify, an owner-occupier pays duty on the ACT's lower owner-occupier scale, and an investor pays more:

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• Purchase price $600,000. Eligible for the scheme: $0. Not eligible, living in it: $12,728.

• Purchase price $800,000. Eligible for the scheme: $0. Not eligible, living in it: $22,158.

• Purchase price $1,000,000. Eligible for the scheme: $0. Not eligible, living in it: $33,958.

• Purchase price $1,200,000. Eligible for the scheme: $0. Not eligible, living in it: $46,758.

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You can run your own figures, including the land registry fees, in the Xandii stamp duty calculator, and the stamp duty guide explains each state's rules.

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Source: ACT Revenue Office, Home Buyer Concession Scheme (transactions from 1 July 2026) and conveyance duty scales, as verified in the Xandii calculator on 16 September 2026. Figures are indicative; your conveyancer confirms the duty payable.

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Buying across the border in Queanbeyan or Jerrabomberra means NSW's transfer duty and first home rules apply instead, and the ACT scheme doesn't.

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No First Home Owner Grant

The ACT stopped paying a First Home Owner Grant from 1 July 2019. The duty exemption is what replaced it.

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The 5% Deposit Scheme or a lender's LMI waiver

Lenders mortgage insurance (LMI) is a one-off premium most lenders charge when you borrow more than 80% of a property's value. It protects the lender, not you, and on a Canberra house it can be a large amount.

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A Canberra doctor with a small deposit has two common ways around it. One is the Australian Government's 5% Deposit Scheme. Since 1 October 2025 it has had no income limit and no cap on places, and across the ACT it covers first homes up to $1,000,000, with a deposit from 5% and no LMI. The other is the LMI waiver many lenders offer eligible medical professionals, which sometimes goes to larger loans than the Government cap allows and is open to buyers who have owned a home before. To qualify, lenders generally want you to hold current AHPRA registration and be working in your profession.

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For a doctor who qualifies, Xaviera uses the waiver rather than the 5% Deposit Scheme, and the reason is pricing. A 5% Deposit Scheme loan is generally priced as a 95% loan, while a medical LMI waiver usually gets the interest rate the lender gives loans under 80% of the property's value. If you already hold a loan and want to move it, see refinancing without LMI.

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Source: firsthomebuyers.gov.au property price caps, read 8 October 2026.

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The Canberra market in numbers

Canberra values fell 1.6% over the year to September and are 6.2% below their May 2022 peak. Cotality's index to 30 September 2026:

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• Houses. Median value: $1,006,269. Change over 12 months: down 1.5% (down 3.5% over the quarter).

• Units. Median value: $582,245. Change over 12 months: down 2.1% (down 2.4% over the quarter).

• All dwellings. Median value: $861,744. Change over 12 months: down 1.6% (down 3.2% over the quarter).

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Source: Cotality Home Value Index, October 2026 release, results at 30 September 2026.

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A few things follow. An eligible buyer pays no duty at either median price: at the median house, about $1.01 million, that saves about $34,400 against an owner-occupier who doesn't qualify, and at the median unit, about $582,000, about $12,000. The median house sits just above the $1,000,000 cap on the 5% Deposit Scheme, so a doctor buying at that price with a small deposit would look to a lender's medical LMI waiver.

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In a softer market the bank's valuation matters too. If it comes in under the contract price, your loan-to-value ratio rises, which can change whether an LMI waiver or the Government scheme applies.

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Worked example: a Canberra registrar's home

This is an illustration built from the figures above, not a quote. Say Dr Byrne is a single second-year registrar at Canberra Hospital on a base salary of $135,446. Overtime and on-call add about $25,000 a year. She owned a small flat while at medical school and sold it seven years ago, and now wants an established townhouse for $750,000.

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• Stamp duty: nil under the Home Buyer Concession Scheme, instead of $19,208. She isn't a first home buyer, but she hasn't owned property for more than five years, so she qualifies.

• Deposit and LMI: the 5% Deposit Scheme is for first home buyers and people who haven't owned property in Australia for ten years, so with a sale seven years ago it isn't open to her. A lender's medical LMI waiver is, and it usually comes with better pricing, so that is where Xaviera would start.

• How much she can borrow: this depends heavily on how the lender treats her $25,000 of overtime, on top of the base rate her payslip shows today. Most lenders would count all of it, but some shade it to 80%. On Xaviera's figures, the gap between those lenders is about $30,000 to $37,000 of borrowing power.

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You can see indicative borrowing figures across a range of lenders for your own details with the Xandii home loan comparison tool, then talk the result through with Xaviera.

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Dr Byrne's cash needed would be roughly the deposit, land registry fees and conveyancing, before any moving costs, with no stamp duty on top. If she had sold the flat four years ago instead of seven, she wouldn't qualify, and the duty would be $19,208.

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Worked example: a GP in a Canberra practice

Again, this is an illustration, not a quote. Say Dr Shah is a fellowed GP who has worked as a sole trader in a Canberra practice for four years. Last financial year he billed $370,000 and paid the practice a 35% service fee of $129,500. After his own costs, such as insurance and registration fees, his taxable income was about $210,000, up from $180,000 the year before. His partner earns $120,000. They want an established house for $1,100,000, and neither has owned property.

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• His income: a lender starts from the $210,000 on his latest tax return, not the $370,000 he billed, then adds back items such as depreciation. Because his income is rising, most lenders use that latest year on its own rather than an average of the two years, which would be $195,000.

• Stamp duty: nil under the Home Buyer Concession Scheme, instead of $40,358. Before 1 July 2026, their combined income of about $330,000 would have ruled them out.

• Deposit and LMI: the price is over the $1,000,000 ACT cap, so the 5% Deposit Scheme is out. A lender's medical LMI waiver is the way to buy with less than a 20% deposit and no LMI.

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What to have ready

If you are salaried:

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• Your two most recent payslips.

• Your employment contract, and a new contract or employment letter if you are about to move or your current contract is ending.

• Your last two income statements or tax returns, and notices of assessment, if your overtime and allowances matter to the application.

• Your salary packaging statement, if you package.

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If you have private practice income or own a practice:

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• Your last two years of personal tax returns and notices of assessment.

• Company or trust tax returns and the practice's financial statements, if you trade through one.

• Your service agreement and recent billing statements, if you work in someone else's practice or rooms, plus your bank statements and BAS.

• An ATO account statement showing no outstanding tax debt.

• If you are new to private practice: interim figures from your accountant, if the lender asks for them.

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Talk it through with Xaviera

Xaviera has spent the last seven years broking with medical professionals, and knows how lenders read a public hospital payslip at each stage of training, and how they read a GP's or specialist's private practice income. A short call is the quickest way to see which lenders suit your pay and which schemes you can use.