Doctor home loans in Perth and Western Australia

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 Perth doctor, that is usually one of four ways:

​

• Salaried in a hospital. Interns, resident medical officers, registrars and consultants employed by a WA Health service such as the South Metropolitan Health Service, 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.

​

Many doctors mix two of these, such as a consultant 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.

​

Salaried doctors: how lenders read a WA Health payslip

Most doctors in Perth's public hospitals are employed by one of WA Health's health services under the WA Health System Medical Practitioners AMA Industrial Agreement 2024, which sets base salary by stage and year of experience across the public system.

​

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

​

Base salary by stage

Rates from 3 September 2026, the agreement's last scheduled increase:

​

• Intern. Base salary per year: $93,590.

• Resident medical officer. Years 1 to 3. Base salary per year: $102,377 to $122,740.

• Registrar. Years 1 to 7. Base salary per year: $128,760 to $175,802.

• Senior registrar. Years 1 and 2. Base salary per year: $188,817 and $198,142.

​

Source: WA Health System - Medical Practitioners - AMA Industrial Agreement 2024, Schedule 1, Table 1. Consultants are paid from a separate table and are not shown, and doctors employed by WA Country Health Service north of the 26th parallel are paid from a higher one.

​

The agreement runs to 2 September 2027 and stays in force after that until a new one replaces it, so these rates should hold for the next year. A 3% rise applied from 3 September 2026. Lenders generally want to see at least one payslip at a new rate before they use it, and any payslip for a period after that date should show it.

​

The professional development allowance

On top of base salary, WA public hospital doctors in training are paid a professional development allowance, spread across every fortnightly pay: $6,698 a year for interns and resident medical officers and $11,721 for registrars, from 3 September 2026. It is a fixed annual amount, paid whether or not you work overtime. Some lenders will count it as income and others won't count all of it, so for a registrar the choice of lender alone can move assessed income by up to $11,721 a year.

​

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 WA Health 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.

​

Rotations and contracts

Many junior doctors in Perth are recruited through WA Health's centralised process and employed by one health service, which rotates them through its placement sites. Those sites can include hospitals run by private operators, such as Joondalup Health Campus and St John of God Midland, and country hospitals, but your employer stays the same.

​

Interns are appointed on a three-year contract. Other appointments are normally for 12 months, or for the expected length of a training program.

​

Lenders accept a rotation that keeps you with the same health service. A move to a different health service depends on the lender: some accept it during an application and others don't.

​

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.

​

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.

​

Salary packaging

WA Health 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.

​

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.

​

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. 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.

​

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.

​

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.

​

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.

​

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.

​

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.

​

Private practice on top of a hospital salary

Many Perth consultants earn both: a public appointment paid through WA Health's 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.

​

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.

​

WA schemes: what a doctor can and cannot use

WA widened its first home duty concession in May 2026, and it now reaches established homes up to $800,000. Neither the duty concession nor the federal 5% Deposit Scheme has an income test, which matters for doctors because medical pay rises quickly. Keystart, the state government's home lender, does have one, and it counts all taxable income, which puts most registrars over it.

​

Transfer duty and the first home owner rate

A first home buyer pays no transfer duty on a home up to $600,000, new or established, anywhere in WA. Between $600,000 and $800,000 duty is charged at a concessional rate of $16.15 for every $100 above $600,000, and above $800,000 you pay the full amount. The rules follow the First Home Owner Grant: at least one buyer is an Australian citizen or permanent resident, neither you nor your partner has owned and lived in a home in Australia before, and every buyer lives in the home as their main residence for at least six continuous months, starting within 12 months of settlement. A buyer who isn't a citizen or permanent resident also pays WA's 7% foreign buyers duty.

​

The six-month rule is the one to plan around if your training could send you on a country rotation soon after you buy. Check with RevenueWA before you sign if a rotation might fall inside those six months.

​

• Purchase price $600,000. First home buyer: $0. Everyone else: $22,515.

• Purchase price $650,000. First home buyer: $8,075. Everyone else: $24,890.

• Purchase price $700,000. First home buyer: $16,150. Everyone else: $27,265.

• Purchase price $750,000. First home buyer: $24,225. Everyone else: $29,741.

• Purchase price $800,000. First home buyer: $32,300. Everyone else: $32,316.

​

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.

​

Source: RevenueWA first home owner rate (transactions from 7 May 2026) and general transfer duty rates, as verified in the Xandii calculator on 16 September 2026. At these prices WA charges the same duty whether you live in the property or rent it out. Figures are indicative; your settlement agent confirms the duty payable.

​

First Home Owner Grant: $10,000

WA pays $10,000 towards a new first home, or one substantially renovated, worth up to $800,000 in Perth and the rest of the state south of the 26th parallel ($1,000,000 further north). Established homes don't qualify.

​

Buying off the plan

WA's off-the-plan concession reduces the duty on a new home bought before building starts. For contracts signed from 12 March 2026 to 30 June 2028, it waives all the duty on a home worth up to $800,000, to a maximum saving of $50,000, tapering to half the duty from $900,000. A contract signed once building has started gets 75%, tapering to 37.5%. It covers apartments, townhouses and, since March 2026, new houses in survey-strata and community schemes.

​

Source: RevenueWA, off-the-plan duty concession, concession amounts for contracts entered into from 12 March 2026 to 30 June 2028.

​

Keystart

Keystart is the WA Government's home lender. Its Low Deposit Home Loan needs a 2% deposit and has no LMI, with a property price limit of $860,000 and an income limit of $155,000 for a single buyer or $228,000 for a couple or family. You don't have to be a first home buyer, but you can't own any other home or land.

​

Keystart counts all taxable income toward that limit: the professional development allowance, overtime and on-call as well as base salary. Set against WA Health pay, interns and resident medical officers usually fit. Base salary and the allowance come to about $100,300 for an intern and about $129,400 for a third-year resident medical officer, which leaves room for overtime. For a first-year registrar they come to about $140,500, leaving about $14,500 for overtime before the limit, and from the third year of registrar training base salary and the allowance alone are over it. Keystart's Skilled Start Home Loan, with a discounted rate, is open to anyone who has graduated with a bachelor's degree or higher in the last five years, which takes in most interns and junior doctors, though its price limits are lower: $700,000 for an established home and $750,000 for a new one.

​

For a doctor who qualifies for both Keystart and a lender's medical LMI waiver and has a deposit of at least 5%, Xaviera would typically go to a medico lender. A medico lender's rates are generally better, and a medico loan gives you more flexibility to change it later, for example if you want to turn the home into an investment property or take cash out. Keystart comes into its own for a doctor who qualifies but has less than 5% saved: its minimum deposit is 2%, while the 5% Deposit Scheme and most medical LMI waivers need 5%.

​

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 Perth house it can be a large amount.

​

A Perth doctor with a small deposit has two common ways around it, besides Keystart. 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 in Perth it covers first homes up to $850,000 ($600,000 in the rest of WA), 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.

​

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.

​

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

​

The Perth market in numbers

Perth values rose 10.1% over the year to September, among the strongest gains of any capital, but have been falling since April: down 4.7% over the September quarter and 6.0% below their April 2026 peak. Cotality's index to 30 September 2026:

​

• Houses. Median value: $1,017,734. Change over 12 months: up 10.0% (down 4.6% over the quarter).

• Units. Median value: $714,265. Change over 12 months: up 10.5% (down 5.1% over the quarter).

• All dwellings. Median value: $975,022. Change over 12 months: up 10.1% (down 4.7% over the quarter).

​

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

​

A few things follow. The median unit, at about $714,000, sits inside the first home owner rate: a first home buyer at that price pays about $18,500 in duty instead of about $27,900, a saving of about $9,500. It is also under Keystart's $860,000 limit and the $850,000 cap on the 5% Deposit Scheme. The median house, at just over $1 million, is above all three, so a first home buyer at that price pays full duty of about $43,500, and a lender's medical LMI waiver is the way to buy it with less than a 20% deposit and no LMI.

​

In a falling 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.

​

Worked example: a Perth registrar's first home

This is an illustration built from the figures above, not a quote. Say Dr Kaur is a single third-year registrar at Fiona Stanley Hospital on a base salary of $145,044, with the $11,721 professional development allowance on top. Overtime and on-call add about $25,000 a year. She wants an established two-bedroom unit for $700,000 and has never owned a home.

​

• First Home Owner Grant: not available, because the unit is established.

• Transfer duty: $16,150 under the first home owner rate, instead of $27,265. A saving of $11,115.

• Keystart: out. Her base salary alone is under the $155,000 single limit, but Keystart counts all her taxable income: with the allowance it comes to about $156,800, and with her overtime about $181,800.

• Deposit and LMI: the price is under the $850,000 Perth cap, so the 5% Deposit Scheme would allow a $35,000 deposit with no LMI. But with current AHPRA registration she may qualify for a lender's medical LMI waiver instead, which 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. 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, before any difference in how they treat her allowance.

​

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.

​

Dr Kaur's cash needed would be roughly the deposit, the $16,150 of duty, land registry fees and settlement costs, before any moving costs. Move the price to $800,000 and duty rises to $32,300; above that the concession is gone. Move it down to $600,000 and the duty is nil.

​

Worked example: a GP in a Perth practice

Again, this is an illustration, not a quote. Say Dr Mensah is a fellowed GP who has worked as a sole trader in a Perth practice for five years. Last financial year he billed $390,000 and paid the practice a 35% service fee of $136,500. After his own costs, such as insurance and registration fees, his taxable income was about $220,000, up from $190,000 the year before. He wants an established house for $1,050,000 and has never owned a home.

​

• His income: a lender starts from the $220,000 on his latest tax return, not the $390,000 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 $205,000.

• Transfer duty: $45,191 at the full rate. Above $800,000 there is no first home concession.

• Deposit and LMI: the price is over the $850,000 Perth cap, so the 5% Deposit Scheme is out, and both the price and his income are over Keystart's limits. A lender's medical LMI waiver is the way to buy with less than a 20% deposit and no LMI.

​

What to have ready

If you are salaried:

​

• Your two most recent payslips.

• Your employment contract, and a new contract or employment letter if you are about to move to another health service 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.

​

If you have private practice income or own a practice:

​

• 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.

​

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.