Home loans for lawyers
Doctors aren't the only ones who can skip the LMI. Lawyers can too.
Eligible legal professionals can have the LMI waived and borrow up to 90% of the price: a 10% deposit, not 20%, with no insurance bill on top. It isn't automatic, and not every lender runs it the same way, so the work is finding the one that says yes for your situation. That's our job.
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The lawyer's catch
The problem isn't whether you can afford it. It's how a standard lender reads a legal career on paper.
You're admitted, you're earning well, and you're good for it. What you might not have yet is a 20% deposit, a HECS balance that's cleared, or two clean years on the same salary. Put that in front of a standard lender and its system counts the student debt, shades a bonus or partnership drawings, and asks for LMI on anything under 20% down. Professional lending policy reads the same file and sees a lawyer.
What a standard lender sees
- A small deposit after years of study, so it asks for LMI
- A HECS balance it counts against your capacity
- A bonus or performance pay it shades before counting
- A barrister or partner on ABN income, read as unstable
- One bank's rulebook, taken as the whole market's answer
What's actually true
- A high, secure income that lenders compete to lend to
- Eligibility for a professional waiver: up to 90% of the price, no LMI
- A strong income that carries the HECS a standard calculator panics over
- Bonuses, drawings and ABN income the right lender counts more fully
- The right lender from 30+, matched to how lawyers actually earn
And there's a second thing a one-off application misses: a legal career compounds. From associate to senior associate to partner or the bar, your income climbs, so this loan should set up the next one, not just get you through the door.
The shift
Your income climbs from associate to partner. Plan the lending to match.
Most lawyers take out a mortgage the way they clear a late brief: one lender, whatever's quickest, done. It works once. But your income as a junior associate looks nothing like your income as a partner or at the bar, and the loan that gets you into your first home can set up the next move or quietly cap it. We map the lending across your career, with you and your accountant, so each step is planned before you need it, not scrambled after.
What working with us gives you
Three things you won't get from your own bank.
We find the lender that waives your LMI
The professional waiver isn't automatic, and not every lender runs it the same way. We know which lenders take eligible lawyers to 90% with no LMI, which ask for a minimum income and which don't, and which count your bonus or partnership income more fully. Every situation is assessed on its own and matched to the lender it fits. Your deposit goes further than you think.
Share your file once. We do the chasing.
Your practising certificate, your payslips, your HECS, your tax returns if you bill through an ABN, collected a single time. We build the case the lender needs and push it through, so you're not re-sending documents between matters or explaining your income for the fourth time. Most lawyers just tell us what they want and let us work out how.
This loan sets up partnership, and the first investment
The first home, the upgrade when you make partner or take silk, the first investment property: one plan, not four cold starts. We map them with you and your accountant so today's loan opens the next move instead of blocking it. After settlement, your loan stays watched, so when your income jumps or rates move, you hear about it.
Who you'll talk to
A licensed broker who knows professional lending, not a call centre.
You'll work with a licensed credit representative who arranges home loans for lawyers and legal professionals, and who's across the parts that matter: which lenders waive LMI for admitted solicitors, barristers and in-house counsel, how a bonus or partnership drawings are assessed, and how a HECS balance actually affects what you can borrow. They work around your hours, not the other way around.
Good to know
Around your hours
We work when you can't
You're in court, in back-to-back matters, or clearing emails at 11pm. We're across your file either way. Updates come to you, questions get answered around your hours, and nothing stalls because you were in a hearing all afternoon.
Human first
The AI never decides
Approov's process handles the documents, the updates and the monitoring. A licensed broker makes every call and signs off on the advice.
In your corner
Free to you, and on your side
We're paid by lenders for introducing loans. Under the Best Interests Duty we're legally bound to recommend what's right for you, not what pays us most.
Common questions
Home loans for lawyers, answered.
- Do lawyers get LMI waived?
- Eligible lawyers can. Many lenders run a professional-package policy that waives Lenders Mortgage Insurance for admitted legal professionals borrowing up to 90% of a property's value, where a standard borrower would pay it. It isn't automatic, and eligibility is assessed on your situation, so the work is matching you to a lender whose policy fits.
- Which lenders waive LMI for lawyers?
- Several major and non-major lenders do, each with its own rules: some waive it with no minimum income, others set an income threshold, and the maximum is usually 90% of the value rather than the 95% offered to doctors. We compare across 30+ lenders to find the one whose policy suits how you earn, rather than taking one bank's word for it.
- What professions avoid LMI?
- Lenders extend LMI waivers to a range of professions, most commonly medical professionals, and in a broader tier, legal professionals, accountants and some engineers. The exact list and the maximum LVR differ by lender. For lawyers the waiver typically reaches 90% of the value, assessed on your situation.
- How much deposit does a lawyer need to buy a home?
- For eligible legal professionals, often around 10% plus costs like stamp duty, rather than the usual 20%, because the professional waiver removes the LMI a smaller deposit would normally trigger. Doctors sometimes go to a 5% deposit; for lawyers the common ceiling is 90%, so closer to 10%. We'll model your real numbers before you commit to anything.
- Do barristers and in-house counsel qualify for the LMI waiver?
- Often, but it depends on the lender. The waiver generally hinges on holding a current practising certificate, which covers admitted solicitors and practising barristers, and in many cases in-house or corporate counsel who hold one. A barrister's ABN income is assessed as self-employed, which is normal and straightforward with the usual tax returns. We check which lender's policy fits your role.
- Does my HECS debt affect how much I can borrow?
- It counts as a commitment, so it does reduce borrowing power, but a strong legal income usually absorbs it, and lenders treat it differently from one another. Some can set the repayment aside when the balance is close to clearing. We factor your HECS in properly and match you to a lender that reads it sensibly, rather than quoting a rule of thumb.
- How much do you need to earn for a $700,000 mortgage?
- There's no single figure, because lenders weigh your income, your commitments including HECS, and their own buffer differently. A lawyer's income usually stretches further than a standard calculator assumes, especially once a bonus or partnership drawings are counted by the right lender. We'll map what you can actually borrow across 30+ lenders.
Let's find the lender that waives your LMI.
A licensed broker shows you what you can borrow as a lawyer and which lenders waive your LMI. Nothing to prepare, no obligation.
15 to 30 minutes · no obligation · 30+ lenders