Home Loans for Accountants in South West Sydney, NSW, No LMI to 90%
Accounting qualifications open doors that most borrowers don't know exist. Whether you're a graduate in your first permanent role, a CA or CPA mid-career, or a senior partner with a practice interest and a complex income structure, lenders read your employment and income differently from a general professional.
The headline advantage is the professional LMI waiver. At some lenders, Chartered Accountants and CPAs can borrow to 90% LVR with no lenders mortgage insurance, provided income is above a published threshold. That changes the deposit calculation meaningfully, and in a market where most South West Sydney, NSW houses sit above $1.3 million, it shortens the gap between where you are and where you want to buy.
Our team at Infinity Mortgage Brokers helps professionals in South West Sydney compare across 40+ lenders to find the right fit for their income structure, employment type and property goal.
Key takeaways
- Some lenders waive LMI for CAs and CPAs borrowing to 90% LVR.
- An income threshold around $90,000 typically applies to the waiver.
- First home buyers can access the federal guarantee from a 5% deposit.
Do accountants qualify for a home loan differently in South West Sydney?
Yes, and the difference is specifically about the LMI waiver and how some lenders assess income from a practice or mixed employment structure. Chartered Accountants and CPAs sit on the published waiver lists of some lenders at 90% LVR, meaning a 10% deposit can be enough to buy without paying LMI. CoreLogic data shows South West Sydney house medians from around $1,300,000 in Liverpool to over $1,650,000 in Panania, so avoiding LMI on a 90% LVR purchase at those price points can represent a saving of $19,000 to $41,500 or more depending on the loan size.
Source: CoreLogic (via YIP, mid-2026).
How do lenders assess an accountant's income?
The assessment depends heavily on your employment shape, and accountants span more arrangements than almost any other profession. PAYG accountants in a permanent role are assessed on base salary from current payslips once probation is passed, with overtime and bonuses typically averaged over one to two years of history.
Practice owners and directors
Where you draw income as a company director or trust beneficiary, lenders generally want two years of tax returns and financial statements. Practice revenue itself doesn't count unless it flows to you personally, and some lenders are more comfortable with trust distributions than others. Retained profits inside the practice structure are treated differently again, and the wrong lender choice here can reduce your assessed income significantly.
Salary-packaged and split income
Some accounting roles carry a salary packaging component or a mix of base plus fee income from clients or referrals. Lenders assess these separately. Fee income earned directly is often treated more like a contractor arrangement and may need two years of consistency before it's fully counted.
What I see regularly is accountants who understand finance deeply but underestimate how much lender-to-lender policy variation affects their own application. The income they draw and the structure they hold it in can look very different from one credit assessor to the next, and that's not a problem to solve with a better rate, it's one to solve with the right lender.
Dimitri Giannopoulos · Director, Infinity Mortgage Brokers · Chat to Dimitri →
What eligibility criteria apply to accountants seeking a home loan?
Lenders verify a set of specific things for professional borrowers, and the waiver has its own conditions on top of the standard checklist. Here's what most lenders are looking for:
- › Membership or registration: current CA ANZ or CPA Australia membership in good standing, or a recognised equivalent overseas qualification.
- › Employment evidence: a current employment contract or appointment letter confirming the role is ongoing, plus recent payslips for PAYG; two years of tax returns for directors and practice principals.
- › Time in role: most lenders want probation completed for PAYG; newly qualified accountants in a permanent role can often apply immediately after probation ends.
- › Income threshold for the waiver: around $90,000 gross per year at lenders that list CAs and CPAs on their waiver policy. Below this, the waiver doesn't apply, though a standard loan is still available.
- › Credit position: clean credit history, no defaults or judgments, and existing commitments such as credit card limits and HECS debt factored into the serviceability assessment.
- › HECS-HELP debt: lenders count the compulsory repayment as an ongoing commitment, not the balance, so a large HECS debt reduces borrowing capacity by the repayment amount, not by the balance owed.
How much can accountants borrow in South West Sydney?
Borrowing capacity is driven by your assessed income, existing commitments, and the lender's serviceability buffer. APRA requires lenders to assess your repayments at your actual rate plus a 3.0% buffer, so even a well-paid accountant is assessed at approximately 9% or above rather than the loan's actual rate. That buffer reduces the ceiling more than most applicants expect.
At a PAYG income of $120,000 with modest existing commitments, most lenders will approve somewhere in the $700,000 to $900,000 range, though the exact figure depends on expenses, card limits and any other debts. At that level, homes in Liverpool(median $1,300,000) and Edmondson Park(median $1,339,000) are reachable with the waiver and a 10% deposit, while Chester Hill(median $1,403,000 with 14.76% growth over the past year) sits within range for a higher-income buyer or a couple purchasing together.
The APRA debt-to-income cap also applies: lenders may write no more than 20% of new lending at a DTI of six times gross income or higher, so a high-income borrower with an existing investment portfolio or practice debt may find some lenders more constrained than others at a given point in the quarter.
Whether the professional LMI waiver is available to you depends on which lenders your broker has access to and your specific circumstances, which is worth a conversation before you apply.
Source: APRA.
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What government schemes can accountants use?
Accountants aren't excluded from government schemes, and the 5% Deposit Scheme has no income test since October 2025, meaning it's available regardless of salary. The options worth weighing depend on whether you're buying your first home or an additional property:
- › First Home Guarantee: 5% deposit · no LMI · no income test · Sydney price cap $1,500,000 · first home buyers only
- › Family Home Guarantee: 2% deposit · no LMI · single parents or guardians · not restricted to first home buyers · Sydney price cap $1,500,000
- › Help to Buy: federal shared equity · up to 40% government equity on new builds · income cap $103,000 single / $165,000 joint · Sydney price cap $1,300,000
- › NSW First Home Owner Grant:$10,000 for new homes only · price cap $600,000 completed new home or $750,000 land plus build · citizenship or PR required · 12-month residency condition
NSW has no open state shared-equity scheme. The Shared Equity Home Buyer Helper closed to new applicants on 30 June 2024, so Help to Buy is the only shared-equity pathway for a South West Sydney buyer. The professional LMI waiver and the First Home Guarantee do different things and can complement each other where both apply, though eligibility must be confirmed for your specific situation.
Source: Housing Australia and Revenue NSW.
How do mortgage brokers improve outcomes for accountants?
The lender choice decides the outcome here more than any rate comparison. Three policy differences move the result for accountants, and they're not published side by side anywhere.
- › Waiver occupation list: some lenders name Chartered Accountants and CPAs specifically; others don't list them at all, meaning the same borrower qualifies at one lender and gets a standard LMI-required loan at another.
- › Practice or company income: whether distributions, director fees or retained profits are treated as assessable income varies significantly, and the lender that reads your structure most favourably is rarely the one with the headline rate.
- › HECS and DTI interaction: a large HECS balance reduces borrowing capacity by the repayment amount, and some lenders are more flexible than others on how that interacts with a borderline DTI position.
Comparing across the panel finds which lenders apply the waiver to your membership body and read your income most generously, which can shift the outcome more than a rate difference alone.
When does the professional LMI waiver not make sense for accountants?
The waiver is valuable where the 10% deposit is within reach but LMI would otherwise add a large premium to the loan. Where you have a genuine 20% deposit saved, you don't need the waiver and a standard 80% LVR loan is often better structured and more broadly available across the lender panel.
If your income has only just crossed the threshold, or you've recently moved from practice-employed to running your own firm, waiting one additional reporting period is usually worth it. An application submitted before the income picture is clear risks a lower assessed income or a lender substituting a more conservative estimate, which reduces borrowing capacity in ways that can't easily be reversed at application.
Where a client is on the edge of the waiver's income threshold and they're three months from a guaranteed payrise or bonus that would clear it comfortably, we'd almost always recommend waiting. The application is cleaner, the assessment is stronger, and the approval is harder to challenge. Pushing it through at the threshold often produces a tighter approval that costs more over time.
Dimitri Giannopoulos · Director, Infinity Mortgage Brokers · Chat to Dimitri →
What approval challenges do accountants face?
Even with a strong professional profile, accountants run into specific lending hurdles that a general borrower doesn't face in the same way.
- › Practice debt competing with the home purchase: an existing equipment loan, software subscription facility or business overdraft on the books can show as a commitment against personal serviceability, even where the practice covers the repayment. Lenders treat what's on the credit file, not how the business funds it.
- › Trust or partnership income complexity: where income flows through a trust or partnership, some lenders require the trust deed and two years of trust financials before they'll count the income, which extends the assessment timeline and limits which lenders will proceed at all.
- › HECS debt assessed as a commitment: the compulsory HECS repayment is treated as an ongoing liability regardless of the balance. A $70,000 HECS balance at a $120,000 income carries a compulsory repayment that some lenders count before they even start on the loan.
- › New firm or recently self-employed: an accountant who has moved from a salaried role to their own practice within the last two years often can't demonstrate two years of business returns. Some lenders accept an accountant's letter as a substitute for the second year; others don't, which is a policy difference that narrows the panel significantly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Chartered Accountants get a home loan with a 10% deposit and no LMI?
Yes, some lenders waive LMI for Chartered Accountants and CPAs to 90% LVR, meaning a 10% deposit is enough. An income threshold around $90,000 typically applies, and availability depends on which lenders your broker has access to.
Does HECS debt affect how much an accountant can borrow?
Yes, lenders count the compulsory HECS repayment as an ongoing commitment, which reduces borrowing capacity. The repayment amount is what matters, not the balance, so a large balance at a high income carries a proportionally higher repayment.
Is the professional LMI waiver available to actuaries and auditors?
Some lenders include actuaries and auditors on their waiver lists alongside CAs and CPAs, though coverage is narrower than for the medical professions. Verifying your specific qualification against the lender's published policy is the only reliable way to confirm.
Can an accountant use the First Home Guarantee and the LMI waiver together?
They work differently and serve different purposes. The First Home Guarantee is a government scheme for first home buyers with a 5% deposit. The LMI waiver is lender policy for a 10% deposit. You'd use one or the other depending on your deposit size and whether you're a first home buyer.
How does a lender assess income from a partnership or practice share?
Lenders typically want two years of partnership financials and tax returns to assess partnership income. Some require the partnership deed as well. The portion assessable as your income is based on your share of the distributable profit, not the revenue.
Is a mortgage broker better than going directly to a lender as an accountant?
A mortgage broker, every time. The waiver isn't available at every lender, and which lenders list your specific membership body differs. A broker who compares across a broad panel identifies both the waiver eligibility and the most suitable income assessment for your structure.
Your Next Steps
Getting your home loan right as an accountant is less about the rate and more about finding the lender who reads your income, your membership, and your overall structure correctly. The right fit can mean buying sooner on a 10% deposit, avoiding a five-figure LMI premium, and structuring the loan in a way that works alongside any existing practice obligations.
Ready to find out which lenders will work best for your situation? Contact the Infinity Mortgage Brokers team or call 0426 955 190. We'll canvas our 40+ lender panel and find the most suitable options for your circumstances.
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External Resources
Infinity Mortgage Brokers, Bankstown and South West Sydney. This website is general information only and does not constitute financial advice. Please consider your own circumstances and seek professional advice before making any financial decisions.
