Home loans for engineers, architects and technical professionals

What may be available

Coverage here is narrower than for medicine, law or accounting — fewer lenders, and none of the largest. But it is considerably wider than most people in these fields assume, and the assumption is why almost nobody asks.

There are three separate routes, and they suit different people.

The degree route — up to 95%

A couple of lenders run professional products reaching 95% of the property value with the mortgage insurance paid by the lender rather than by you. The test is that the main income earner on the application is a degree-qualified professional in an accepted field, which at these lenders explicitly includes engineering and information technology.

Two conditions define who can use it:

• Main income earner. Not simply a borrower — the primary income on the application.
• Owner-occupied purchase only. Construction, vacant land, refinancing and investment are all excluded, and at one lender the property must be established rather than new.

In IT, a recognised certification is accepted in place of a degree at one of these lenders. That is unusual and worth knowing, because a large share of experienced technology professionals came in without a computer science degree.

The broad technical list — up to 90%

One lender runs by far the widest occupation list on the panel, at up to 90%, approved case by case. Alongside registered engineers it names:

• Architects
• Registered quantity surveyors, planners, and land and mine surveyors
• Geologists, geophysicists and hydrogeologists, with membership of a recognised geoscience body
• Commercial pilots and air traffic controllers holding a current CASA licence
• Construction project managers with registration and industry membership
• Accredited cyber security professionals holding CISM, CISA, CISSP or equivalent

Its conditions: at least half your assessable income from the eligible profession, a minimum of three years’ experience in the field, owner-occupied principal and interest lending only, and metropolitan postcodes.

Most importantly, that lender’s credit officers have discretion to consider professions not on the list, case by case. It is the closest thing to a genuine exception process in this area, and it is the reason a technical professional whose title appears nowhere should still ask.

The employer route — around 90%

One lender waives insurance based not on your qualification but on who employs you: direct employees of a short, named list of global technology companies, with a minimum period of continuous service and direct rather than agency employment.

If you work at one of a handful of very large technology firms, this is likely the simplest path available to you, and it does not care what your degree says.

Policies change without notice and eligibility is always determined by the lender on your circumstances. Nothing here means a concession will be available to you.

Contracting — usually the bigger question

A large share of engineering and technology professionals contract rather than being employed, and this affects assessment far more than the concession does.

If you contract through your own company or ABN, the default is assessment under self-employed rules: two years of financials, add-backs, trading history. That is covered in self-employed home loans.

But some lenders have specific contractor policy. Where it applies, long-term contractors in certain industries can be assessed much closer to PAYG employees — sometimes requiring only a current contract plus a shorter history rather than two years of financials.

The criteria typically involve:

• Length of time contracting, often twelve months or more
• Continuity of industry, which matters more than continuity of employer
• Contract length and renewal history
• Whether you work through an agency or contract directly
• Whether the arrangement is genuinely ongoing rather than project-to-project with gaps

The difference between being assessed under standard self-employed rules and under a favourable contractor policy is substantial — both in what you can borrow and in how much documentation is required. It is worth establishing which applies before assembling a file for the wrong one.

Equity compensation

Common in technology, and consistently the thing that causes the largest gap between what someone earns and what a lender will count.

Unvested equity — options or RSUs not yet vested — is generally not counted at all. It is contingent, and lenders treat it accordingly.

Vested and sold shares are counted by some lenders, typically:

• Shaded, sometimes heavily
• Requiring two years of consistent history
• Requiring evidence of actual proceeds, not grant values

Practical implication: if a large proportion of your total compensation is equity, your assessed income may be far below your headline package. Someone on a substantial total package where much of it is stock can find their assessed borrowing capacity is based largely on base salary alone.

That is worth knowing before you set a property budget, not after an application.

Other income structures

Bonuses — usually assessable with a two-year history, shaded. Treatment varies by lender.

FIFO and site allowances — assessable with many lenders where there is a history. Living away from home allowances are treated inconsistently; some lenders count them, others treat them as reimbursement rather than income.

Overseas or foreign-currency income — treated conservatively. Some lenders decline it entirely, others shade it heavily to allow for exchange rate movement. An Australian resident paid in AUD by a foreign employer is usually straightforward. Being paid offshore in another currency narrows the field considerably.

Multiple concurrent contracts — assessable, though it requires the file to be presented clearly. Lenders assess this more comfortably where there is a consistent overall income level than where individual engagements come and go.

Where this typically matters

The pattern is familiar: income rises quickly in the early-to-mid career, deposit savings lag behind. An LMI concession, where available, removes the main obstacle at exactly that point.

For contractors, the more valuable outcome is usually not the concession at all — it is being assessed under a policy that recognises your income properly rather than one that requires two years of financials you may not have.

Also relevant

For a first home, occupation policy stacks with:

• Victorian stamp duty exemptions and concessions
• The First Home Owner Grant, for new homes
• Federal guarantee schemes, where income thresholds permit

See first home buyers.

Worth a conversation if

• You contract and have been told you need two years of financials
• A significant part of your package is equity
• You are paid by an overseas entity or in a foreign currency
• You work FIFO or receive site allowances
• You hold chartered status and have not checked whether professional policy applies