Home loans for teachers: how lenders read a teacher's pay

If you're employed permanently, full time or part time, lenders count your base salary in full. Part-time teachers are assessed on what they're actually paid, so a teacher working four days a week is assessed on four days' pay. Lenders check it against your recent payslips.

Pay steps and timing

Most teachers move up the scale each year, and many award and agreement increases commence on a set date. Recent payslips are how lenders check the pay you're on now, so a step that hasn't been paid yet may not be counted. If a step is only weeks away, a broker can check whether a lender will consider a confirmed increase, or whether it's worth waiting for your first payslip at the new rate. Waiting only helps if you need the extra borrowing.

Back pay is similar. If a new agreement brings a rise back-dated to an earlier date, a lender can consider the back pay when you have a letter from your employer confirming the rise and the period it covers. Without that letter, it's hard to get a lender to accept it.

Public school teachers are paid under a separate award or agreement in each state and territory, so the same job pays differently depending on where you teach. Here are the classroom teacher pay ranges, as full-time yearly salaries before tax, up to the top step most teachers reach by service, and what happens next. Where you start on a scale depends on your qualifications and experience. Except in Queensland and Western Australia, where rates apply from the date shown, each date is the first pay period on or after that date.

Source: NSW Teachers (Department of Education) Salaries and Conditions Award 2024; Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2026; Queensland Department of Education salary schedule (updated 1 September 2026) and the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission's interim order [2026] QIRC 267; WA School Education Act Employees' (Teachers and Administrators) General Agreement 2023; SA School and Preschool Education Staff Enterprise Agreement 2024; Tasmanian Teachers Agreement 2025; ACT Education Directorate (Teaching Staff) Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026; NT Public Sector Educators' 2024-2027 Enterprise Agreement, read 21 October 2026.

Catholic and independent schools pay under their own agreements, which can track the government scale in their state but can differ. Whichever scale you're on, lenders read it the same way: your payslips show where you are on it.

Moving up the scale can change which schemes you can use

Some first home buyer help is means-tested on income. The Australian Government's Help to Buy scheme, for example, has an income cap of $103,000 for an individual applicant who isn't applying as a single parent (single parents and couples have a higher cap), judged on the previous financial year's income. A NSW graduate on $92,882 earns under that limit, whereas Step 4 ($108,421) pays more than it, as does the top classroom step in every state. Your pay step alone doesn't decide the test, though: it uses the taxable income on your ATO notice of assessment for the previous financial year, so a step up can take you over it from the following year. If you're applying on your own, check your latest notice of assessment against the cap before you apply. Our FAQ on help for first home buyers covers the other schemes, including the 5% Deposit Scheme, which has no income limit.

Source: Help to Buy income and threshold updates 2026-27 (firsthomebuyers.gov.au), caps from 1 July 2026; Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme (firsthomebuyers.gov.au), no income caps from 1 October 2025; NSW Teachers Salaries and Conditions Award 2024, Step 4 from 9 October 2026, read 21 October 2026.

Casual relief work doesn't rule out a home loan on its own, although lenders look at your whole financial situation and want to see that the work is regular. Most want about six months of casual work behind you, a few want twelve, and some accept less. Our guide to how long you need to be employed explains why lenders ask.

Why the school holidays matter

Relief teachers are paid a daily or hourly rate and don't receive income during the school holidays. Lenders handle that in different ways. Some work out a casual teacher's year over 40 weeks, roughly the school year, rather than the 46 or 48 weeks they use for other casual workers, so a term's worth of daily pay isn't counted as if it ran all year. Others average what you've actually been paid over the last six months or the financial year, which already includes the unpaid weeks. A few count only part of any casual income. So the same relief teacher can be assessed quite differently from one lender to the next.

Day rates are set by each state's award or agreement. In NSW, for example, a casual teacher earns $480.43, $538.73 or $599.85 a day depending on experience; in Queensland a supply teacher earns $515.75 a day; in the ACT, $451 or $558 a day.

Source: NSW Teachers Salaries and Conditions Award 2024, rates from 9 October 2026; Queensland Department of Education salary schedule (updated 1 September 2026); ACT Education Directorate (Teaching Staff) Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026, rates from the first full pay period on or after 1 December 2025, read 21 October 2026.

Lenders also look at how long you've been doing relief work. A relief block of a term or so may be treated as casual work, depending on the arrangement and how long you've been doing relief work, so if you've only just started, a lender may not count it unless last year's income statement shows relief teaching too. If you've been on a long-term or rolling contract, some lenders may count the pay the way they count other casual income, rather than over 40 weeks, once last year's income statement shows it has been consistent. Each lender looks at this case by case, so it's worth giving a broker the details. In our tool, choose “Casual” for relief work: lenders that need more detail stay in your list with a “Needs more info” badge.

Many teachers start on a fixed-term contract, often for a year at a time. Most lenders count contract pay just like permanent pay. If your contract ends within about two months of applying, expect a lender to want the renewed contract first, and some lenders want it with more time left than that. A history of renewals and a letter from your school help a broker make the case. Our tool has no separate contract option: choose full time or part time, whichever your contract is.

Many teachers carry a HECS or HELP debt from a four-year degree or a masters. Lenders take it into account, and the ones we checked count the compulsory repayment, which the tax office sets as a share of your income, not of what you owe. For 2026-27, nothing is repaid on income up to $69,528, then 15 cents of each dollar above that, rising to 17 cents between $129,717 and $186,050. Most of the classroom pay in the table above falls in the 15-cent band; the top steps in some states reach the 17-cent band.

As a result, two important points stand out for borrowers: at those lenders, a teacher who owes $10,000 is assessed much the same as one who owes $60,000, and each step up the scale lifts the HECS repayment along with your pay, so a step adds a little less to what you can borrow than the raw pay rise suggests. If your debt is nearly paid off, a broker can check whether a lender treats it differently: at least one lender can leave it out once it will be fully repaid within 12 months and you've finished studying.

Source: Australian Taxation Office, study and training loan minimum repayment income and rates 2026-27 (updated 13 October 2026), read 21 October 2026.

Search for a teacher home loan and most of what you'll find leads with an “LMI waiver for teachers”. LMI (lenders mortgage insurance) protects the lender, and you pay for it; it usually applies when you borrow more than 80% of the home's value. Some lenders waive it for certain professions. But most professional waivers are for medical, legal and accounting professions, and some lenders' policies name teachers as excluded. We found no lender our tool compares that offers an LMI waiver to teachers, as at October 2026.

Source: ASIC Moneysmart, glossary entry for lenders mortgage insurance (LMI), last updated 16 September 2019, read 27 October 2026.

If you want to borrow more than 80% without paying LMI, the options open to teachers are the ones open to everyone: the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme for first home buyers (it also covers single parents and legal guardians), a family guarantee, or one of the loans a few lenders offer a little above 80% without LMI to any borrower, each with its own conditions and costs. A family guarantee carries real risk for the family member: they can be required to repay the part of the debt they back if you can't, and the property they use as security can be at risk. Otherwise LMI applies, and a broker can check whether the premium can be added to the loan. Our FAQ on what LMI is explains how it works.

Source: Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme (firsthomebuyers.gov.au), eligible groups including single parents and legal guardians, read 27 October 2026.

One tip for our tool: leave the “Profession may qualify for LMI waiver” box unticked. It greys out lenders whose records show no professional waiver, but it doesn't ask your profession and can't confirm that a teacher qualifies, and as far as we can find, the lenders it keeps either limit their waivers to other professions or have none for teachers. So ticking it can hide lenders without helping you.

Whatever a lender advertises for teachers, it's the whole loan that matters, so it's worth comparing it with the rest of the market before you choose.

New graduates in government schools often start on probation. Lenders differ on it: some accept it, some accept it with experience in the same field, and a few want it finished first. The employment guide linked above covers how lenders treat probation, and our tool shows lenders that need more detail with a “Needs more info” badge rather than removing them.

This is an illustration, not a quote.

Hannah: Hannah teaches at a public primary school in Wagga Wagga. She's permanent, full time, a few years out of university, and still paying off her HECS debt. She's buying her first home on her own.

Salary (permanent, full time)

$108,000 a year

People on the loan

1, no dependants

HECS balance

$35,000

Living expenses

$2,800 a month

Other debts

None

Home price

$550,000

Loan

$440,000, owner-occupied, 30 years (an LVR, or loan-to-value ratio, of 80%)

What moved the figure

• Your two most recent payslips, showing your year-to-date pay.
• Your latest income statement or tax return.
• If you're on a contract: the contract, and any letter about renewal.
• If your pay includes back pay: a letter from your employer confirming the rise and the period it covers.
• If you do relief work: payslips or a statement covering at least the last six months.
• Your HECS or HELP balance (myGov shows it).
• Statements for any other debts, including credit cards and car loans.