Home loans for IT and tech workers

How lenders view IT and tech workers

Tech incomes are high, but a meaningful share arrives as bonuses, RSUs and contract rates — the three things lenders treat least consistently.

Two lenders assessing the identical payslip can arrive at borrowing power figures more than $100,000 apart, purely from policy differences. Choosing the lender whose policy matches your income shape is worth far more than shaving a few basis points off the rate.

Income lenders will assess for IT and tech workers

• Base salary, straightforward where you're PAYG-employed.
• Cash bonuses, generally shaded to 80% and requiring two years of history.
• RSUs and share-based compensation, accepted by only a handful of lenders and usually heavily discounted.
• Day-rate contracting, assessed as self-employed unless paid through an agency with tax withheld.

Advantages available to IT and tech workers

• High base salaries alone often support strong borrowing power without needing bonus income counted.
• Some lenders will assess two years of consistent bonuses at 80%, adding materially to capacity.
• Agency-paid contractors on long-running engagements can be treated as PAYG at several lenders.

Lenders mortgage insurance

There's no standard occupation-based LMI waiver for your profession, but a 5% deposit is still achievable through the First Home Guarantee, and a family guarantor can remove LMI entirely.

Common mistakes we see

• Assuming RSUs count — most lenders exclude them entirely.
• Frequent job-hopping, common in tech, being read as employment instability.
• Recently switching to contracting, which most lenders will not assess until you have a full year of returns.

What to have ready before you apply

• Two recent payslips showing year-to-date gross, plus your latest income statement or PAYG summary.
• Three months of transaction statements for every account, including any buy-now-pay-later facility.
• Details of all debts and credit limits — lenders assess the limit, not the balance.
• For self-employed income: the last one to two years of tax returns and notices of assessment.
• Evidence of your deposit, its source, and how long it's been held.

How much could you borrow?

Our borrowing power calculator assesses at a 3% serviceability buffer, the same way a lender does, and applies a HEM living-expense floor. It's an estimate — the number that matters is the one from the lender whose policy best fits IT and tech workers — but it's a realistic starting point.

If you'd rather skip the guesswork, a 15-minute chat gets you a lender-specific figure with the policy quirks already applied.