Specialist Lending
Optometrists registered with the Optometry Board of Australia (AHPRA) are included in professional LMI waiver policies at some Australian lenders. The profession's AHPRA regulation, consistent income profile, and low default history support lender recognition. Like pharmacists, the number of lenders extending the waiver to optometrists is smaller than for medical doctors or lawyers. A broker is essential to identify current availability, lender policies in this category shift more often than for the core medical and legal professions.
The qualifying credential is registration under the Optometry Board of Australia within the AHPRA framework. Evidence required is a current AHPRA certificate of registration. Optometry students on clinical placement and optometric assistants do not hold AHPRA registration and therefore do not qualify. Therapeutic endorsed optometrists, those authorised to prescribe Schedule 4 medicines for ocular conditions, do not receive a separate or enhanced waiver. The qualifying criterion is registration, not the endorsement status or the scope of clinical practice.
Employed optometrists working at OPSM, Specsavers, Laubman and Pank, or independent optometry practices are assessed as PAYG borrowers. Income is verified through payslips and employment confirmation. The income assessment for an employed optometrist at a national chain is straightforward.
Practice owners are assessed as self-employed, requiring two years of personal tax returns and business financials. Optometry practice revenue is generated through consultation fees (both Medicare-rebated and private), contact lens sales, frame and lens dispensing, and any allied health service billings. The business income assessment needs to reflect these revenue streams accurately.
Some optometrists work as contractors across multiple practices, sessional arrangements at two or three different clinics are not uncommon. Contractor income with consistent evidence over 12 or more months is generally assessable. A contractor who has been working across the same group of practices for two years presents a cleaner income picture than one who has recently changed their practice arrangement.
For lenders that carry the optometrist waiver, the standard limit is 90% LVR for both owner-occupied and investment purchases. Loan size caps typically sit at $1.5 million to $2 million. The optometrist professional waiver is narrower in coverage than medical or dental professions, fewer lenders carry it, and the loan caps tend to be lower. Confirming current lender availability is a key part of a broker's role when working with optometrist borrowers.
On an $850,000 purchase with a 10% deposit, the loan amount is $765,000 at 90% LVR. LMI on this loan through Helia or QBE LMI pricing would be approximately $16,000 to $20,000. Capitalised and repaid over 30 years at 5.9%, the total cost including interest is approximately $33,000 to $42,000. With the professional waiver in place, the LMI cost is zero. The saving reduces the total loan balance from settlement and compounds forward over the life of the loan.
Physiotherapists, chiropractors, and podiatrists registered with AHPRA are in a comparable position to optometrists within the professional LMI waiver market. Some lenders include them, and others do not. The medical-aligned professions (medical doctors, dentists) have the widest lender coverage. Legal professionals (solicitors, barristers) are also broadly covered. Allied health professions, including optometry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and chiropractic, have narrower but still meaningful access to the waiver.
The practical implication is that a broker's knowledge of current lender policy is more important for allied health borrowers than for medical or legal borrowers, because the pool of qualifying lenders is smaller and the policies change more frequently. A lender that carried the optometrist waiver 18 months ago may have tightened its policy or vice versa.
An experienced optometrist with five or more years of practice typically earns $90,000 to $140,000 or more. Optometrists practise in shopping centres, independent clinics and medical precincts in every state, and this income profile positions them well for a purchase at a 90% LVR. The 90% LMI waiver removes a cost that would otherwise represent a material portion of the first-year holding cost of the property.
The LMI waiver is available from the date of AHPRA registration under the Optometry Board of Australia. New graduates receiving their first registration are eligible from that date. However, some lenders require a minimum period of employment history, typically three to six months of payslips, before including income in a serviceability assessment. A new graduate who has a signed employment contract and recent payslips showing several months of income should be well-placed. Where a graduate has not yet accumulated payslip history, some lenders will accept a signed contract as evidence of ongoing income, subject to AHPRA registration being in place.
The two professions sit in a similar position within the professional LMI waiver market, both are AHPRA-regulated allied health professions with some, but not universal, lender coverage. The specific lenders that carry the waiver for physiotherapists may not be the same lenders that carry it for optometrists, and loan size caps and LVR limits may differ. The key point is that both professions have access to at least some professional waiver lenders, and a broker's role is to identify which lenders are currently carrying each specific profession's policy. The waiver is not interchangeable between professions, each profession's eligibility is assessed separately under each lender's policy.
Working part-time across two optometry practices is common, many optometrists do sessional work at a national chain practice alongside work at an independent clinic. Both income streams can be included in serviceability, provided each is evidenced with payslips. Lenders assess the total income from all PAYG sources, regardless of whether it comes from one employer or two. The LMI waiver applies to the application overall, not to the income source. Where one of the income streams is contractor rather than PAYG, that component may require 12 months of evidence. A broker will structure the income presentation to include both streams at the most favourable lender for your profile.
Michael works with optometrists and allied health professionals buying across Australia. A free 30-minute call will confirm which lenders currently carry the optometrist professional waiver, how your income structure will be assessed, and what your borrowing capacity looks like in the current market.
