If a meaningful share of your pay arrives as commission or bonus, the lender you apply to matters more than almost anything else on your file.
Most lenders average commission and bonuses over the last two years and count part or all of it; some use the latest year when income is rising, and a few count contractual bonuses in full.
Payslips, two years of tax returns and an employer letter describing the arrangement decide how much is counted, so the lender is chosen before you apply.
Part of the employment and income home loans guide.
Yours could be the next one.
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What moves the number
Choose any that apply. Each shows roughly how much it changes the figure, the way a lender’s assessment would.
is an indicative borrowing figure at today’s typical rates. Lenders typically count around 80% of rental income, which is why an investment purchase can lift your number, your real figure comes from a proper assessment.
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Most lenders average over one or two years. On a rising trend, a two-year average understates your current position, and a lender that uses the most recent year reads the same file far more generously.
On a falling trend the opposite applies, and the conservative reading may be the right one. Which approach suits you depends on the direction your income is moving, which is precisely why placement matters.
Two years of payslips and both PAYG summaries establish the pattern. An employment letter that describes the commission structure accurately, rather than calling it a bonus, can change the classification. Consistency across employers within the same industry helps where you have changed jobs.
None of this is a trick; it is evidencing income that exists.
Four variables, and they compound.
It varies more than almost any other input: commonly a percentage of a one or two-year average, but the percentage differs widely, and some lenders distinguish sharply between contractual commission and discretionary bonus.
On commission-heavy packages the spread between lenders frequently exceeds a hundred thousand dollars of borrowing capacity.
For the fullest treatment, usually yes, and some lenders will work with one year where the rest of the file is strong and the income is contractual.
Continuity within the same industry generally counts even where you have changed employers, which matters for people who move between firms in sales-driven roles.
Often not. Commission paid under a documented structure tends to be treated more favourably than a bonus paid at the employer's discretion, because one is contractual and the other is not.
If your commission is documented in your employment agreement, that document is worth providing rather than leaving the classification to assumption.
It can. A two-year average of a rising income understates where you are now, while a lender that assesses on the most recent year reads it accurately.
That is a placement decision rather than a change to your circumstances, and it is one of the clearest cases where the choice of lender decides the outcome.
Then a conservative reading may be the accurate one, and it is better to plan on it than to search for a lender that will overlook it.
Where the drop has a clear explanation, extended leave, a role change, a restructure, that explanation belongs in the application rather than being left for an assessor to guess at.
Charles can show what different lenders would count before an application goes to the most conservative one.
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General information only, not credit or financial advice. Professional lending policies, eligible occupations and loan-to-value thresholds vary by lender and change over time. Eligibility is confirmed against current lender policy in an assessment; nothing on this page is a promise that any lender will approve any application.
