FIFO pay is often well above average, but much of it is allowances and overtime that lenders treat differently. Most FIFO workers are best served by a lender that counts regular roster income in full.
Lenders count a FIFO worker’s base salary in full, but treat site allowances, overtime and roster loadings according to their own rules, often averaging them over the last year or two, and sometimes counting only part. Contract FIFO work adds a question about continuity.
Buying a home in Sydney while working remote is common, and lenders lend on it like any other home.
Part of the employment and income home loans guide.
Base salary. Counted in full with payslips and an employer letter.
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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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Many FIFO roles are fixed-term contracts or labour hire. Lenders look at how long you have worked in the industry, whether contracts have been renewed, and how long the current contract has to run. A history of continuous work across contracts helps.
The contractor home loans page covers how contract income is assessed.
Lenders lend on the home you buy, not where you work. Most FIFO workers who buy in Sydney treat it as their home and are assessed as owner-occupiers.
In its guidance on transfers between spouses, Revenue NSW accepts that fly-in fly-out absences do not stop a home being your principal place of residence, as long as it is your base.
Buying near a mine site is different: lenders often limit loans in small mining towns; see postcode restrictions.
Four documents that make the income easy to count.
Yes. Base pay counts in full, and many lenders count regular allowances and overtime too, averaged over time.
Many count regular roster and site allowances. Living away from home allowances are often treated as covering costs, not income.
Yes. Lenders assess the home you buy, and it can be your home even with FIFO absences.
Not always. Base pay counts from day one in a permanent role; allowances and overtime usually need some history.
Only if you are employed as a casual. Permanent FIFO roles are assessed like any permanent job.
Read how overtime and allowances are assessed, or see all income guides.
Charles can show which lenders count your allowances and overtime most fully, using your payslips and roster.
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General information only, not credit, tax or legal advice. Lender policies change and differ between lenders, and any loan is subject to the lender’s assessment.
