St Leonards mortgage broker
St Leonards mortgage broker
A mortgage broker
who knows St Leonards.
A hospital precinct wrapped in towers, where shift penalties and on call allowances make up a real slice of income and lenders count them very differently. We compare 35+ lenders and it costs you nothing.
35+
Lenders
10+
Years experience
1,000+
Clients helped
$0
Cost to you
About St Leonards
What the 2065 market actually looks like
History of St Leonards
The name once covered most of the lower North Shore before the individual suburbs took their own. What set the modern suburb apart was the hospital. Royal North Shore grew from a small cottage hospital into one of the largest in the state, and the private hospitals, specialist rooms and research buildings gathered around it. The towers came later, and are still coming.
St Leonards property market
Apartments, almost entirely, and a great many of them in tall towers along the highway and around the station. A small number of older houses sit in the residential streets behind. Buyers are heavily weighted towards people who work in the precinct or commute from it, which makes this one of the few suburbs where the employer down the road shapes the lending questions.
St Leonards property prices
Apartments cover a wide band from compact one bedders to large units with district views, and the handful of houses sit well into the millions. Postcode 2065 also takes in Crows Nest, Wollstonecraft, Naremburn and Greenwich, so a postcode level median blends five very different markets. Treat any single published figure as a guide rather than a price.
Borrowing in St Leonards
Two things, and both are unusual. How your income is made up, because overtime, shift penalties, on call allowances and locum work are common here and lenders count each of them differently. And the building, since high density caps and lender exposure limits inside one tower decide what can be advanced regardless of who you are.
St Leonards is one of 32 suburbs we cover across the North Shore, and the one where what appears on your payslip matters as much as the total at the bottom.
Paid overtime, penalties
or on call allowances?
Some lenders count most of it, some count half, some ignore it. That gap decides what you can borrow.
Your broker
Meet Ali Hasani
Ali Hasani is the founder of Buyvest. He has worked in home loans for more than ten years, a lot of it at Commonwealth Bank. We meet clients face to face, or by phone, Zoom and Teams, at night and on weekends as well as work hours. We take your loan to 35+ lenders, compare the numbers, and show you the options. Ali is an MFAA accredited broker with a Diploma of Finance and Mortgage Broking Management and a Post Graduate in Accounting.
Work in the
health precinct?
Certain lenders waive mortgage insurance entirely for eligible roles. The lists differ, so it depends on your registration rather than your industry.
Client stories
How we helped
Three real situations, and what actually happened in each one.
Their registration changed it.
A medical professional buying with less than a 20% deposit, and expecting to pay lenders mortgage insurance. Certain lenders waive it entirely for eligible medical roles, and some pair the waiver with sharper pricing under a professional package. We checked their role against the panel and placed the loan where both applied. The waiver was worth far more than the rate on its own.
The second lender said yes.
He wanted to stay put and buy again. His own bank would lend him $500,000 and the purchase needed around $650,000. Same person, same income, same debts. We moved the existing loan to a lender with a sharper rate and released the equity, then placed the purchase with a second lender who read his income more generously. At these price points the spread between lenders is the whole deal.
Comparable sales hurt them.
They wanted equity out for a renovation and the valuation came back about $90,000 under what they expected. In a tower that happens more than people think, because a valuer leans on recent sales inside the same building and a couple of soft ones drag the lot. We took it to a lender whose panel priced it properly. That released enough for the work with a buffer left over, and no mortgage insurance to pay.
These are past client stories, with details changed for privacy. Your own result depends on your situation and what the lender decides.
Free guides
What to know before you buy
Three free guides covering how a St Leonards purchase actually runs, from pre-approval to settlement.
Home loan pre-approval
What it covers, and how long it lasts.
Read the guide
Choosing a home loan
Fixed, variable, offset and redraw.
Read the guide
Settlement day
What has to be ready before then.
Read the guide
Read the free guides in the Loan Vault to know how the home buying process works in NSW.
What we do
Home loans for every St Leonards plan
First home
Learn more
Next home
Learn more
Refinancing
Learn more
Construction loans
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Guarantor loans
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Self employed home loans
Learn more
Not sure where to start? See what a mortgage broker actually does.
When did you last
check your rate?
We compare your current home loan against 35+ lenders. If a refinance saves you money we will show you the numbers, and if it does not we will tell you that too.
Your job matters
Home loans by profession
Some lenders drop lenders mortgage insurance for certain jobs, and in a hospital precinct that applies to a great many buyers. The lists and the limits differ from one lender to the next, so it is worth checking where yours sits.
Home loans for
Doctors
Learn more
Home loans for
Dentists
Learn more
Home loans for
Accountants
Learn more
Home loans for
Lawyers
Learn more
Not sure if your job is on a list? See No LMI and waived LMI home loans, or ask us and we will check every lender on our panel.
Plan ahead
Run the numbers
Free tools that show you where you stand right now.
How it works
Three steps to your loan
1
Financial health check
2
Get pre-approved
3
Settle, then stay in touch
Client reviews
5.0 ★★★★★ on Google
Reviews from clients across Sydney.
★★★★★
"Cannot recommend Ali highly enough. He made a complicated and daunting process incredibly easy, and continually went above and beyond. Would absolutely recommend him to everyone."
★★★★★
"Ali is super knowledgeable, reasonable and personable! He will be realistic with what is possible but always find you the best deal whilst making you feel looked after."
★★★★★
"Ali was very professional and was able to help with our complicated loans to refinance. He kept us up to date throughout the process and made sure my wife and I understood everything before signing and that we had no issues after settlement."
FAQ
St Leonards questions, answered
Why use a mortgage broker in St Leonards?
Because so much of the income here comes in forms lenders treat inconsistently. Overtime, shift penalties, on call allowances and locum work all appear on precinct payslips, and two lenders can reach very different numbers from the same one. Add high density caps on the towers and you have two separate hurdles. Brokers also have a legal duty called the Best Interests Duty, which means we have to put you first.
How do lenders treat overtime and shift penalties?
Cautiously, and inconsistently. Most want to see the income over a period, commonly six or twelve months, and then count only part of it, often somewhere between half and eighty per cent. Some lenders are notably more generous where the employment is considered essential services, which can include hospital roles. If penalties and overtime make up a real share of your pay, which lender assesses your file changes what you can borrow by a large margin.
What about on call allowances?
Similar treatment, though the evidence matters more. Lenders want to see it as a regular pattern rather than an occasional extra, which usually means payslips over a stretch and sometimes a letter from the employer confirming it is ongoing. Where it is contractual and consistent, more lenders will count it. Where it varies month to month with no guarantee, most will shade it heavily or leave it out. Bringing a full year of payslips rather than the last two is worth doing.
Can I use locum or agency income?
Often yes, though the field narrows and the evidence is heavier. Some lenders treat consistent locum work like contracting and want a history of it, commonly a year or two, along with tax returns. Others treat it as casual income and shade it accordingly. Where locum work sits alongside a permanent role, the base salary usually carries the application and the locum income supports it. If locum is your only income, choosing the right lender is most of the job.
I am a registrar or still training. Does that matter?
It can help more than people expect. Several lenders extend their professional packages and mortgage insurance waivers to doctors in training as well as consultants, based on registration rather than seniority or income. Others set an income threshold first. Rotating between hospitals is generally fine where you remain with the same health service, since lenders look at continuity of employment rather than the address you report to. It is worth checking rather than assuming waivers only apply later in a career.
What does a professional package actually give me?
Two things that matter and one that usually does not. The mortgage insurance waiver is the big one, since it removes a cost that runs into tens of thousands at these loan sizes. Sharper pricing is the second, and it varies. The third, a bundle of fee waivers on cards and accounts, is generally worth far less than the annual package fee attached to it. Judge the package on the waiver and the rate rather than the extras.
Do allied health and nursing roles get the same treatment?
Not always the same, and the differences are worth knowing. The lists vary between lenders and the level of cover differs by role, so some professions can borrow a higher share of the value without insurance than others can. Where a role does not appear on any list, the government deposit scheme, a family guarantor loan or a 20% deposit are the routes that remain. What decides it is your specific registration rather than working in health generally.
Do lenders treat St Leonards apartments differently?
Several do. Where a lender classifies a building or a postcode as high density, it lends a smaller share of the value, which means a larger deposit than you planned for. Some also cap how many apartments in one development they will hold, so in a tower where one lender has written most of the loans you can find they simply will not take another. Studios and compact one bedders can fall under a minimum internal floor size.
What if there are medical suites or shops in the building?
It changes the assessment, and it is common here given how much of the precinct mixes uses. Where a tower has commercial floors underneath, some lenders treat the whole building as mixed use and either lend a smaller share of the value or decline. Their concern is how readily a residential apartment inside a commercial building would sell again. Others are perfectly comfortable, which is why the address rather than the suburb is what we check.
What happens if the valuation comes in under the price?
You usually find out after you are committed, because a lender will not order a valuation on a purchase until there is an exchanged contract. So the buffer has to exist before you sign. In a tower it is more likely than people expect, because a valuer leans on recent sales inside the same building and a few soft ones pull the number down. A different lender uses a different panel and can come back differently on the same apartment.
Can I buy my first home in St Leonards with a 5% deposit?
If you are an eligible first home buyer, often yes, and it will be an apartment rather than a house. The Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme lets you buy with a 5% deposit and pay no lenders mortgage insurance, with Housing Australia guaranteeing the gap between your deposit and 20%. It is a guarantee, not a grant. If your role attracts a professional waiver, it is worth comparing the two routes, because the waiver has no property price cap attached to it.
How much deposit do I need in St Leonards?
A 20% deposit avoids lenders mortgage insurance. On an apartment here that is reachable for a lot of precinct buyers, and on one of the few houses it is a very different number. Plenty of people get in with 5 or 10% and pay the insurance instead, and eligible roles skip it entirely. What changes the answer most is the building, because a high density cap on a particular tower can mean you need considerably more than you planned.
How does a guarantor loan work?
A family member, usually a parent, offers part of the equity in their property as extra security for your loan. They do not make your repayments and no cash changes hands. Most are set up as a limited guarantee, so only a defined portion of their home is at risk. Before going down that road it is worth checking whether a professional waiver gets you there without involving anyone else, since in this precinct a great many buyers qualify.
What is the difference between a guarantor and a co-borrower?
A guarantor supports the loan with their property but is not on the title or the debt. A co-borrower is on both, so the whole loan shows on their credit file and counts against whatever they want to borrow next. Co-borrowing lifts what you can afford because both incomes count. Where two colleagues buy an apartment together near the hospital, that choice decides whether either can borrow alone afterwards.
What is an offset account and is it worth having?
An offset is a transaction account linked to your loan. Every dollar in it reduces the balance interest is charged on, without being locked away. If your income arrives unevenly through penalties and allowances, an offset suits that pattern, because the surplus months sit against the loan rather than in a savings account. If your balance runs close to empty each month, a package fee can cost more than the offset saves.
Offset or redraw. What is the difference?
Redraw means paying extra off the loan and taking it back later. Offset means the money sits beside the loan in its own account. The interest effect is similar. What differs is access and treatment, because redraw can be restricted by the lender and money you redraw counts as new borrowing rather than your own savings returning. Precinct buyers often keep the apartment and rent it out when they move on, so offset is the cleaner structure. Your accountant can explain why.
Should I fix my rate or stay variable?
Fixed gives certainty for a set period, usually one to five years. Variable gives flexibility, an offset account and unlimited extra repayments. Most fixed loans do not come with a usable offset, which matters if your income varies month to month. Breaking a fixed loan early can be expensive, which is worth weighing if a rotation or a change of health service might move you within that period.
Can I split the loan between fixed and variable?
Yes, and for income that swings with rosters it is often the sensible answer. You fix a portion so the base repayment is certain, and leave the rest variable so the offset still works against it and extra repayments in a strong month are unlimited. A good rule is to leave at least as much variable as the balance you typically hold in offset. Neither decision then has to be all or nothing.
Interest only or principal and interest?
On a home you live in, principal and interest is almost always the answer, because interest only means you owe the same at the end of the period as at the start. On an investment it is a genuine question and depends on your wider position. What catches people is that lenders assess an interest only loan on the repayment it reverts to, not what you pay now, so it cuts what you can borrow next time. Worth talking through with your accountant as well as us.
When I refinance, does my loan term reset?
Only if you let it. Most refinances default to a fresh thirty year term, which makes the monthly repayment look better and quietly adds years of interest. Ask for the remaining term instead, so a loan with twenty two years left stays a twenty two year loan. Nobody offers this, so it has to be asked for. If your role qualifies for a waiver, it is also worth re testing that at refinance rather than assuming the old structure still fits.
How much does it cost to refinance a home loan?
Usually a few hundred dollars to around a thousand. Your current lender charges a discharge fee, there are government fees to move the mortgage, and the new lender may charge a settlement or valuation fee, though plenty waive them. On a St Leonards tower the new lender is more likely to want a full valuation rather than a desktop one, because of the building rather than you, so allow a little more time.
I live in St Leonards but want to buy elsewhere. Does that matter?
Far less than people expect. A lender assesses you, then it assesses the property you are buying. Where you currently live barely features. What does matter is the postcode and property type you are buying into, because lender restrictions attach to the security rather than to your address. A professional waiver travels with you rather than with the property, so it applies wherever you buy.
Should I use my bank or a mortgage broker?
A bank can only offer its own loans, its own valuation panel and its own rules. Here that matters twice, because one lender's view on how it counts your penalties and allowances and one lender's view on your tower both have to go your way. You usually find out after you have applied and paid for a valuation. A broker checks it against many lenders first. Buyvest compares 35+ lenders at $0 cost to you.
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St Leonards sits at the centre of the lower North Shore, so its neighbours are all within a few minutes. Crows Nest and Wollstonecraft share the postcode, with Artarmon the next stop up the line. North Sydney, Lavender Bay and McMahons Point run down towards the Bridge. East along Military Road sit Cammeray, Neutral Bay and Cremorne, and north of the highway Willoughby and Northbridge sit around Middle Harbour. Lane Cove is west. We cover all of them, so if your search shifts a suburb or two, you are not starting from scratch.