Home loans for FIFO workers: how lenders read roster pay

Most lenders start with your base salary, which they count in full. Anything on top (overtime, penalty rates, allowances) is treated with more caution, because it can stop when your roster or your job changes. For a FIFO worker that “anything on top” is often a large part of the pay, and it is built into the roster rather than picked up as extra shifts.

Under the Mining Industry Award, a full-time worker's ordinary hours average 38 a week. A roster of 12-hour shifts goes well past that on average, so overtime is written into the roster by design. Agreements commonly pay it in one of two ways: as a base salary plus a separate roster allowance, or as one all-in hourly rate or salary that already includes the rostered overtime and penalties.

Source: Fair Work Commission, Mining Industry Award 2020 (MA000011), clause 12.1, read 14 October 2026.

To see how large this impact could be, consider a 2025 Queensland coal mine agreement for a 12.5-hour rotating roster where a Mineworker's total salary is $151,071, comprising:

• Base salary: $97,375
• Roster allowance: $53,696 (covering loadings, penalties and allowances for the rostered hours)

Source: Hail Creek Mine Enterprise Agreement 2025 (Fair Work Commission, AE529325), Appendix 2, rates from June 2026, read 14 October 2026.

Because roughly one third of the total salary comes from the roster allowance, whether a lender counts all of it or only part of it can move your borrowing power more than almost anything else on your application. The factors that influence how a lender will assess this include:

• Many lenders count only part of your overtime. Many lenders, the big banks among them, count about 80% of overtime however long you have been in the role. Their rules for counting all of it are mostly for essential workers such as nurses and emergency services, and mining is not on those lists.
• Others count all of it once it is regular. Some lenders count all of your overtime once your pay shows it regularly, usually over three to six months, and a few only if your employer confirms in writing that overtime is a condition of your employment. Few FIFO contracts say this: most set out the swing and the pay rate, not a minimum amount of overtime.
• How your payslip labels roster pay. Some lenders that count only part of your overtime count a fixed allowance in full when it is ongoing or a condition of your employment. So whether your roster pay shows as overtime or as a roster allowance can change how much of it a lender counts.

Because the rules differ this much, the same payslip can be worth very different amounts to different lenders, as the worked example below shows. A broker can match how your pay is labelled and evidenced to the lenders that count more of it. A broker can also sometimes ask a lender that counts 80% to accept the full amount, case by case and outside its written policy, when the overtime is regular and you have been in the role for some time. On a FIFO roster the hitch and its overtime are usually regular, which makes that case easier to put.

If your latest payslip covers an off swing, send the year-to-date figure with it, so the pattern across your roster is clear rather than one quiet fortnight. Some lenders use the lower of your recent payslips and your year-to-date average, so a quiet fortnight can still pull the figure down at those lenders.

Allowances depend on where they come from. The main mining awards don't pay a site or living-away allowance to most production workers, so if you have one, it almost always comes from your agreement or contract.

• A taxable site, district or remote allowance is usually taxed through payroll like the rest of your pay. Many lenders count a fixed allowance in full once it shows on a few months of payslips, or is in your contract, though some count only part of it.
• A living-away-from-home allowance (LAFHA) is treated differently for tax. The Australian Taxation Office treats it as a fringe benefit that is not assessable income for you, so it does not appear as taxable income on your income statement or tax return. Lenders differ: some see it as covering your costs while you are away rather than as income, so it may not add to your borrowing power, and a few will count it if your employer confirms the amount and its terms in writing.

Source: Australian Taxation Office, Taxation Ruling TR 2021/4, read 14 October 2026.

A broker can help you to determine how each lender treats an allowance.

You might spend less while you're on site, with employer-provided accommodation and meals. Lenders generally assess your living expenses as if you are at home all year. Each lender also applies its own minimum living-expense figure (the Household Expenditure Measure, or HEM, a benchmark of typical spending for a household like yours), and uses whichever is higher: that minimum or what you declare. Time in camp is not a reason lenders accept living expenses below that minimum.

Moving between sites or employers is common in mining, and it doesn't always mean starting again with a lender. Many lenders will look at your time in the industry and the same type of role, not just your time with the current employer, often 12 months in the same industry in place of six months with your employer. Some want probation finished first; others will consider an experienced worker during probation. A gap of a few weeks between jobs is usually fine when the work is the same.

A new role also restarts your payslip history, so lenders that want three to six months of regular overtime may count less of it, or none, in your first months.

Our comparison tool asks whether you're on probation and how long you've been in the role. Lenders whose policy needs more time stay in your list with a “Needs more info” badge, rather than disappearing.

If you're casual or employed through a labour-hire company, lenders usually want about six months in the job (some want 12) before they count your pay, and they average it over your year-to-date pay or last year's income rather than taking your best fortnight. A fixed-term FIFO contract close to its end date may raise the question of whether it is likely to be renewed. Some lenders want at least three months left to run, and an employer letter or a record of past renewals helps.

Casual work gives some lenders' cards in our tool a “Needs more info” badge, and a few lenders' calculators count casual pay differently, so it's worth running your own numbers with your real employment type.

Lending on a home in a single-industry mining town is treated differently, because prices there may rise and fall with the mine. As a general rule, most lenders will only lend up to about 70% of the property's value in these towns without lenders mortgage insurance (LMI, insurance that protects the lender when your deposit is small, and which you pay for). Some lenders will go to 80% or 90% of the value with LMI, but cap the loan at around $500,000. A few lenders won't lend in those postcodes at all.

Source: Xandii broker guidance, October 2026.

The Australian Government's 5% Deposit Scheme can be used in mining towns, but each lender still applies its own postcode rules, and it is up to the lender whether it accepts the property as security. That can make finding a lender tricky.

It's important to talk to a broker when considering buying in a mining town, and our guide to mining town home loans explains what lenders look at there. If you're buying in a city or regional centre and commuting to site, as many FIFO workers do, these limits don't apply.

FIFO workers in Queensland and Western Australia can use the same help as other first home buyers. Two things are worth knowing. A scheme with an income cap counts your roster pay and overtime as income, while a lender in your first months in the role may count only part of it. And the property caps outside the capital cities are lower, which matters if you're buying near where you work.

Source: Housing Australia, Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme property price caps; Queensland Revenue Office (QLD grant) and WA Department of Treasury and Finance, About the first home owner grant (WA grant caps, from 7 May 2026); Queensland Treasury, Boost to Buy (updated 3 July and 30 September 2026); Keystart, 15 April 2026, read 14 October 2026.

Source for first home stamp duty: our stamp duty calculator's data, verified 11 October 2026.

Run your state's figures through our stamp duty calculator, which includes first home concessions.

Where the income caps bite. Boost to Buy tests your taxable income for the 2026 income year against a single cap of $155,000. On the same coal mine agreement, a Mineworker on that roster was paid a total salary of $147,387 at the agreement's starting rates, under the cap before any deductions, while the next classification up, Mineworker Multiskilled, was paid $155,144, just over it on salary alone, before any deductions. A few extra shifts can make the same difference. Boost to Buy can't be combined with a Commonwealth guarantee or shared equity scheme, so it's one or the other. Its places in South East Queensland have been taken; places for regional Queensland are still open.

Source: Hail Creek Mine Enterprise Agreement 2025 (AE529325), Appendix 1, rates from commencement; Queensland Treasury, Boost to Buy, read 14 October 2026.

Living there while you're away. First home grants and concessions need the home to be where you live. In Queensland you must move in within a year and live there continuously for six months. Nights on site don't break that: the Queensland Revenue Office looks at where your life is based, such as where your belongings and family are, where your mail goes, whose name is on the utilities and the address on the electoral roll.

Source: Queensland Revenue Office, Public Ruling FHOGA015.1.4 and first home grant eligibility page, read 14 October 2026.

This is an illustration, not a quote.

Peter: a coal mine worker who lives in Rockhampton and works an even-time roster at a Bowen Basin mine. He is well past his first year in the job, is buying his first home on his own, and has no other debts.

Base salary

$97,000 a year

Overtime on his payslips

$54,000 a year

People on the loan

1, no dependants

Living expenses

$3,000 a month

Home price

$600,000 (Rockhampton)

Loan amount

$480,000, owner-occupied, 30 years

What moved the figure

• Your two most recent payslips, plus your year-to-date figure, so a lender can see your roster pattern.
• Your latest income statement or tax return, showing your overtime over a full year.
• Your employment contract or the agreement that sets your pay, showing the roster and any roster allowance.
• A letter from your employer, if it confirms a set amount of overtime or your roster.
• If you're casual or on a fixed-term contract, payslips covering your time in the job, and anything showing past renewals.
• For a first home grant or concession, proof that the home is where you live: utility accounts, your mail address and your electoral roll address.