Defence force home loans
What sets an ADF member's home loan apart is DHOAS, the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme. It pays part of your interest each month, up to $583, $874 or $1,166 depending on your service, but only on a loan from one of three lenders: Australian Military Bank, Defence Bank or NAB. There's no LMI waiver for ADF members at the lenders Money Brain has checked. So the real question is whether the subsidy is worth more than what the rest of the market would offer you.
What DHOAS pays in 2026–27
The subsidy depends on your service. It's paid on a loan up to the tier's limit, and the monthly amount moves with the median interest rate.
| Tier | Permanent service | Reserve service | Loan the subsidy is paid on | Most it pays a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 years | 4 years | $455,622 | $583 |
| 2 | 4 years | 8 years | $683,433 | $874 |
| 3 | 8 years | 12 years | $911,244 | $1,166 |
The monthly figures are DHOAS's estimates on the September 2026 median interest rate, and they change when that rate does. To qualify, you need to have served on or after 1 July 2008, for at least 2 years in a row in the permanent ADF, or 4 years of effective Reserve service with at least 20 paid days a year.
Is DHOAS worth more than a cheaper loan elsewhere?
Usually, by a long way. At the top of Tier 1, the subsidy is up to $583 a month, about $7,000 a year, on a loan of $455,622. For an open-market loan to save you the same, its rate would need to be about 1.5 percentage points lower on that amount. The same holds at Tiers 2 and 3: the most the subsidy pays works out to about 1.5 points of interest on the tier's loan limit.
Where the open market can win is everything else: a lender that counts more of your allowances, a larger loan than the panel will give you, an investment property, or a line of credit. A DHOAS loan can't fund any of those last three.
The three lenders that make DHOAS loans
Defence has given three lenders the exclusive right to provide DHOAS home loans. No other lender can.
Australian Military Bank.
Defence Bank.
NAB, through its Defence Force Home Loan.
What each offers beyond the subsidy, its rate, how much of your pay it counts and how much it will lend, is where they differ, and where a comparison is worth having.
What a DHOAS loan can and can't do
It can. Buy a home or land, build, renovate or extend your home, or refinance a loan you took out for one of those. You can refinance an existing home loan into DHOAS, but only for what you still owe.
It can't. Fund an investment property, a car, a holiday or anything else, and there are no lines of credit. You also need to hold at least half the property, alone or with your partner, and be on the title.
Buying when you could be posted
DHOAS wants you, or your family, living in the home for the first 12 months of subsidy. A posting doesn't have to break that, but timing matters.
If you move in expecting to stay a year and a posting order arrives, DHOAS can reduce the requirement and keep paying. Tell DVA with a Change of Circumstances form and your posting order before you move, not after, or the subsidy can stop. If you already know you'll be posted within a year of the subsidy starting, it's paid only until you move out. Your family living there can meet the requirement while you're away.
Once you've lived there 12 months, you can rent the home out and keep the subsidy, as long as the DHOAS loan stays current.
How lenders read ADF pay
Allowances that are part of your ongoing pay are where lenders differ most. Some count them in full once they've been paid for a while; others count part of them or cap them against your base salary.
Short-term allowances, the ones paid for a posting, a deployment, living away or separation, are generally not counted, because they stop when the posting does.
Reserve pay is tax-free, which changes how a lender reads it. Which lender counts the most of your actual payslip is often a bigger difference than the rate.
Do ADF members get LMI waived?
No, not at the lenders Money Brain has checked. Professional LMI waivers are written for medical, legal, accounting and some finance and public service roles, and none names uniformed ADF members. DHOAS doesn't change your deposit either: it pays towards your interest, not your deposit.
One thing to know if you work for Defence as a civilian: Bankwest's waiver for senior federal public servants covers staff of federal ministerial departments at APS6 and above, which can include the Department of Defence. It doesn't cover uniformed members.
With less than 20%, the routes are paying LMI or, for a first home, the government's 5% Deposit Scheme at a participating lender.
Defence force home loan questions
The Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme pays part of an eligible ADF member's home loan interest each month. In 2026–27 it pays up to $583, $874 or $1,166 a month, depending on service, on a loan from Australian Military Bank, Defence Bank or NAB. DVA runs it for Defence.
Serving, and thinking about buying?
Tell me your service so far, permanent or Reserve, roughly where and when you'd buy, whether a posting is likely, and what you've saved. I'll tell you what DHOAS would pay you, whether a panel loan or the open market comes out ahead, and what to have in place before you sign.
You'll hear back within the hour in business hours, and by 9am the next business day after hours.
Sources
- 1
DHOAS (administered by DVA for Defence): home page, subsidy tiers for 2026–27 and eligibility. Read 2 October 2026.
- 2
DHOAS: Home Loan Providers. Read 2 October 2026.
- 3
DHOAS: Conditions of receiving subsidy (use of the loan, occupancy, postings, renting out, the property). Read 2 October 2026.
https://
www.dhoas.gov.au/ conditions-of-receiving-subsidy .html - 4
Professional LMI waiver policies of ANZ, CommBank, Westpac Group, NAB, Bankwest and Suncorp, including Bankwest's government group. Checked 1 October 2026.
- 5
Housing Australia: 5% Deposit Scheme guide dated 1 July 2026. Checked 29 September 2026.
- 6
The subsidy comparison: Money Brain's arithmetic on the DHOAS figures above.
Updated 2 October 2026