Mortgages for physicians, dentists, and medical professionals

Nothing about the mortgage itself is different — it is the qualification that changes. Some lenders will look at a licensed medical professional's signed employment or associate agreement, projected practice income, and career stability rather than insisting on two full years of filed tax returns. Others will not. Which lenders currently extend that flexibility, and how far, changes over time and depends on your specialty, your stage, and your file, so we confirm current guidelines before promising anything.

Often yes. This is the most common version of this file: you have a signed contract or a confirmed start date, strong future earnings, and almost no filed income to show for it. The lenders who work with medical professionals will consider the contract and start date, sometimes before the first paycheque lands. What matters most is having the paperwork clean — signed agreement, licensing confirmation, and a realistic budget that survives the first year of practice.

It counts, but it is not automatically fatal. Lenders look at the required monthly payment against your income, not the total balance in isolation, so a large professional student loan on a repayment plan is very different from the same balance in default. Line-of-credit style professional student debt is usually assessed on its minimum payment or an assumed payment set by lender policy. We model this before applying so there are no surprises.

It is treated the way any incorporated business owner's file is treated — which is to say, poorly by lenders who only read personal tax returns and reasonably by lenders who will read corporate financials. What helps: two years of corporate statements where they exist, a clear picture of salary versus dividends, retained earnings, and an accountant who can speak to the structure. Where the corporation is new, we lean harder on the associate agreement and the practice's economics.

Yes, though it is underwritten more conservatively than a salaried hospital position. Lenders generally want to see a track record of locum billings and will average them, and they look for continuity rather than a few strong months. If you are moving from locum work to a permanent position, the signed agreement for the new role is usually the stronger document to lead with.

Not automatically, and anyone promising a special rate on the strength of your profession should be asked to put it in writing. The real advantage is qualification flexibility — getting approved on a file that would not fit a standard box — not a discounted rate sheet. Rate still comes down to the usual factors: term, insured status, property, and how the file is packaged.

Frequently it makes sense, but they are two separate financings and each affects the other. Owner-occupied commercial financing for the clinic space is underwritten on the business and the property; your home mortgage is underwritten on you. Doing both in the wrong order can weaken one of them. We map the sequence with you first — see our commercial mortgage page for how the clinic side works.

Your signed employment, associate, or partnership agreement and start date; licensing confirmation for the province you will practise in; the last two years of tax returns and notices of assessment if they exist; corporate financials if you are incorporated; and a summary of student debt and its required payments. That is enough for a straight read on the first call.