Buying your first investment property on FIFO or DIDO income
Yes, and a strong FIFO or DIDO income suits it well. You can buy with a cash deposit or your home equity, and the big choice is a high-yield mining town or long-term growth in the city. Here is what you can borrow, what a first investment property costs to hold, and how we set it up.
A lot of FIFO and DIDO workers reach the same point. The home loan is under control, the income is strong, and the obvious next question is what to do with it. For plenty of them the answer is a first investment property. You buy somewhere that earns rent. The tenant and the tax system help carry it, and you build while the money is good. The income suits it well. The trick is buying the right one, in the right place, set up the right way. Here is how a first investment property works on FIFO or DIDO income, what you can borrow, and the one choice that matters most.
Can FIFO and DIDO workers buy an investment property?
Short answer: yes, and the strong, steady income makes it one of the more straightforward files we see. You can buy with a cash deposit or by tapping the equity in your home. Lenders will want to read your roster and allowances properly, but a FIFO or DIDO income already carrying one mortgage can usually carry a second.
The income is the engine. A good wage, low living costs on swing, an existing home with some equity. Those are exactly what a first investment property needs.
You do not have to have saved a full deposit in cash, either. Many first investments are funded with the equity already sitting in your own home. We walk through it in using your home equity to buy an investment property.
How much can you borrow for an investment property on FIFO or DIDO income?
Short answer: often more than you expect, because the rent counts too. Lenders add most of the expected rental income to your wage when they work out serviceability, then weigh it against your existing commitments. How your FIFO or DIDO pay is read, allowances included, moves the number a lot, which is where getting the lender match right pays off.
Two incomes do the work on an investment loan: your wage and the rent the property is expected to earn. Lenders count most of that rent, not all of it, and assess your repayments at a buffer above the real rate. Clear, well-documented income and tidy existing debts are what open the number up.
How your pay is assessed matters as much here as on your first home. We cover it in how FIFO income is assessed and getting a loan on a 2 and 1 roster. Clearing any scattered debts first helps too, since it leaves more room to service the new loan.
Should your first investment property be in a mining town or the city?
Short answer: it depends what you want the property to do. Mining towns like Karratha and Port Hedland run some of the highest rental yields in the country, so the rent can cover most or all of the loan. City property in Perth usually costs you something each week but leans on long-term growth. FIFO and DIDO workers are better placed than most to weigh this up, because you know these towns.
Here is the trade-off in round numbers. Same borrower, two very different properties.
A first investment property: mining town or Perth (indicative)
| Mining town (e.g. Karratha) | Perth metro | |
|---|---|---|
| Indicative price | around $830,000 | around $940,000 |
| Weekly rent | around $1,200 | around $750 |
| Gross rental yield | about 7.5% | about 4.2% |
| Weekly interest, 80% loan at about 6.5% interest only | $830 | $940 |
| Weekly position before other costs | about +$370 | about −$190 |
The mining-town figure is genuinely strong, and it is why so many resources workers buy where they work. The honest flip side is concentration risk: a single-industry town can see rents and values move fast, and vacancies bite harder when one employer drives the place. Perth asks you to chip in each week, but spreads that risk and leans on long-run growth. If buying where you want to live is not on the cards yet, rentvesting is another route some take.
A mining town can pay you to hold it. A capital city asks you to back its growth. Knowing the towns is the FIFO and DIDO worker’s edge.
What does a first investment property actually cost to hold?
Short answer: the rent does most of the lifting, and you cover the gap plus the running costs: rates, insurance, management and upkeep. If the gap is a loss, that loss is generally deductible against your income, which softens it. If the rent more than covers the loan, the property is positively geared and adds to your income. Your accountant sets the tax side.
Beyond the loan there are holding costs: council rates, landlord insurance, property management if you use it, and maintenance. Build those in, not just the repayment, so the weekly figure is honest.
Whether the property runs at a loss or a gain decides the tax treatment. A negatively geared property, common in the city, runs at a cash loss that is generally deductible, and depreciation on a newer build can add to the claim. A positively geared one, common up north, adds to your taxable income. The ATO sets out what you must declare and what you can claim in its rental income and deductions guidance. The detail is one for your accountant. Moneysmart’s property investment rundown is a solid plain-English start on the risks.
What do lenders look for when you buy an investment property?
Short answer: your income and the deal, together. They read your FIFO or DIDO wage and the expected rent for serviceability. Your deposit or equity sets the loan-to-value position, and your existing debts show what is left over. Investment policy and how rental income is treated vary widely from one lender to the next.
The serviceability read is the big one: wage plus most of the rent, assessed at a buffer, against your commitments. Your deposit, or the equity you release from home, sets the loan-to-value position and whether lenders mortgage insurance comes into it.
Where lenders differ most is in the detail: how much of the rent they count, how they treat your allowances, and their appetite for the location. A mining town is a different conversation from a Perth suburb. We line your income and the property up against our 60+ lender panel and place it with the one that reads both best.
How do you buy your first investment property from here?
Short answer: start with what you are trying to build, cash flow or growth, and we work back from there. We read your FIFO or DIDO income and work out what you can borrow. We decide cash or equity, match the lender to the property and location, and manage it to settlement. One conversation to begin.
- Tell us the goal. Cash flow now, long-term growth, or a bit of both. It changes where and what you buy.
- We read your income the way lenders do. Roster and allowances included, so you know your real borrowing power.
- We work out the deposit. Cash, equity from your home, or a mix, and what each does to the loan.
- We match the lender to the property. The right lender for the location and the rent, across our 60+ panel.
- We handle the rest. Managed through to settlement, with the structure set up to suit the goal.
The bottom line
A first investment property is one of the best uses of a strong FIFO or DIDO income. But the right one depends entirely on what you want it to do. Cash flow from a mining town, growth from the city, or a balance of both. Get the goal clear and the structure right, and the income does the rest. It is worth running the numbers properly before you commit, and it sets up your next investment property down the track.
From the broker’s desk: FIFO and DIDO workers have a real edge here that most investors do not. You know the mining towns, you know which ones are steady and which run hot, and you are on the income to make a first investment property work. The ones who do best get two things right early. They are honest about whether they want cash flow or growth, and they get the lender and the structure matched to that before they buy, not after. Tell us what you are trying to build. We will run the numbers on a couple of options, show you what each one really does week to week, and set it up properly. WA based, working with FIFO and DIDO workers across the state and nationally, all remote around your swing.
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Start with a chatThis guide is general information for the Australian market, not advice about your situation. Lender credit policy changes, and what applies to you depends on your circumstances. Pilbara Finance is a credit representative (478535) of Mortgage Specialists Pty Ltd, Australian Credit Licence 387025.