485 Visa Home Loans: Borrowing on a Temporary Graduate Visa

A 485 visa holder can get a home loan, but the short visa runway is the hurdle. Lenders want to see time remaining on your visa, and 485 holders are temporary residents — so the established-dwelling ban, FIRB approval and foreign buyer duty all apply until you reach permanent residence.

What you can buy on a 485 visa

First, the definitional question: is a 485 holder a temporary resident? Yes — and that answer does a lot of work. It means the federal ban on purchasing established dwellings applies to you from 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, it means FIRB approval is required before you buy in your own name, and in Queensland it means Additional Foreign Acquirer Duty applies. What remains available is new dwellings, off-the-plan property and vacant land you commit to building on.

The exception worth knowing: buying jointly, as joint tenants, with a spouse or de facto partner who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen needs no FIRB approval and reopens established homes. Our guide to mixed-visa couples buying property covers how that works in practice.

What lenders will offer

The 485’s defining lending problem is the runway. Depending on your stream and qualification the visa might run two to four years, and by the time you have saved a deposit there may be much less than that left. Lenders assessing temporary residents look hard at remaining visa duration — a loan application with six months of visa left is a very different proposition from one with three years.

Where lenders will consider a 485 applicant, expect conservative lending ratios — commonly up to around 80% of the property value, case-by-case — and standard income evidence: payslips, an employment contract, and a credit file that shows you have managed money well since graduating. A documented pathway to permanent residence strengthens the file.

Typical maximum LVR: Commonly up to around 80% of the property value where a lender accepts 485 applicants at all — remaining visa duration is the deciding factor.

As at July 2026. Lender policies change without notice and every application is assessed case-by-case.

The costs

As a temporary resident buying in your own name you pay the FIRB application fee — indicatively around $15,100 for a purchase up to $1 million (confirm the current fee at firb.gov.au) — plus, in Queensland, Additional Foreign Acquirer Duty (AFAD) of 8% on the foreign buyer’s share. On a graduate salary those sums loom especially large, which is why many 485 holders run the numbers and choose to wait.

Run your own numbers with the foreign buyer duty calculator, and see our guide to FIRB approval for home buyers for the application process itself.

The PR horizon

For most 485 holders the PR horizon runs through the skilled points-tested pathways — commonly the subclass 189, 190 or 491 visas — with timing that depends on your occupation, points score and state nomination. The 485 is explicitly designed as a bridge to that outcome, which makes the buy-now-versus-wait question sharper here than on almost any other visa.

Permanent residence changes everything at once: the FIRB requirement disappears, AFAD disappears, established homes come back into reach, and 5% deposit schemes open up to eligible buyers.