491 Visa Home Loans: Buying a House on a Regional Visa [2026 Guide]

Yes, a 491 visa holder can buy property in Australia, with conditions. Until 30 June 2029 you are limited to new dwellings, off-the-plan purchases or vacant land to build on.

You will need FIRB approval for any purchase in your own name, and lenders will weigh your regional visa conditions when assessing the loan.

Most lenders that accept 491 applicants cap lending at around 80% of the property value (as at July 2026).

This guide covers the purchase rules, the regional condition, the costs in Queensland, and the subclass 191 pathway that removes the foreign-buyer costs entirely.

For the full cross-visa picture, start with our visa holder home loans guide or check your position with the visa buying eligibility tool.

The 491 at a glance

Here is the whole picture in one table. Everything below explains it.

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

Can a 491 visa holder buy a house in Australia?

The short answer is yes, but not any house. Here is what is open, what is closed, and the one exception that changes the whole strategy.

What the foreign buyer ban closes off

The federal government has banned temporary residents from purchasing established dwellings from 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, and 491 holders are within it.

An established dwelling is any home previously sold or occupied. While the ban runs, those homes cannot be bought in your own name, regardless of how long you have lived and worked here.

What you can still buy

• New dwellings. A house, townhouse or apartment never sold or occupied before.
• Off-the-plan purchases. Signed before completion, with a long contract-to-settlement gap to plan around.
• Vacant land to build on. FIRB approval carries development conditions, typically a deadline to complete construction.

Each purchase needs FIRB approval before you sign, or a contract conditional on it. Our FIRB approval guide covers the fees, the 30-day decision window and the conditions.

The 491-specific wrinkle: the regional condition

Your visa requires you to live, work or study in a designated regional area. Lenders know this, and they look at where you are buying against your visa conditions.

Designated regional areas cover most of the country outside Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The list is set by the government and can change, so check your own postcode before you commit.

A purchase in the regional area where you already live and work supports your application. A purchase somewhere outside your visa conditions invites questions from the lender and, potentially, your migration adviser.

Buying with an Australian partner

A joint purchase with an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen spouse or de facto partner, as joint tenants, needs no FIRB application and puts established homes back on the table.

We cover exactly how that works, including the duty consequences of each title option, in our guide to mixed-visa couples buying property.

What lenders will offer a 491 visa holder

In this section we cover borrowing limits, why the 491’s five-year term helps, and the paperwork a 491 file needs.

How much can I borrow?

Most lenders that accept 491 applicants cap lending at around 80% of the property value, meaning a deposit of roughly 20% plus purchase costs. A small number will consider higher ratios for a strong file.

Strong files typically show:

• Stable employment. An ongoing role in your regional area, consistent with your visa conditions.
• Clean credit. No missed repayments or defaults on your Australian file.
• Genuine savings history. A deposit built through regular saving over time.

Work your deposit target backwards from the price with our deposit calculator, and check repayments with the mortgage calculator.

Why the five-year term works in your favour

The 491 runs for five years, which is a longer runway than many temporary visas, and time remaining on the visa is something credit assessors genuinely look at.

A predictable three-year pathway to the subclass 191 also reads well. Lenders treat PR-pathway visas more generously than fixed-term ones with no destination.

Do regional visa holders pay higher rates?

Some lenders apply rate loadings to temporary residents. Others lend at standard rates but restrict how much of the property value they will fund.

Which trade-off suits you depends on your deposit and your 191 timeline. We confirm the current options across the panel before recommending a lender.

What income evidence do lenders want?

On income, lenders want the usual PAYG evidence:

• Recent payslips. Usually the last two or three.
• An employment contract. Showing your role, salary and location.
• Sometimes an employer letter. Confirming tenure and ongoing employment.
• Bank statements. Demonstrating savings conduct and account history.

Overseas income is heavily discounted or ignored by many lenders, so the assessment rests on your Australian earnings.

What if my situation isn’t covered?

Policy for regional visa holders varies more between lenders than almost any other lending niche, and it changes without notice. A declined application also sits on your credit file and makes the next lender warier.

We compare current 491 policy across 30+ banks and lenders before recommending anything. If your employment, location or visa timing is unusual, start with a free assessment.

The costs of buying on a 491 visa

As a temporary resident buying in your own name you pay the FIRB application fee, indicatively around $15,600 for a purchase up to $1 million (as at July 2026). In Queensland you also pay Additional Foreign Acquirer Duty (AFAD) of 8% on the foreign buyer’s share.

Both sit on top of standard transfer duty. FIRB fees are indexed every 1 July, so confirm the current fee at firb.gov.au before you budget.

The visa-status costs at three price points

Indicative only, as at July 2026. AFAD applies to the foreign buyer’s share and other states charge their own surcharges of 7% to 9%. Confirm current amounts at firb.gov.au and qro.qld.gov.au.

Run your own numbers with the foreign buyer duty calculator and the Queensland stamp duty calculator.

What a PR buyer pays for the same house

On a $750,000 new build in Queensland, a permanent resident pays about $19,600 in government charges with the home concession. A 491 holder buying the same house solo pays about $95,200.

That is the gap your subclass 191 grant closes, and it is why the timing section below matters.

Regional prices soften the blow a little, because 8% of a regional price is a smaller number than 8% of a capital-city one. It is still tens of thousands of dollars that a PR buyer would not pay.

Case study: one house, three title options

Tomas holds a 491 visa and works in Toowoomba. His wife Elena is an Australian citizen. They found a new build at $650,000 and asked us to price their options.

Option one: Tomas buys alone. FIRB fee of about $15,600 plus AFAD of $52,000, roughly $67,600 in visa-status costs.

Option two: both on title as joint tenants. The spouse exception removes the FIRB application entirely. AFAD can still apply to Tomas’s 50% share, about $26,000, because the duty rules are a separate regime.

Option three: Elena buys alone. No FIRB, no AFAD, and established homes are also available. The trade-off is that the loan rests on her income and the asset sits in her name only.

They chose option two for the two incomes, with their solicitor confirming the duty position before signing. The deposit was $130,000 at 80% LVR on a $520,000 loan.

Illustrative example, as at July 2026. Figures are rounded, exclude transfer duty and legal costs, and duty on ownership shares depends on your circumstances. Title structuring has legal and tax consequences. Decide with your solicitor and broker together.

The Hunter Galloway process for 491 applications

A 491 purchase has to line up three things at once: your visa conditions, FIRB timing, and lender policy. Here is the order we run them in:

1. Free assessment. We map your visa dates, regional area, income and deposit before anything is lodged.
2. Buying-rights check. What you can buy, whether the spouse exception applies, and what FIRB and AFAD will cost at your price point.
3. Location check. We confirm the purchase sits inside your designated regional area, and refer you to a migration agent if it does not.
4. Lender matching. Current 491 policy compared across 30+ banks and lenders, so the first application is the right one.
5. FIRB and finance in sequence. Contract conditional on FIRB approval, loan approval timed around the 30-day window.
6. Approval to settlement. Valuation, documents and settlement, coordinated with your solicitor.

Read More: how our Brisbane mortgage brokers work.

The PR horizon: subclass 191 after three years

The 491 leads to permanent residence through the subclass 191 visa after three years of living and working in a designated regional area. There is no minimum income requirement, but primary applicants must provide ATO notices of assessment for three income years out of the five years of their eligible visa.

That gives you a reasonably predictable PR date to plan around.

What changes on the day PR is granted

• The FIRB requirement disappears. No application, no fee.
• AFAD disappears. Queensland’s 8% surcharge stops applying to you.
• Established homes come back into reach. The ban stops applying to you.
• Lending opens up. PRs generally borrow on the same terms as citizens, up to 95% LVR with lenders mortgage insurance.
• First home buyer support opens. 5% deposit schemes for eligible buyers, plus the First Home Owners Grant QLD. See our first home buyer loans guide.

Buy now or wait for the 191?

On a $750,000 purchase, the difference between buying before and after PR is roughly $76,000 in government charges. Against a known 191 date, that comparison is unusually concrete.

Waiting is not free either: rent keeps running and prices can move. We build the comparison against your actual dates, deposit and market as a standard part of a free assessment.

Read More: low deposit home loans for what opens up at PR, and LMI waivers if your profession qualifies once you are a permanent resident.

Five mistakes 491 buyers make

The regional files that go wrong usually fail on one of these:

1. Buying outside the designated regional area. It raises questions with the lender and can complicate your 191 pathway. Get migration advice before you commit.
2. Signing an unconditional contract before FIRB approval. Apply first, or make the contract conditional. Contracts signed in breach can be forced to unwind.
3. Budgeting the deposit but not the surcharges. FIRB fees and AFAD come out of savings, not the loan.
4. Applying to the wrong lender first. A decline sits on your credit file, and 491 policy varies widely across the market.
5. Ignoring the 191 date. With a predictable three-year runway, the buy-now-versus-wait maths is concrete. Skipping it can cost tens of thousands.

Next steps and how to apply

Confirm what your 491 lets you buy, and check the purchase sits inside your regional area. Then price FIRB and AFAD against your 191 date, and match the lender to your file.

Call us on 1300 088 065 or book a free assessment online. We will map the purchase rules, the costs and the loan before you sign anything.

Related guides

• Visa holder home loans: the full 2026 guide
• 494 visa home loans: the employer sponsored regional visa with the same 191 pathway
• 482 visa home loans: the employer sponsored city cousin
• 485 visa home loans: where many 491 holders started
• FIRB approval for home buyers
• Mixed-visa couples buying property