Partner Visa Home Loans: Buying on an 820 or 309 Visa

Partner visa holders are the best-placed temporary residents to buy a home. Buying jointly with your sponsoring Australian citizen or permanent resident partner as joint tenants sits inside the spouse exception — no FIRB approval, and established homes stay available — while many lenders treat the couple’s combined application on its merits.

What you can buy on a partner visa

On a provisional partner visa (subclass 820 or 309) buying alone, the standard temporary-resident rules apply: no established dwellings from 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, FIRB approval required, new property or vacant land only.

But almost nobody on a partner visa buys alone — and that is the point. Purchasing jointly with your sponsoring spouse or de facto partner, who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, as joint tenants, falls within the spouse exception: no FIRB application, no FIRB fee, and any property type including established homes. The provisional partner visa sits squarely inside this exception, which makes it the most buyer-friendly position of any temporary visa.

The mechanics matter — joint tenants (not tenants in common), how lenders treat the two incomes, and how Queensland duty applies to each partner’s share. We cover all of it step by step in our guide to mixed-visa couples buying property, which is the right next read for nearly everyone on this page.

What lenders will offer

Lending on a partner visa is generally the easiest conversation among temporary visas, because the application is usually a joint one with a citizen or permanent resident. Many lenders assess the couple together — two incomes, shared deposit — and some apply near-standard policy when the co-borrower is a citizen or PR.

For the partner-visa applicant, lenders still want the usual evidence: payslips or employment contract, savings history and clean credit. A couple where only the citizen partner earns can still qualify on one income; a couple with two incomes generally borrows more. Expect lending up to around 80–90% of the property value depending on the lender and the strength of the file.

Typical maximum LVR: Around 80–90% of the property value for joint applications with a citizen or permanent resident partner, depending on the lender and file strength.

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

The costs

Buying jointly under the spouse exception removes the FIRB application fee entirely. In Queensland, Additional Foreign Acquirer Duty (AFAD) of 8% can still apply to the temporary-resident partner’s share of the purchase — the FIRB exception and the duty rules are separate regimes, so have your conveyancer confirm how AFAD lands on your ownership split before you sign.

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

The provisional partner visa converts to permanent residence at the grant of the subclass 801 (onshore) or 100 (offshore) visa, typically assessed around two years from the original application. At that grant, any remaining foreign-buyer treatment of your share disappears and the full menu of resident lending — including 5% deposit schemes for eligible buyers — opens up.

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.