Visa Holders & Permanent Residents: Buying Property in Australia [2026 Guide]

Quick answer: who can buy what in Australia right now

Before the detail, here’s the whole landscape in one table. Find your row first — everything below explains it.

As at July 2026. FIRB conditions apply to each approval (for example, vacant land approvals carry development conditions), state surcharges vary outside Queensland, and government policy can change without notice. Check your own eligibility with our visa buying eligibility tool.

The wall: the 2025–2029 foreign buyer ban

From 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, the federal government has banned foreign persons — which, under Australian law, includes temporary residents— from purchasing established dwellings. That last part is the bit that catches people. You might live here, work here, pay tax here and hold a visa with years left on it, but for the purposes of this rule, a 482, 485, 491, student or bridging visa holder is a “foreign person”. The house down the street that’s already been lived in is off the table, full stop, until at least 30 June 2029.

What counts as “established”? Broadly, any dwelling that has previously been sold or occupied as a home. The classic Queenslander, the ex-rental unit, the deceased-estate auction — all established, all out of reach for a temporary resident buying alone during the ban. The ban was legislated as a housing-supply measure: the policy logic is that foreign and temporary-resident demand should flow into building new homes rather than competing for existing ones. Whether you agree with the logic or not, the enforcement is real — the Australian Taxation Office administers the foreign investment framework for residential property, penalties for buying without approval or in breach of the ban are severe, and contracts signed in breach can be forced to unwind. This is not a rule to test.

Two things make the wall less absolute than it sounds. First, the ban applies to established dwellings — it does not touch new builds, off-the-plan apartments or vacant land, which remain open to temporary residents through the normal FIRB approval process. Second, the ban applies to the buyer’s status, and joint purchases with an Australian spouse are treated differently. Both of those are pathways, and we cover each below.

It’s also worth naming who the wall doesn’t apply to at all: Australian citizens, permanent residents, and New Zealand citizens on a Special Category subclass 444 visawho are ordinarily resident in Australia. Those three groups are exempt from the ban, exempt from FIRB, and exempt from Queensland’s foreign buyer duty. If that’s you — including Kiwis who’ve never thought of themselves as needing a “visa home loan” — your main question isn’t whetheryou can buy, it’s which lender treats you best. Our New Zealand citizen home loan guide covers that lane in full.

The pathways that remain

A wall with three gates isn’t really a wall. Here are the three, in the order most people should consider them.

Pathway one: new dwellings, off-the-plan and vacant land — with FIRB approval

Temporary residents and foreign non-residents can still buy property that adds to Australia’s housing stock: a brand-new house or apartment that’s never been sold or occupied, an off-the-plan purchase, or vacant land you commit to building on within FIRB’s development conditions. Each purchase needs approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board before you sign an unconditional contract (or a contract conditional on FIRB approval), and the application fee scales with the property price — budget five figures for a typical purchase, and confirm the current fee schedule at firb.gov.au. Our FIRB approval guide for home buyers walks through the process, the timeframes and the conditions in detail.

The trade-off is cost, not permission. On top of the FIRB fee, Queensland adds Additional Foreign Acquirer Duty (AFAD) of 8% of the dutiable value of the foreign person’s share — a genuinely large number on any realistic purchase price. We put real figures on this in the worked example further down.

Three practical notes from files we’ve run. First, sequence matters: apply for FIRB approval before you commit, or make the contract conditional on it — signing an unconditional contract and hoping is how buyers end up in breach. Second, off-the-plan purchases have a long gap between contract and settlement, and your visa, your income and lender policy can all move in that window, so build buffer into both the finance and the timeline. Third, vacant land approvals come with development conditions — typically a requirement to complete construction within a set period — so the land-and-build route only suits buyers genuinely ready to build, not land-bankers.

Pathway two: buying jointly with an Australian partner — the spouse exception

Here’s the rule nobody tells mixed-visa couples: a temporary resident buying withan Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen spouse or de facto partner, as joint tenants, generally doesn’t need FIRB approval at all — and the established-home ban doesn’t block the purchase. The policy exists precisely because Parliament never intended to stop Australian families buying family homes. It’s not an exemption you apply for so much as a structure you buy within, and getting the structure right (joint tenants, genuine spousal relationship, the right names on the contract) is what makes it work. There’s enough nuance here — ownership splits, duty on the foreign partner’s share, lender policy on mixed-status applicants — that we’ve written a dedicated guide: mixed-visa couples buying property in Australia.

Pathway three: waiting for permanent residency

If PR is within reach — a lodged 186 or 189 application, a partner visa in its final stage — waiting can be the highest-return financial decision available to you. PR isn’t just a milestone, it’s a repricing event: FIRB fees disappear, AFAD disappears, the established-home ban stops applying to you, lenders reopen their high-LVR products, and the 5% deposit schemes open up. The same $750,000 purchase can cost roughly $75,000 less in government charges the day after your grant than the day before. That doesn’t automatically mean waiting is right — property prices move too, and a rising market can eat the saving — but it means the decision deserves an actual calculation, not a shrug.

The calculation has three inputs: the government charges you’d avoid by waiting (FIRB fee plus AFAD on your share), your realistic PR timeline, and what the market you’re buying in is likely to do over that timeline. If PR is six months away and you’d save $75,000 in charges, waiting almost always wins. If PR is three years and two visa renewals away, buying a new build now — with FIRB approval and the surcharge priced in — may still beat paying three more years of rent while prices move. There is no universal answer, but there is always youranswer, and it’s a spreadsheet away. We build that comparison for visa-holder clients as a standard part of a free assessment.

Permanent residents: treated as locals — almost

If you hold permanent residency and you’re ordinarily resident in Australia, the property system treats you as a local almost everywhere it matters. No FIRB approval. No established-dwelling ban. No AFAD in Queensland. Lenders will generally lend to PRs on the same terms as citizens — up to 95% LVR with lenders mortgage insurance, standard rates, standard policy. You can buy any property a citizen can buy. And you’re eligible for the government’s 5% deposit Home Guarantee Scheme, which lets eligible first home buyers purchase with a 5% deposit and no LMI. Our LMI calculator shows what that waiver is worth in dollars — usually five figures.

The “almost” matters, though, and it bites in two places. First, the Home Guarantee Scheme requires every borrower on the loanto be an Australian citizen, permanent resident or NZ 444 holder. A PR buying with a temporary-resident partner is knocked out of the scheme entirely — one ineligible borrower disqualifies the couple, no matter how strong the eligible partner’s file is. Second, lender policy on mixed-status couples varies wildly. As at July 2026, one major bank requires a temporary-resident co-buyer to hold at least a 30% ownership share before it will lend to the couple at all, while others take the opposite view and prefer the temporary resident to hold a minimal share. Lender policies in this space change without notice, which is exactly why a broker who checks current policy across a panel — rather than one bank’s rulebook — earns their keep here.

One more group worth naming: Australian citizens and PRs living overseas. You’re exempt from the ban and from FIRB, but lenders assess foreign income and expat files under their own separate policies. If that’s you, start with our Australian expat home loans guide.

A note on “ordinarily resident”, because the exemptions hang off it: for foreign investment purposes a permanent resident is ordinarily resident when they’ve actually been in Australia for at least 200 days of the preceding twelve months and their continued stay isn’t subject to any time limit. A freshly granted PR who has spent most of the past year offshore may not clear that bar yet — which means FIRB and surcharge questions can still be live even after the grant. If your travel history is complicated, check the definition against your own dates before you assume the exemptions apply.

Temporary visa holders: what lenders will actually offer

Lending policy is the second wall, and it’s a softer one. Banks price two risks on a temporary visa: that you leave the country before the loan is repaid, and that your right to work — and therefore your income — has an expiry date. The result, as at July 2026, looks like this across most of the market:

• Deposit:most lenders cap temporary residents at 80% LVR, meaning a 20% deposit plus costs. A handful will stretch to 90–95% for a strong file — typically a long-dated visa with a clear PR pathway, a professional occupation, clean credit and stable employment.
• Income evidence: expect full documentation — payslips, employment contract showing tenure and visa sponsorship where relevant, and a work history that matches your visa conditions. Overseas income is heavily discounted or ignored by many lenders.
• Pricing: some lenders apply rate loadings to temporary residents; others lend at standard rates but restrict the LVR. Which trade-off suits you depends on your deposit and timeline — this is a comparison exercise, not a single answer.
• Visa runway: most lenders want meaningful time remaining on the visa at application, and treat renewable or PR-pathway visas more generously than fixed-term ones.

None of that makes a temporary visa a dead end — it makes it a matching problem. The lender that’s cautious about a 485 graduate can be comfortable with a sponsored 482 professional, and vice versa. What sinks visa-holder applications isn’t usually the visa itself, it’s applying to the wrong lender first: a declined application sits on your credit file and makes the next lender warier. Getting the lender match right on the first attempt is most of the game.

Policy differs by subclass because the risk differs by subclass. Here’s the typical shape of the market as at July 2026, with a dedicated guide for each visa:

Indicative only, as at July 2026. Lender policies for temporary residents change without notice and every application is assessed case-by-case. We confirm current policy with the lender before you apply.

The costs, side by side: one $750,000 new build, three buyers

The clearest way to see what visa status is worth is to hold the property constant and change only the buyer. Same $750,000 brand-new house in Queensland, bought as a home to live in, three different buyers:

Same house. Roughly a $75,000 difference in government charges, driven entirely by whose name is on the contract. The AFAD and FIRB figures are indicative as at July 2026 — both fee schedules are indexed and change, so confirm current amounts at firb.gov.au and qro.qld.gov.au before you rely on them. To run your own numbers, use our foreign buyer duty calculator and Queensland stamp duty calculator, and check where you stand with the visa buying eligibility tool.

The loan side of the same comparison is just as stark. The PR couple can borrow to 95% LVR with LMI — or with a 5% deposit and no LMI at all under the Home Guarantee Schemeif they’re eligible first home buyers. The 482 holder buying solo is realistically shopping in the 80% LVR part of the market, which means finding a 20% deposit plusroughly $94,000 in government charges before a single dollar goes toward the house. The mixed couple lands in between: the eligible partner’s status opens more lender doors, but whether both names go on the loan — and in what ownership split — is exactly where lender policy diverges most, and where the right structure is worth real money.

The bottom line

Here’s the insight that reframes the whole topic: your visa doesn’t just change your interest rate — it changes what you’re legally allowed to buy until 30 June 2029. Most buyers shop for a lender first and discover the purchase rules second, usually after falling in love with an established house they can’t legally buy. Work the problem in the right order: establish what your status lets you purchase, decide whether a structure or a waiting strategy changes that, and thenfind the lender whose policy fits your visa. That’s the work we do every week for visa holders, permanent residents and mixed-status couples across our panel of lenders. Book a free assessment or call 1300 088 065and we’ll map your pathway — the purchase rules, the costs and the loan — before you sign anything.

Information as at July 2026. Lender and government policies change without notice and are assessed case-by-case. This is general information, not credit or legal advice. Title and duty structuring has legal and tax consequences — we work alongside your solicitor and accountant.