Offshore Mortgage Desk Forum

Yes. However, if you are not a permanent resident of Australia, and want to buy a home there, you must get prior foreign investment approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

You do not need prior approval if you are: (a) an Australian citizen with a foreign spouse and want to buy residential real estate as joint tenants; (b) an Australian citizen resident abroad; (c) a foreign national who holds a permanent resident visa or a ‘special category visa’, for example, a New Zealand citizen.

The reason for this is because the Australian Government believes that foreign investment in the housing sector should increase the supply of homes and should not be speculative in nature. So the policy is designed to channel foreign investment into increasing the supply of new housing. You cannot normally get approval to buy houses, flats or units that have been occupied because of the reason mentioned above.

The exceptions to this rule are: (a) foreign nationals temporarily resident in Australia for more than 12 months, who are buying a home there; (b) foreign companies buying a home for their senior executives who will be living in Australia for more than 12 months.

You can normally get approval to buy vacant land as long as you start continuous construction within 12 months. You can also get approval to buy existing residences for redevelopment as long as this will increase the supply of housing. As well, the house must remain unoccupied during redevelopment.

You will get approval to buy units, townhouses and house/land packages in a new development, as long as the dwelling has never been occupied or sold and as long as no more than 50% of the dwellings in any one development are sold to foreign investors.