Australians in Europe: What Your Lender Actually Prices Is the Currency, Not the Continent
There is no such thing as a European expat home loan. There are Australian home loans assessed on euros, on kroner, on zloty, on francs and on pounds, and the difference between them is larger than anything the continent has in common. An Australian in Dublin and an Australian in Copenhagen live two hours apart and sit in genuinely different positions with an Australian lender. This page sorts out which position you are in, and points you at the guide written for it.
Can you borrow back home from Europe?
Yes. Australian citizens and permanent residents living anywhere in Europe can buy and refinance Australian residential property. Eligibility is rarely the obstacle. What changes from country to country is the currency your income arrives in, how much of it a lender counts once converted, and what evidence your local system produces. Those three things, not your postcode, decide what you can borrow.
The one European fact that changes your loan
Australian lenders that accept foreign income do three things with it: they discount it, they convert it at their own rate rather than the market rate, and they decide whether they will take that currency at all. Only the third of those is about where you live, and it does not follow national borders the way people assume.
Twenty one of the twenty seven European Union member states use the euro. Six do not. Two of the countries where Australians most commonly work in Europe, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, are not in the European Union at all and use their own currencies. So “I live in Europe” tells a credit assessor almost nothing.
Who is on the euro, and who is not
The European Central Bank puts euro banknotes and coins as legal tender in 21 of the 27 European Union member states. The six EU members outside the euro are the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. Denmark holds a formal opt-out; the rest are expected to adopt the euro once they meet the convergence criteria. Bulgaria is the most recent to join, in 2026.
| Currency position | Countries | What it means for your file |
|---|---|---|
| EU and on the euro | Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain | A single major currency, the most widely accepted position among Australian lenders |
| EU, own currency | Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden | Acceptance is narrower and varies by lender, so the lender choice matters more |
| Outside the EU | United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway and others | Sterling and the franc are heavily traded majors, which is a different position again |
Read that middle row carefully if you are in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest or Bucharest. You are inside the European Union and outside the euro, which is the combination people most often get wrong when they assume Europe means euros.
Which of our guides applies to you
We write these country by country because that is the level at which the answers actually differ. If one of these is you, start there rather than here.
- Ireland, euro: Australians in Dublin and Ireland
- Germany, euro: Australians in Berlin and Germany
- The Netherlands, euro: Australians in the Netherlands
- Spain, euro: Australians in Barcelona, Madrid and Spain, which covers the Beckham regime, the Modelo 720 declaration of an Australian property and the 1992 treaty
- Denmark, krone, EU but not the euro: Australians in Copenhagen and Denmark
- The United Kingdom, pound, outside the EU: Australians in London and the UK
- Switzerland, franc, outside the EU: Australians in Switzerland, which covers the tax at source problem that leaves most Australians there with no Swiss tax return to show a lender
If your country is not on that list yet
Italy, France, Portugal, Sweden, Poland, Norway and the rest are not written up individually, and that is a matter of what people search for rather than what we arrange. The mechanics do not change. Your lender reads the income, applies its own discount, converts at its own rate, and then asks the same questions about your debts, your residency and your deposit that it would ask anyone.
What differs country to country is paperwork, not principle: what your payslip looks like, whether your tax system produces an annual return you can hand over, and where you get documents certified. Those are exactly the things to raise on a first call, because they set the timeline.
Find out which lenders take your currency. Checked by a former banker, free.
Tell us which country you are in and what you are paid in, and we will tell you which Australian lenders currently accept that currency and how much of your income each of them counts, before you settle on a budget.
Find out which lenders take your currencyRather message from Europe than book? WhatsApp Ahmed from wherever you are, whichever currency you are paid in. His own mobile, no call centre, and the first chat is free.
What your EU status does and does not change
An Australian lender is not assessing your right to live in Europe. It is assessing your Australian citizenship or permanent residency, your income, your debts and your deposit. Whether you hold an EU passport, a work permit or a spouse visa matters to your employer and to your host country, and it matters to how long your income is likely to continue, but it is not the thing being priced.
Where it does surface is stability. A lender forming a view on whether your income will persist will look at the length and type of your employment, and a contract with a defined end date reads differently from an open ended one. That is a question about your job, not your passport, and it is worth answering directly in the file rather than leaving an assessor to guess.
How an Australian lender reads a European salary
Deposit and LVR across the European currencies. One major bank’s published broker policy draws the line at the euro and the pound: both sit in its top tier, counted at 80 per cent of gross after a 20 per cent deduction, converted at the XE rate, with an Australian citizen able to borrow to 95 per cent of the property value with lenders mortgage insurance. Kroner, francs, zloty and the other European currencies are unlisted there, taken case by case with at least 30 per cent deducted and without the 95 per cent tier, so a 20 per cent deposit plus costs is the planning number outside the euro area. A permanent resident living overseas stops at 80 per cent whatever the currency.
Three things hold wherever in Europe you are.
- The income is discounted. No lender counts foreign income in full, and the size of the discount differs between lenders far more than it differs between applicants.
- The conversion is theirs, not the market’s. Lenders apply their own rate, often a conservative one, so the figure that lands in the assessment is not the figure you would get from a currency app.
- Acceptance is not universal. Some lenders take a short list of currencies. Which lenders take yours is the single highest impact question on this page, and it is the one we answer on a call rather than in writing, because the settings change without notice and a stale figure is worse than none. At least one major bank owned lender treats some foreign currencies more favourably than the standard approach.
A package that separates base salary from bonus, allowances and any thirteenth month is read more generously than one lump figure, because an assessor can see which parts are contractual and recurring. Get the employment contract in front of your broker, not just the payslip.
The file, and what Europe adds to it
The core file is the same everywhere: identification, income evidence, your existing debts and living costs, and evidence of the deposit and where it came from. Europe adds two frictions.
Language. Payslips, contracts and tax documents in anything other than English generally need translation, and that is a lead time to plan for rather than discover.
Certification. Identity documents usually need certifying, and where you do that depends on the country. Australia maintains embassies and consulates across Europe, and their notarial services pages carry the current locations, availability and fees. Check the page for the country you are in rather than relying on what a forum said last year, and book early, because a certification appointment is the small step that quietly moves a settlement date.
The clock, which is the real inconvenience
Europe spans three time bands and Australian eastern time runs roughly eight to ten hours ahead of central Europe, depending on daylight saving in both hemispheres. In practice an Australian lender’s business day is ending as yours begins.
That is not fatal, but it does mean a question asked at your lunchtime is answered the following day. The way to handle it is to front load: send complete documents rather than partial ones, and expect each round trip to cost a day. Files that stall from Europe usually stall on a missing payslip, not on a credit decision.
FIRB, if you are a citizen or permanent resident
An Australian passport removes the foreign investment question entirely for residential property, wherever in Europe you happen to be living when you buy. The exemption normally extends to Australian permanent residents as well. Someone who is neither is treated as a foreign person, and that is a different process with an approval step in front of it.
Confirm your own position against the current rules at foreigninvestment.gov.au rather than against any summary, including this one.
Buying while you are still in Europe
You do not need to fly home. Inspections can be handled by a buyer’s agent or someone you trust, contracts are reviewed by an Australian conveyancer, and signing is electronic in most states. The whole process runs on video, email and phone.
The step people underestimate is the deposit transfer. Moving money from a European account to an Australian one is ordinary, but banks ask questions about source of funds and those questions take time. Start that conversation with your European bank before you make an offer, not after.
Refinancing a loan you already have
A loan taken out before you left has probably drifted. Banks compete hardest for borrowers they do not have yet, and the rate that looked sharp when you were on an Australian payslip has been quietly overtaken while your file changed shape underneath it.
Our guide to refinancing an Australian mortgage from overseas covers how that runs, and expat home loans by country is the index for every guide we have written.
The people behind Everstone
You are trusting someone with one of the biggest financial decisions you will make, from another time zone. Here is who you will actually be working with.
Ahmed Lotfi
A former major bank lender who now works entirely for you. Ahmed runs the expat files personally: currency, structure, lender selection and the negotiation with the credit desk. English, Arabic and French.
Zappelin Heng
Co-founder with deep lender experience, focused on getting complex and self-employed files assessed on their real strength, not a tick-box, including expats running businesses at home or abroad.
Buying a home in Australia from Europe: one process, three things that change by country
Buying a home in Australia from Europe is one Australian process with three variables set by the country you live in: the currency your salary arrives in and the tier a lender puts it on, the evidence your tax system produces, and the Australian post where identity is certified. Everything else is constant: pre-approval before the search, contract review by an Australian conveyancer, electronic signing in most states, the deposit transfer with its paper trail, and settlement through PEXA. Eastern Australia runs roughly eight to ten hours ahead of central Europe, so an Australian lender is closing as your day begins.
Search it as buying a home in Australia from Europe, buying a house in Australia from Europe, buying property in Australia from the EU or can I buy a house in Australia from Europe: yes for a citizen or permanent resident in any European country, and the country guides linked above carry the three variables for each.
Frequently asked questions
Can an Australian living in Europe get an Australian home loan?
Yes. Australian citizens and permanent residents anywhere in Europe can buy and refinance Australian residential property. Eligibility is rarely the obstacle. What changes is the currency your income arrives in, how much of it a lender counts once converted, and what evidence your local tax and payroll system produces. Those three things decide your borrowing capacity, not the country you live in.
Does it matter whether my country uses the euro?
Yes, more than most people expect. The European Central Bank puts the euro as legal tender in 21 of the 27 European Union member states. The six EU members outside it are the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. Australian lenders accept a limited list of currencies, so being paid in krone, zloty or koruna is a different position from being paid in euros.
I am in the EU but not on the euro. Is that a problem?
Not a problem, but it narrows the field. Fewer Australian lenders accept the Danish krone, Swedish krona, Polish zloty, Czech koruna, Hungarian forint or Romanian leu than accept euros, so which lender you approach matters more than it would in Dublin or Berlin. That is a question worth answering before you set a budget rather than after.
Does my EU passport or visa status affect the loan?
Not directly. An Australian lender assesses your Australian citizenship or permanent residency, your income, your debts and your deposit. Your right to live in Europe matters to your employer and your host country. Where it surfaces is stability: a contract with a defined end date reads differently from an open ended one, because the lender is forming a view on whether the income continues.
Which countries in Europe do you have guides for?
Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Switzerland each have their own guide, because those are the countries Australians most often ask us about. Italy, France, Portugal, Sweden, Poland and Norway do not yet, which reflects search demand rather than whether we arrange those loans. The mechanics are the same; the paperwork differs.
How much does the time difference slow things down?
Australian eastern time runs roughly eight to ten hours ahead of central Europe depending on daylight saving in both hemispheres, so an Australian lender’s day ends as yours begins. Expect each question and answer to cost a day. The fix is to send complete documents rather than partial ones, because files from Europe stall on a missing payslip far more often than on a credit decision.
How do I buy a home in Australia from Europe, step by step?
Start with the three country variables: the currency and its tier, the tax evidence your country produces, and the Australian post that certifies identity where you live. Get a pre-approval on the shaded salary before you search. Book certification early, because the appointment sets the timeline. Search with a buyers agent or family in Australia, have an Australian conveyancer review the contract, sign electronically, transfer the deposit with statements for every account it has passed through, and settle through PEXA. Send complete documents rather than partial ones, because files from Europe stall on a missing payslip far more often than on a credit decision.
Sources
- European Central Bank, “Our money”, euro area membership and adoption dates, read 10 September 2026: ecb.europa.eu
- Australian Government foreign investment rules: foreigninvestment.gov.au
Anywhere in Europe, one call. No cost, no obligation.
Euro, krone, zloty, franc or pound, we will map what you can borrow, which lenders are open to you, and what your local paperwork needs to look like before an assessor sees it.
Book a free European expat call with a former bankerAbout the author. Ahmed Lotfi is co-founder of Everstone Finance and a former banker who now works as a mortgage and finance broker in South Yarra, Melbourne, arranging home, investment and commercial lending for Australians at home and abroad. Everstone Finance operates under the Best Interests Duty as Credit Representative 574314 of LMG Broker Services Pty Ltd, Australian Credit Licence 517921.