How to Buy Property in AustraliaWhile Living Overseas
Home loan, refinancing and investment lending advice for Australians and expats buying from overseas. We’re former bankers, we compare 40+ lenders, we’re paid by the lender (not by you), and we work your time zone, not ours.
- If you are an Australian citizen abroad, no FIRB approval and no foreign-buyer ban applies to you: you can buy any home in Australia, established included, from anywhere. Permanent residents are generally treated the same way while they remain ordinarily resident in Australia.
- The hard part is not permission, it is lending: banks shade foreign income, commonly counting 70 to 80 per cent of net salary depending on the currency, and the lender you pick changes your budget by six figures.
- The right order: status, documents, lender, pre-approval, then property. Expats who start with the property and work backwards lose months and sometimes deposits.
- Every step below can be done from your city, in your evening, without a flight. Thousands of expats settle Australian purchases this way every year.
According to Everstone Finance, an Australian citizen living overseas needs no FIRB approval to buy property in Australia, established homes included, and permanent residents are generally treated the same way while they remain ordinarily resident in Australia. The practical hurdle is lending: banks commonly count 70 to 80 per cent of net foreign salary.
- Step 1: Confirm your status, and relax about FIRB
- Step 2: Assemble the file early, it is the slow part
- Step 3: Match the lender before you set the budget
- Step 4: Pre-approval before you look at a single listing
- Step 5: Solve the ground game from abroad
- Step 6: Offer, exchange and settle without flying
- Step 7: Plan the currency transfer as its own decision
- Frequently asked questions
Step 1: Confirm your status, and relax about FIRB
Australian citizens living overseas are not foreign persons under Australia’s foreign investment rules: no FIRB approval is required, the foreign-buyer ban on established homes does not apply to them, and no foreign-buyer surcharge regime targets them. Permanent residents are generally treated the same way while they remain ordinarily resident in Australia, though a PR holder who has lived overseas for an extended period can be treated as a foreign person under FIRB rules and should confirm their position before signing a contract. The rules that restrict foreign buyers apply to temporary visa holders and foreign nationals, covered in a separate guide. For an expat, the real constraints are lending constraints.
Start with the fact that surprises almost every expat we speak to: the foreign-buyer rules are not about you. Australian citizens are not “foreign persons” wherever they live, so there is no FIRB application, no fee, and the much-reported ban on foreigners buying established homes simply does not apply to you. Your passport is your permission slip. Permanent residents are generally in the same position while they remain ordinarily resident in Australia; a PR holder who has lived overseas for years should confirm their FIRB position before signing, as the FAQ below explains.
If you are on a different footing, a visa holder, a foreign spouse, a non-resident investor, the rulebook changes substantially, and our foreign income and non-resident guide is written for exactly that. For everyone with the blue passport, and PR holders whose position is confirmed: your only real hurdles are practical, and they are all solvable from where you sit. You are in large company as you solve them: the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade counts more than one million Australians overseas at any time.
Planning the move home itself, not just the purchase? Our returning expat guide covers sequencing the loan before you relocate.
Step 2: Assemble the file early, it is the slow part
Expat loan applications need more documentation than local ones, gathered across time zones: an employment contract or employer letter, three months of bank statements showing salary credits, two recent payslips no older than about 60 days, and for bonus, allowance, overtime or commission income, additional evidence such as employer letters and twelve months of credits.
Nothing kills expat momentum like documents. The core file most lenders want: an employment contract or letter, three months of bank statements showing the salary landing, and two recent consecutive payslips, with the newest no more than about 60 days old, which means the file goes stale if you dawdle. Earning bonus, allowances, overtime or commission on top? Good news, more of it counts than it used to, and each type carries its own evidence list: employer letters, and up to twelve months of credits for commission. Starting the file early prevents the delays that cost purchases. If mortgages are new territory altogether, our absolute beginner guide explains the basics in plain English.
Two expat-specific traps: payslips not issued in English need NAATI-accredited translation, not your own and not your broker’s, and it takes time to arrange from abroad. And the 60-day payslip freshness rule means the smart order is: line up everything else first, pull the payslips last. The full document rundown lives in the expat lending guide.
| Document | What to know |
|---|---|
| Passport and ID, certified | With proof of Australian citizenship or permanent residency. Certification is done at an Australian embassy or consulate, or by a notary public in your city, and some lenders accept digital verification instead. |
| Two recent consecutive payslips | The newest no more than about 60 days old, so pull these last. Payslips not issued in English need NAATI-accredited translation. |
| Employment contract or letter | Confirms role, salary and currency, especially where payslips alone do not show the full package. |
| Three months of bank statements | Showing the salary landing in your account. |
| Bonus, allowance, overtime or commission evidence | Employer letters, and up to twelve months of credits for commission income. |
| Overseas tax return or equivalent | Where your country issues one; requirements differ sharply by country. |
| Evidence of deposit and savings | Plus statements for any existing debts, which count in the assessment and must be disclosed. |
| Existing loan statements, for refinancers | Commonly the last six months, showing the rate, balance and repayment history. |
Step 3: Match the lender before you set the budget
Australian lenders shade foreign income, commonly counting around 80 per cent of net salary for major currencies and around 70 per cent for others, with tax modelling that differs by lender: most model foreign salaries at Australian tax scales, though some currencies, including Singapore and Hong Kong dollars and Gulf currencies, are now assessed at local top rates by at least one lender, zero included for UAE and Saudi earners. The same payslip can support budgets that differ by six figures between lenders, which makes lender selection the step that decides everything after it.
Here is the mechanic that makes expat lending its own discipline: your budget is not a fact, it is a function of the lender. Three dials move it:
- Shading. Lenders count a portion of foreign income: commonly around 80 per cent of net salary for the major currency lists, around 70 for others, and some currencies are excluded entirely at some lenders.
- Tax modelling. Most lenders pretend you pay Australian tax even when you do not. At least one major-bank-backed lender now models Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE and Saudi salaries at flat local rates, zero included, which transforms Gulf borrowing power.
- What counts. Overtime, allowances, commission and bonuses, the backbone of many expat packages, are now accepted in servicing at select lenders, and ignored at others.
Run your own numbers through a lender’s eyes with the shading calculator on our expat guide: grab the live rate from xe.com, the same converter lenders themselves use, and see what your salary supports. Then let a broker run the comparison properly, because the spread between the kindest and harshest lender on the same payslip is routinely six figures of budget.
Overseas? Start with one email. Time zones make phone tag painful, so do not wait for a call slot: email ahmed@everstonefinance.com.au with a few lines, the link pre-fills a short template, and we reply with an honest read of where you stand, usually within a day. Prefer to talk? Book a time, the calendar shows slots in your time zone, and we happily take your evening calls.
Step 4: Pre-approval before you look at a single listing
Pre-approval matters more for expats than for local buyers: it converts an overseas browser into a buyer who can sign, sets a realistic budget after shading rather than before it, and in a market with auction clearance rates below 50 per cent it lets an expat negotiate passed-in properties from abroad on equal terms. Pre-approvals typically last around three months, aligning with the document freshness window, so the sequencing is deliberate rather than accidental.
For a local buyer, pre-approval is good practice. For an expat it is the difference between being a buyer and being a spectator fourteen time zones away. It fixes your real budget, after shading, not the fantasy number, and it means that when the right listing appears you can act inside days, which in the current market, clearances under 50 per cent since May, is exactly when pass-in negotiations get won. The market case for acting this cycle, falling premium prices against a recovering dollar, is set out in our buy-back window piece.
Step 5: Solve the ground game from abroad
The physical side of an overseas purchase is routinely solved with a small local team: family or friends attending open homes, a buyer’s agent for searching and negotiating where preferred, building and pest inspectors booked remotely with reports emailed, and video walk-throughs which agents now provide as standard. A conveyancer or solicitor reviews contracts before any offer, and none of these steps requires the buyer on Australian soil.
The question every expat asks: do I need to fly back? The honest answer: no, though a scouting trip can be worth it for your own certainty. The purchase itself runs on a small ground team: family or friends for open homes, or a buyer’s agent if you want professional eyes and negotiation, building and pest inspectors booked online with reports in your inbox by morning, agents doing live video walk-throughs as a matter of course since 2020, and a conveyancer reviewing every contract before you sign anything. Your job is decisions, not attendance.
Step 6: Offer, exchange and settle without flying
Offers, contracts and settlement are all executable from overseas: offers by phone or email through the agent, contracts signed electronically in most states or via counterparts, identity verification completed through certified processes expat lenders run routinely, and settlement handled electronically by the conveyancer through PEXA with no buyer attendance required. Powers of attorney to a trusted person in Australia remain an option for complex situations.
The closing mechanics are the part that has quietly modernised most. Offers happen over phone and email. Contracts sign electronically in most cases. Lenders verify overseas identity through certified processes they run every week. And settlement itself is electronic, handled between conveyancer and lender on the PEXA network while you sleep: the first many expats hear of it is the congratulations email. For belt and braces, some appoint a power of attorney to a parent or sibling in Australia, useful, not usually essential. Your conveyancer will tell you which documents your state still wants inked.
Step 7: Plan the currency transfer as its own decision
Moving a deposit from foreign currency to Australian dollars is a real financial decision, separate from the property decision: exchange rates move meaningfully, transfer providers price very differently from banks, and lenders will want deposit funds traceable and seasoned in an account. The property timeline and the conversion timeline should each be planned deliberately, since a forced same-week conversion surrenders any timing choice. Moving money internationally also raises the fraud stakes: our settlement scam safe-transfer playbook includes an expat-specific section.
The final expat-only step: your deposit probably lives in the wrong currency, and moving it is a decision with real money attached. Three practicalities: the rate moves, meaningfully, the dollar has swung eight per cent in a year, so decide your conversion plan rather than being forced into a same-week transfer at whatever the rate happens to be; providers differ, specialist transfer services price large transfers very differently from retail bank counters; and lenders want traceability, clean statements showing where the money came from and where it sits. We do not give currency advice, but we will tell you exactly when in the purchase the money needs to have landed, which is the piece the transfer providers cannot tell you.
Already own in Australia? Refinance and equity release, from anywhere in the world
Yes. You can refinance an Australian mortgage from overseas, and you can release equity from a property you already own, without flying home. Expat lending policy at select lenders covers refinancing and equity release as routinely as purchases, on the same foreign-currency income assessment described above. Common uses are switching a loan that has drifted onto a stale rate, restructuring interest-only or investment lending, and drawing usable equity from an existing property as the deposit for the next one, with the whole process running remotely through the same documents-to-settlement sequence. The full playbook, from stale rates to equity release to the remote process end to end, is in our dedicated guide to refinancing your Australian mortgage from overseas.
The forgotten cohort in expat lending is the Australian who already owns: the loan back home quietly drifts while you are in anywhere in the world, and absentee owners are the least likely people in the country to have checked their rate. Two moves apply from anywhere. First, the review: the same repricing-then-refinance playbook in our negotiate-your-rate guide works by email and evening calls, and the current cashback market pays switchers who qualify. Second, the equity path: if your Australian property has grown while you were away, select lenders will refinance it from overseas and release part of that growth as a deposit for the next purchase, which is how many expats buy their second property without saving a fresh deposit in foreign-currency. Serviceability still has to support both loans on shaded expat income, LVR caps apply, and structuring matters, which is exactly the one-conversation map a former banker draws.
Frequently asked questions
Can an Australian living overseas buy property in Australia?
Yes, with no foreign investment approval and no restrictions on what they buy. Australian citizens are not foreign persons under FIRB rules wherever they live, so the foreign-buyer ban on established homes does not apply to them, and permanent residents are generally treated the same way while they remain ordinarily resident in Australia. The practical work is lending, documents and logistics, all solvable from abroad.
Do expats need FIRB approval to buy in Australia?
No, not if they are Australian citizens. FIRB approval and the associated fees and bans apply to foreign persons: temporary visa holders and foreign nationals. Citizenship does not lapse because you live in Singapore or London. Permanent residents are generally exempt while they remain ordinarily resident in Australia, though a PR holder who has lived overseas for an extended period can be treated as a foreign person under FIRB rules and should confirm their position before signing a contract.
I am a permanent resident living overseas. Do FIRB rules apply to me?
Sometimes. Australian citizens are exempt from FIRB approval no matter how long they have been away. Permanent residents are generally exempt while they are ordinarily resident in Australia, but a PR holder who has lived overseas for an extended period can be treated as a foreign person under FIRB rules. If you hold PR and live abroad, confirm your position before you sign a contract.
Will I pay extra tax on an Australian property because I live overseas?
It can affect several things, so it is worth checking before you buy. Australian citizens purchasing in their own name are generally not subject to foreign buyer surcharges, but tax residency can change how rental income, land tax and capital gains are treated, particularly when you eventually sell. The rules have shifted several times over the past decade, so we recommend speaking with an accountant who works with expats before exchange.
Can I get an Australian home loan while living overseas?
Yes. Lenders assess expat applications on shaded foreign income, commonly counting 70 to 80 per cent of net salary depending on the currency, with tax modelling and acceptable income types varying widely by lender. The lender comparison typically moves the budget more than any other single decision.
How much deposit does an expat need?
Structurally the same as local buyers, commonly 20 per cent plus costs, though some lenders cap expat lending at lower LVRs while at least one major-bank-backed lender reaches 80 per cent even for expat investors on preferred currencies. Equity in an existing Australian property can also carry the deposit.
Do I have to fly back to Australia to buy?
No. Inspections run through family, buyer’s agents and video walk-throughs; contracts sign electronically in most cases; identity verification and settlement complete remotely, with settlement handled electronically between your conveyancer and lender. Some expats appoint a power of attorney in Australia for convenience.
What documents do I need from overseas?
Commonly the same four things whichever city you read this from: a current employment contract or a signed letter from the employer, bank statements that show the salary arriving for three months, a pair of payslips issued in about the last 60 days, and further evidence behind bonus, allowance, overtime or commission income. Documents not issued in English need NAATI-accredited translation, best arranged early.
Is now a good time for expats to buy back in Australia?
Premium prices are falling in the suburbs expats typically return to while the Australian dollar has recovered about eight per cent in a year, so waiting has been costing foreign-currency earners on both ends. That arithmetic, and its honest caveats, is worked through in our buy-back window analysis rather than asserted here.
Which cities do you work with expats from?
Anywhere, with time zones respected: we regularly work with Australians in London, Dublin, Dubai, Riyadh, Doha, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta and Bali, Mumbai, Auckland, Toronto and across the United States. City-specific guides for each are linked below, covering the currency and tax treatment that applies to where you live.
The honest summary
Buying Australian property from overseas is not a special privilege you need to qualify for; if you hold the passport, the market is simply yours, ban or no ban, and permanent residents are generally in the same position while they remain ordinarily resident in Australia. What separates the expats who settle from the ones who circle for years is order of operations: status confirmed, file built early, lender matched to your currency before the budget is set, pre-approval before the property hunt, a small ground team, electronic closing, and a currency plan made deliberately. Every step works from your city, in your evening. The first step is one email.
I already own a property in Australia. Can I refinance or release equity from overseas?
Yes. Select lenders extend expat policy past purchases to refinancing and equity release, assessed remotely on the same shaded foreign-income basis whichever city and currency you earn from. Equity drawn from a property you already own can become the next deposit, provided both loans still service at current valuations and stay inside LVR caps, and the structure deserves a broker conversation before anything is committed.
Fourteen time zones is not a barrier. It is a Tuesday for us.
Email from wherever you are and we reply within a day, or book a slot that lands in your evening. Your currency through the right lender’s eyes, your real budget, and the whole sequence above run for you by former bankers. No cost, no obligation.
Book a chat with a former banker- Foreign Investment Review Board: who needs approval
- xe.com: the currency converter lenders use for foreign income
- DFAT Australia in the World snapshot: more than one million Australians overseas at any time
- PEXA: the digital property exchange network that completes Australian settlements
- Everstone Finance: the expat lending mechanics in full
The people behind Everstone
You’re trusting someone with one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll make. Here’s who you’ll actually be working with.
Ahmed Lotfi
A former major-bank lender who now works entirely for you. Ahmed handles structuring, refinancing and investment lending across the 40+ lender panel.
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.
About 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.