Foreign Income and Non-Resident Home Loans in Australia (2026): Visa Holders, Expats and Foreign Buyers

Foreign Income and Non-Resident Home Loans in Australia (2026): Visa Holders, Expats and Foreign Buyers

Policy update, August 2026: visa subclasses, LVR ceilings and mixed couples +

Update, August 2026, from a current major-bank-backed policy sheet: subclass 188, 457, medium-term 482 and main-applicant 491 holders can be considered as sole borrowers at up to 70 per cent LVR for owner-occupied purchases, while co-borrowing with an Australian citizen or permanent resident lifts the ceiling to the standard 80 per cent. Two details worth knowing: lenders mortgage insurance is generally unavailable where any borrower is a temporary visa holder, capping those applications at 80 per cent, and the citizen or permanent resident partner does not need to be the higher earner, a myth that stops couples applying who would qualify. Australian citizens and PRs abroad have their own, far simpler path: our step-by-step expat buying guide walks it.

The same August 2026 policy treats a partner co-borrowing with an Australian citizen or permanent resident as acceptable regardless of visa status, even while living overseas, and a partner co-borrowing with a New Zealand citizen as acceptable while both live and work in Australia. Where a permanent resident borrows with a temporary or overseas resident, FIRB approval enters the picture, which is exactly the kind of sequencing detail worth confirming before contracts, not after.

Almost everything written about foreign income and Australian property makes one lazy assumption: that an Australian engineer earning dirhams in Dubai, a nurse in Melbourne on a skilled visa, and an investor in Singapore who has never set foot here are the same borrower. They are not. They face three different sets of rules, from three different rulebooks, and since 1 April 2025 the differences have become dramatic: foreign persons, including temporary residents living and working in Australia, are banned from buying established dwellings, while Australian citizens abroad are untouched by the ban entirely.

Sort out which rulebook applies to you and the rest becomes navigable; mix them up and you can waste months chasing a purchase the law does not currently allow, or, just as sadly, sit on the sidelines for years not realising you were allowed to buy all along. This guide to foreign income and non-resident home loans in Australia is the triage: which of the three borrowers you are, what each can buy in 2026, and how lenders read income earned in another currency, written by former bankers who arrange cross-border lending.

Timing the move? Our piece on the expat buy-back window runs the current price and currency maths. And once the rulebook question is settled, our hub on buying an Australian property from abroad takes over, covering the purchase itself from contract to settlement.

Australian citizens overseas can go further with which Australian banks lend to expats in 2026 and our Australian expat mortgage broker page.

Home loans by visa subclass: 482, 485, 491, 494, partner, student and bridging visas

Every temporary visa holder sits inside the same two rulebooks. The foreign investment framework decides what you can buy, and it treats every temporary resident the same way. Each lender’s credit policy decides whether it will lend and how much, and that is where the subclass, the time left on the visa and the path to permanent residency start to matter.

The purchase rules, for every subclass. Checked against foreigninvestment.gov.au and the ATO on 11 September 2026: no established dwellings from 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029 (the ban was originally due to end on 31 March 2027 and has been extended); new dwellings and vacant land to build on are open with approval; the 2026-27 application fee is $15,600 for a property of $1 million or less and $31,300 up to $2 million; approval or an exemption certificate has to be in hand before you sign an unconditional contract; a developer’s exemption certificate can cover a new apartment so that you do not apply yourself; and the ATO has 30 days to decide once the fee is paid.

What a temporary resident pays on top of stamp duty, by state. Each state runs its own foreign purchaser surcharge with its own definition of a foreign person, and the definitions do not copy the federal one. Rates checked on the revenue office websites on 11 September 2026: New South Wales 9 per cent surcharge purchaser duty, with an exemption for permanent residents and New Zealand special category visa holders who were in Australia for at least 200 days in the preceding 12 months or who live in the property for a continuous 200 days within 12 months of the contract; Victoria 8 per cent foreign purchaser additional duty; Queensland 8 per cent additional foreign acquirer duty for liabilities arising from 1 July 2024; Western Australia 7 per cent foreign buyers duty; South Australia 7 per cent foreign ownership surcharge; Tasmania 8 per cent foreign investor duty surcharge on residential property for agreements from 1 April 2020; the Australian Capital Territory has no duty surcharge but charges foreign owners a land tax surcharge of 0.75 per cent of the average unimproved value each year. Several states also add a surcharge to annual land tax, so an investor on a temporary visa should price both before exchange, with a conveyancer confirming the state test.

The practical order for a visa holder is the reverse of what most people do: confirm the lender first, then the foreign investment approval or the developer’s exemption certificate, and only then the contract. Off-the-plan contracts signed before the lending is checked are where visa holder files go wrong.

What is a non-resident home loan in Australia?

Non-resident home loan requirements at a glance (checked 11 September 2026)

• Deposit and LVR. The two non-bank lenders that publish dedicated non-resident products cap lending at 75 to 80 per cent of the property value: Brighten (Evergreen and Platinum, loans from $150,000 to $15 million) at 80 per cent, and La Trobe Financial (Non-resident Loan, written for international borrowers with foreign investment approval) at 75 per cent, on loans up to $5 million. Plan for a 20 to 25 per cent deposit plus purchase costs. A major-bank-backed policy sheet from August 2026 sets sole temporary visa holders at 70 per cent for owner-occupied purchases, rising to 80 per cent when co-borrowing with a citizen or permanent resident.
• Interest rates. Advertised variable rates on those products start from 7.33 per cent p.a. (Brighten, 7.86 per cent comparison rate) and 8.14 per cent p.a. (La Trobe Financial Non-resident Loan, 8.59 per cent comparison rate), above the rates written for Australian residents, and La Trobe charges a 1.50 per cent application fee on that loan. La Trobe’s lower 7.49 per cent rate (7.93 per cent comparison rate) belongs to its separate Expatriate Loan for Australian citizens living or working abroad. Rates change without notice; these are the lenders’ published figures, rechecked on 14 September 2026.
• Income. Foreign income is converted to Australian dollars and shaded, typically counted at 80 per cent of gross income for widely traded currencies and 70 per cent for others, and both published products require fully verified income.
• FIRB and the ban. Foreign persons, including temporary residents, need Foreign Investment Review Board approval and cannot buy established dwellings from 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, with limited exceptions; new dwellings, off-the-plan property and vacant land remain open with approval and fees. Australian citizens are exempt wherever they live.
• Lenders mortgage insurance. Generally unavailable where any borrower is a temporary visa holder, which is why the 80 per cent ceiling is hard rather than soft.

Australian citizens living overseas are usually assessed under expat policy rather than non-resident policy, a wider and cheaper lender set covered in our Australian expat home loans and expat lending guide. For the purchase itself, see buying property in Australia from overseas.

Citizen abroad, visa holder or foreign buyer: which rules apply?

Every question in this area, what you can buy, what it costs, which lenders will look at you, resolves differently depending on which of three groups you fall into. So before anything else, find your row.

General information only, not legal, migration or credit advice. The foreign investment framework, its exceptions and fees are set by the Australian Government and change; check foreigninvestment.gov.au and take advice on your situation.

Two things about that table surprise almost everyone. The first is the top row: the ban has nothing to do with Australian citizens overseas. An expat in London or Riyadh buys with exactly the same property rights as their sibling in Ballarat, and if that is you, your challenges are lending ones, currency and income shading, not legal ones, and our dedicated guide to Australian expat home loans walks through every one of them, worked example included.

The second surprise is the third row: the ban does capture temporary residents who live, work and pay tax here. Before April 2025, a skilled visa holder could buy one established home to live in with approval. That door is closed while the ban runs, which is why the next section exists.

In short: find your row first: citizens abroad face no ban and only lending questions, temporary residents face the established-dwelling ban until at least 30 June 2029, and foreign non-residents face the narrowest path of all.

Can temporary visa holders buy a home in Australia in 2026?

This is the change that rewrote the plans of a lot of people who are, in every practical sense, locals. If you are here on a skilled work visa, a student visa or a partner visa, you are a temporary resident, and under the Australian Government’s ban on foreign purchases of established dwellings, in force from 1 April 2025, you currently cannot buy an existing house or apartment, even to live in. The government has since extended the ban to 30 June 2029, so this is not a wrinkle that irons itself out next quarter.

What remains genuinely open:

• New dwellings. Apartments and houses that have not been previously sold or occupied as a dwelling can still be bought by temporary residents with foreign investment approval and the associated fees.
• Vacant land to build on. Approval is generally conditional on completing construction within a set period.
• Waiting for permanent residency. The strategic path many choose: PR removes the foreign person restrictions, and the deposit keeps growing in the meantime.
• Buying with an Australian spouse. Covered below, because it is the most common real-world situation of all.

On the lending side, visa holders are assessable borrowers, and appetite differs by lender: the visa subclass, time remaining on it, your occupation and whether a permanent residency pathway is visible all shape which lenders will lend and on what terms. None of that is published anywhere useful, which makes checking policy across lenders, before committing to an off-the-plan contract, the single most valuable step a visa holder can take.

And a caution born of experience: FIRB and visa questions are legal and migration matters, so alongside the lending work, have a solicitor confirm your purchase is compliant. We arrange the finance; we do not give migration or legal advice, and you should be wary of anyone in lending who does.

How do lenders read income earned in another currency?

Whichever row of the table you sit in, if the income behind the application is earned outside Australia, expect it to be read through two filters. The first is conversion and shading: the income is translated to Australian dollars, then discounted to buffer exchange rate movement, and the size of that discount is a lender policy setting, not a law of nature. It differs between lenders, and it differs by currency, with the major, stable currencies faring best.

As a starting point, lenders typically count 80 per cent of gross income for widely traded currencies and 70 per cent for others, but the exact number depends on the lender, the currency and the year, and it is precisely the sort of detail we check against current policy before an application goes anywhere.

The second filter is evidence. Foreign payslips, employment contracts in other languages, tax statements from other systems and offshore bank accounts all get more scrutiny than their Australian equivalents, and lenders differ in what they will accept and how they verify it. A cleanly documented file, employment letter, payslips, tax records and bank statements that reconcile, moves a cross-border application from difficult to routine.

Tax residency is the third rail running under all of it: whether you are an Australian tax resident changes how your income is assessed and taxed, and it is a genuinely technical question that does not always match your visa status or your address. The ATO’s guidance on tax residency is the starting point, and a cross-border accountant is the right professional to settle it. For Australians abroad, our expat guide covers the whole income question in far more depth, currency tiers and worked example included; this section is the summary, that article is the map.

What can foreign non-residents actually buy?

For a non-resident with no Australian citizenship or permanent residency, the honest picture in 2026 is the narrowest it has been in decades, and we would rather describe it accurately than warmly:

• The purchase itself. New dwellings and vacant land for development remain open with approval; established homes do not. Every purchase needs a foreign investment application and its fees, which scale with the property price.
• The extra costs. Most states levy an additional surcharge duty on foreign purchasers, on top of ordinary stamp duty, and several charge ongoing surcharges on land tax as well. Rates vary by state and change with budgets, so check the current schedule for the state you are buying in before running numbers.
• The lending. A minority of lenders write loans for non-resident foreign nationals, deposits are expected to be substantial, and foreign income shading applies with full force. This is the corner of the market where a broker’s lender map matters most, because most of the market is simply closed.

The purchase rules themselves, including the state surcharges and the narrow exceptions to the established home ban, are set out in our dedicated guide to the rules for foreign buyers in 2026.

Where it still makes sense, it tends to be at the quality end: a new build in a strong location, bought with a serious deposit, often by families with an Australian connection on the horizon, children studying here, an eventual migration plan, or a business footprint. For that buyer profile, the neighbouring conversation is often our prestige home loans guide, and the practical advice is unchanged: assemble the professional team, solicitor, accountant, broker, before falling in love with a floor plan.

Can permanent residents, NZ citizens and mixed couples buy established homes?

Three groups sit happily outside the drama of the earlier sections. Permanent residents hold property rights that mirror citizens’ under the foreign investment framework: no approval, no ban, the full market. If you have been waiting on PR partly for this reason, the wait genuinely buys something. New Zealand citizens are in a similar position under long-standing arrangements. And returning expats shed any complications the moment their circumstances do; the transition timing questions, when your foreign income history starts counting cleanly, which lender reads a just-returned file best, are bread and butter for us and covered in the expat guide.

If the move home itself is on the calendar, our dedicated returning expat home loan guide covers sequencing the application before you leave.

The most common real-world case, though, is the mixed couple: one partner an Australian citizen or permanent resident, the other on a visa. The established-dwelling door generally reopens here, with purchases structured as joint tenants between spouses being the recognised path under the framework’s exemptions, and a solicitor should confirm the structuring for your exact circumstances before contracts are signed.

On the lending side, these applications combine an Australian income with a foreign or visa-holder income, and lenders differ in how generously they read the second income, which brings everything back to the recurring theme of this article: the rulebook decides what is possible, and the lender decides what it costs.

Why do cross-border borrowers work with Everstone Finance?

Cross-border files reward exactly the kind of preparation that suits former bankers. Which lenders accept your currency, and on what shading, this quarter. Which will lend to your visa subclass, and how they weigh the time remaining. How a mixed couple’s two incomes stack at each institution. Whether the just-returned expat should apply now or after two more payslips. None of it is on a comparison site, all of it is in credit policy, and reading credit policy is the job.

The practical side matters too: we run these files over video and email across whatever time zone you are in, the same way we handle our expat clients from Singapore to San Francisco, and we stay in our lane, arranging the lending while your solicitor handles the foreign investment compliance and your accountant handles the tax residency question.

If your circumstances sit closer to the professions we write about elsewhere, our guide to home loans for professionals in Australia may round out the picture nicely: professional waiver policies and cross-border income can coexist at select lenders. And if you already hold an Australian loan, refinancing an Australian mortgage from overseas runs on the same remote rails.

The cost structure is the usual one for home lending: the lender pays our commission on settlement, you pay nothing for the service, and the Best Interests Duty binds every recommendation we make to your interests. Moneysmart’s guide to using a mortgage broker explains the arrangement.

Frequently asked questions

Can a temporary resident buy a house in Australia in 2026?

Not an established one. Since 1 April 2025, foreign persons including temporary residents are banned from purchasing established dwellings, with narrow exceptions, and the government has announced the ban will run to 30 June 2029. A temporary resident can still buy a new dwelling or vacant land to build on with foreign investment approval, and permanent residency removes the restrictions entirely.

Does the foreign buyer ban apply to Australian citizens living overseas?

No. Australian citizens are exempt from foreign investment approval for residential land wherever they live, so the ban does not reach them. An expat’s challenges are lending ones instead: how much of the foreign income a lender counts, and how the currency is treated. Our Australian expat home loans guide covers that side in detail.

Can foreigners still buy property in Australia at all?

Yes, within a narrow lane. New dwellings and vacant land for development remain open to foreign buyers with foreign investment approval and fees, while established homes are off the table during the ban. Buyers should also budget for state surcharge duties on top of ordinary costs and expect a smaller pool of lenders with deeper deposit expectations.

How much of my foreign income will a lender count?

Typically 80 per cent of gross income for widely traded currencies and 70 per cent for others, though the exact figure varies by lender. Lenders convert foreign income to Australian dollars and then shade it, and both the shading and the list of accepted currencies are lender policy settings that change over time, with major currencies treated most generously. Checking current policy across lenders before applying is the practical answer, and it is a check a broker runs at no cost.

Can my partner and I buy if one of us is a citizen and one is on a visa?

Generally yes, and it is the most common cross-border situation of all. Purchases by spouses as joint tenants, where one is an Australian citizen or permanent resident, are the recognised path under the framework’s exemptions, with a solicitor confirming the structure for your circumstances. On the lending side, how generously the visa holder’s income is counted varies by lender.

Do visa holders pay extra to buy property?

Usually, yes. Foreign persons pay foreign investment application fees that scale with the property price, and most states add surcharge duty for foreign purchasers on top of standard stamp duty, with some levying ongoing land tax surcharges too. Rates differ by state and change with budgets, so check the current schedules for your state before running the numbers.

What does using a broker cost for a cross-border loan?

Nothing, for home lending: our commission is paid by the lender when the loan settles, and the Best Interests Duty legally requires our recommendation to serve your interests rather than any lender’s. Given how unevenly lenders treat foreign income and visas, cross-border files are where that free policy check tends to earn its keep most visibly.

What is a non-resident home loan?

A non-resident home loan is an Australian mortgage for a borrower who lives outside Australia or earns income outside Australia, secured over Australian property. Compared with a standard loan it carries a lower maximum loan-to-value ratio, a haircut on foreign income and a shorter list of willing lenders. Australian citizens working abroad, temporary visa holders and foreign nationals all fall under it, but on different terms.

How much deposit does a non-resident need for an Australian home loan?

Plan for at least 20 per cent plus purchase costs. The published non-resident products cap lending at 80 per cent of the property value at Brighten and 75 per cent at La Trobe Financial, a major-bank-backed policy from August 2026 sets sole temporary visa holders at 70 per cent for owner-occupied purchases, and lenders mortgage insurance is generally unavailable where any borrower is a temporary visa holder. A harder-shaded currency or unverifiable income pushes the deposit higher.

Are non-resident home loan interest rates higher in Australia?

Yes, on the published products. As at 14 September 2026 Brighten advertises non-resident variable rates from 7.33 per cent p.a. (7.86 per cent comparison rate) and La Trobe Financial advertises its Non-resident Loan from 8.14 per cent p.a. (8.59 per cent comparison rate), above the rates written for Australian residents, and rates change without notice. Australian citizens living overseas are usually assessed under expat policy instead, which is a different and wider lender set.

Can you get a mortgage on a 482 visa?

Yes, with the lenders that accept temporary residents, and the 482 is the temporary visa lenders are most comfortable with. The loan is assessed on your Australian salary at face value; the points that vary are how much time must remain on the visa, whether a permanent residency pathway needs to be visible, the maximum loan-to-value ratio and pricing. What you can buy is fixed by the foreign investment rules: a new dwelling or vacant land with approval, and no established home until 30 June 2029.

Can I get a home loan on a 491 visa?

Yes, from lenders that lend to provisional visa holders, and the permanent residency pathway built into the 491 helps the file. Until the permanent visa is granted you are a temporary resident, so the purchase must be a new dwelling or vacant land with foreign investment approval, in a designated regional area consistent with your visa conditions, and lenders apply their temporary resident settings to the loan.

Can a temporary resident get a home loan in Australia?

Yes. Temporary residents are assessable borrowers; the question is which lenders, on what settings. Appetite depends on the visa subclass, the time left on it, your occupation and income, the size of the deposit and whether a permanent residency pathway is visible. The purchase itself is limited by the foreign investment framework to new dwellings and vacant land until 30 June 2029, with approval and a fee of $15,600 for a property of $1 million or less in 2026-27.

Can temporary residents buy property in Australia?

Yes, within limits. From 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029 a temporary resident cannot buy an established dwelling, even to live in, other than in narrow exceptions. A new dwelling, an off-the-plan apartment or vacant land to build on can be bought with foreign investment approval or under a developer exemption certificate. Buying an established home together with an Australian citizen or permanent resident spouse as joint tenants is the recognised exception. State surcharge duties usually apply on top of stamp duty.

Which lenders accept foreign income for a home loan in Australia?

Among the major banks, CBA and ANZ accept foreign income with shading, and each sets loan-to-value and negative gearing rules that matter for expats. NAB and Westpac do not lend to borrowers living overseas, and Macquarie requires a current Australian residential address even though it publishes an accepted currency list. For borrowers living in Australia on foreign currency income, ING and Macquarie belong on the shortlist. For foreign nationals, specialist lenders such as Brighten and La Trobe Financial publish non-resident products. Our bank-by-bank expat comparison sets out the sources.

Sources

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