Buying Property in Australia From Overseas: FIRB, Foreign Duty, Expat Loans and Signing From Abroad
By Tim AllenBuyer’s Agent and Director, IPS Buyer’s Agents
Can you buy property in Australia from overseas? Yes. Buying property in Australia from overseas is routine for Australian citizens living abroad: they don’t need to apply for foreign investment (FIRB) approval to buy residential property, and nor do Australian permanent residents or New Zealand citizens who hold, or are eligible for, a special category visa.[1] What changes is the cost. In Queensland, a foreign person pays additional foreign acquirer duty (AFAD) of 8% on top of transfer duty,[2] and for this duty a New Zealand citizen living in New Zealand counts as a foreign person.[3] Other foreign buyers generally have to apply before they buy and, from 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, are generally prohibited from buying established homes.[4] This guide sets out which rules apply to you, then covers finance, inspections, signing documents and tax from overseas.
Key takeaways
- Australian citizens living overseas don’t need to apply for foreign investment approval to buy a home in Australia,[1] and they don’t pay Queensland’s 8% AFAD, which applies only to foreign persons.[3][2]
- New Zealand citizens don’t need approval either, but a New Zealander who doesn’t hold a special category visa when they sign, which includes someone living in New Zealand, pays AFAD.[1][3]
- Other foreign buyers generally have to apply first, and until 30 June 2029 they’re generally barred from established homes.[4]
- Queensland’s home concession on transfer duty needs you to move in within 1 year of settlement, and for contracts from 1 August 2026 it’s only for Australian citizens, permanent residents and specified foreign retirees.[5]
- If you’re a foreign resident for tax purposes when you sell your home, you generally can’t claim the capital gains tax main residence exemption.[6]
Which rules apply to you?
Three things decide your position: your citizenship, your visa and where you usually live. The federal foreign investment rules, Queensland’s AFAD and Queensland land tax each draw the line in a slightly different place:
| You are | FIRB application? | 8% AFAD? | Absentee land tax? |
|---|---|---|---|
| An Australian citizen living overseas | No[1] | No[3] | No[7] |
| An Australian permanent visa holder | No[1] | No[3] | No[7] |
| A New Zealand citizen living in New Zealand | No[1] | Yes[3] | Yes[7] |
| A New Zealand citizen living in Australia on a special category visa | No[1] | No[3] | No, if you usually live in Australia[8] |
| Any other foreign buyer living overseas | Yes, generally[4] | Yes[3] | Yes[7] |
Two cautions. The exemption covers an Australian citizen buying in their own name: the foreign investment law can treat a citizen living overseas as a foreign person, depending on their circumstances, and a company or trust in which someone not ordinarily resident in Australia holds a substantial interest can count as a foreign investor,[9] so get advice before buying through one. And AFAD keeps applying even if you become an Australian citizen or permanent resident after the transaction.[2]
Australians living overseas
If you’re buying a house in Australia while living overseas as an Australian citizen, most of the rules are the ones you’d face at home. You don’t apply for foreign investment approval,[1] you aren’t a foreign person for AFAD,[3] and for land tax you’re assessed as an individual, not an absentee, wherever you live.[7] As an individual, you pay Queensland land tax only if the total taxable value of your land at 30 June is $600,000 or more, and the home exemption is for land you use as your home,[8] so a property you rent out rather than live in generally counts towards that total.
Where expats lose out is the home concession on transfer duty. To claim it, you must move in and live in the home within 1 year of settlement, a period that can’t be extended, and you can’t rent the property out before you move in.[5] If you’re buying now to move home later than that, budget for full transfer duty. QRO’s own example is a $550,000 home: $10,600 in duty with the home concession, or $17,775 without it.[5] Our guide to stamp duty and land tax in Queensland covers the rates.
Buying with a partner who isn’t an Australian citizen or permanent resident? You don’t need to apply for approval if you buy together as joint tenants with your Australian citizen spouse,[1] but Queensland works out AFAD on each foreign buyer’s share. In QRO’s example, a couple buys an $800,000 investment apartment in equal shares and one of them is a foreign person: they pay $29,025 in transfer duty plus $32,000 of AFAD on the foreign partner’s half.[2] Some lenders also won’t count a foreign spouse’s income, which can mean buying in your name alone.[10]
Most of the overseas buyers we work with are New Zealanders moving to Queensland, as our buyer’s agent FAQ says, so these rules are worth getting right before you sign:
- Foreign investment approval. New Zealand citizens who hold, or are eligible for, a special category visa don’t need to apply.[1]
- AFAD. For Queensland duty, a New Zealand citizen who holds a special category visa counts as a permanent resident and doesn’t pay AFAD. A New Zealand citizen living in New Zealand doesn’t hold one, so AFAD applies to their purchase. A permanent resident of New Zealand who isn’t a New Zealand citizen pays it too, because they won’t hold a special category visa.[3]
- Timing. What counts is whether you hold the visa when you enter into the transaction, and AFAD keeps applying if your status changes afterwards.[3][2] If you’re moving over anyway, that makes when you sign worth planning. QRO also warns that AFAD will apply if the evidence shows you came to Australia to get the visa so you could avoid it.[3]
- Land tax. If you don’t usually live in Australia, you’re an absentee. Absentees pay land tax once their Queensland land is worth $350,000 or more, plus a 3% surcharge on the value above $350,000, and can’t claim the land tax home exemption. On QRO’s example of land worth $400,000, that’s $3,800 a year, $1,500 of it surcharge.[7]
AFAD is a big number. On QRO’s example of a $980,000 investment house bought by a foreign individual, transfer duty is $37,125 and AFAD is $78,400, a total of $115,525.[2] Our guide to moving from New Zealand to Queensland covers the rest of the move.
If you aren’t an Australian citizen, a permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen, the federal rules shape your search more than anything else:
- You generally need to notify the Australian Taxation Office before you buy residential land, whatever its value.[4]
- From 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, foreign investors are generally prohibited from buying established dwellings, with limited exceptions.[4]
- The government’s policy is to channel foreign investment into new dwellings. A new or near-new dwelling isn’t usually subject to conditions on its use, and a developer can notify on its foreign buyers’ behalf.[4]
- Vacant land for residential development generally comes with a condition that construction is finished within 4 years.[4]
- You pay an annual vacancy fee if the property isn’t lived in or genuinely available for rent for more than 183 days in a year, and you must notify the Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets when you buy or sell.[4]
On top of that comes Queensland’s 8% AFAD, which covers homes and apartments, vacant land for a home and residential development land,[11] and absentee land tax if you don’t usually live in Australia.[7] Because the ban steers foreign buyers to new homes and vacant land, our house and land package guide is a good next read.
Canstar says most Australian lenders will lend to Australian citizens living overseas, though usually with extra requirements and conditions that don’t apply to borrowers living here.[10] Foreign buyers have far fewer options. Most lenders only lend to citizens and permanent residents, and the few non-resident loans, mostly from non-bank lenders, generally need a bigger deposit and proof of income in an acceptable currency, and usually cost more in interest.[10]
Canstar’s list of what lenders usually ask non-residents for is a sensible checklist from anywhere: your passport and any visa, payslips, bank statements, proof of your deposit, and details of your debts and any Australian credit history. Business owners and the self-employed typically find approval harder, because their income has to be verified.[10]
Sort your finance before you look. Before you sign our Form 6, all we need is a letter from your broker confirming what you can borrow, as our FAQ explains. Moreton Bay Finance Broker are the mortgage brokers we work with, and our 12 steps to buying a house in QLD start with pre-approval for the same reason.
You don’t have to fly in for every inspection. When a client can’t be there, we inspect for them with live video, photograph defects, read the building and pest report with them and negotiate while they stay on the phone, as our FAQ explains. Many of our clients have bought in Brisbane from Sydney, Melbourne, New Zealand and overseas this way, signing digitally while their conveyancer handled the paperwork. Further north, we secured a home near the water at Sandstone Point for a Sydney-based client in April 2026. Whoever inspects for you, get an independent building and pest inspection before you’re committed.
Most of the paperwork can be done from wherever you are, but plan it with your conveyancer before you make an offer:
- The contract. Many of our interstate and overseas clients sign digitally. Read our guides to the contract of sale and the cooling-off period in QLD before you sign, so you know your deadlines in Queensland time.
- Identity checks. Under the national electronic conveyancing rules, your conveyancer and your lender must take reasonable steps to verify your identity, and they can use an agent to do it.[12] Ask early how they’ll do it while you’re overseas. The anti-money laundering checks in our AML real estate guide apply to you too.
- Paper forms witnessed overseas. If you sign a Titles Queensland form outside Australia, the witness should be an Australian consular officer or authorised Australian Government employee, a notary public or an Australian lawyer. A consular officer completes Annex 12.2, and any other witness completes a Form 20 identity and witnessing certification, which is lodged with your documents.[13]
- What to bring. The witness must check your identity and your entitlement to sign. As a new purchaser, a copy of the contract of sale, your official loan documents or a letter from your solicitor can show that entitlement.[13]
- Power of attorney. Someone you appoint can sign Titles Queensland forms for you under a power of attorney, which must be registered with Titles Queensland before the form it’s used for is registered.[13]
Two Australian Taxation Office rules catch people who buy while they’re overseas:
- Selling while you’re a foreign resident. If you’re a foreign resident for tax purposes when you sell, you can’t claim the capital gains tax main residence exemption, even for years you lived in the home as a resident, unless you meet the ATO’s narrow life events test. If you’re an Australian resident when you sell, the rule doesn’t affect you, and the time that counts is when you sign the sale contract.[6]
- Tax rates while you’re away. If you’re a foreign resident for tax purposes for the full year, the foreign resident rates apply to your taxable income. For 2025–26 that’s 30 cents in the dollar from the first dollar up to $135,000, and foreign residents don’t pay the Medicare levy.[14] If you rent the property out, ask your tax adviser how the rent will be taxed.
Your tax residency depends on your circumstances, so get advice from a registered tax agent when you buy, not when you sell.
IPS Buyer’s Agents only buys in South East Queensland, and Tim Allen has personally inspected and negotiated all 128 properties we have bought since 2023, as our FAQ says. For overseas clients we’re your eyes on the ground: we search, inspect by live video, arrange the building and pest inspection and negotiate, while you approve every decision. If you’ll rent the property out while you’re away, SmartYield manages rentals in Brisbane. See our buyer’s agent services and fees, and the costs of buying a house in QLD for the rest of your budget.
You can buy property in Australia from overseas. For an Australian citizen the rules are close to a local buyer’s, except that the home concession needs you to move in within a year. New Zealanders skip federal approval but pay Queensland’s additional foreign acquirer duty unless they hold a special category visa when they sign, and other foreign buyers are largely limited to new homes and vacant land until mid-2029. Work out which buyer you are, then line up your finance, your conveyancer and someone to inspect for you before you make an offer.
This article is general information only, current at November 2026. It is based on published guidance from the Foreign Investment Review Board, the Queensland Revenue Office, the Australian Taxation Office, Titles Queensland and ARNECC, which can change. It is not legal, tax or financial advice and does not consider your circumstances. Get advice from your solicitor or conveyancer, a registered tax agent and a mortgage broker before you buy.
If you’re buying in South East Queensland from overseas and want a buyer’s agent on the ground from the search to settlement, book a time with Tim Allen.
- Foreign Investment Review Board — Residential real estate (accessed 14 November 2026)
- Queensland Revenue Office — Assessing and calculating additional foreign acquirer duty (last updated 31 July 2026)
- Queensland Revenue Office — Types of foreign persons for additional foreign acquirer duty (last updated 27 September 2024)
- Foreign Investment Review Board — Residential land guidance (last updated 1 July 2026)
- Queensland Revenue Office — Home concession (last updated 31 July 2026)
- Australian Taxation Office — Main residence exemption for foreign residents (last updated 22 June 2026)
- Queensland Revenue Office — Land tax threshold and rates for absentees (last updated 23 December 2024)
- Queensland Revenue Office — Land tax threshold and rates for individuals (last updated 23 July 2024)
- Foreign Investment Review Board — Key concepts (last updated 12 December 2025)
- Canstar — Non-resident home loans (21 August 2026)
- Queensland Revenue Office — Additional foreign acquirer duty residential land (last updated 1 July 2025)
- Australian Registrars’ National Electronic Conveyancing Council (ARNECC) — Identity Agents (accessed 14 November 2026)
- Titles Queensland — Signing and witnessing requirements (accessed 14 November 2026)
- Australian Taxation Office — Tax rates – foreign resident (last updated 1 June 2026)
Can I buy a house in Australia from overseas?
Yes. Australian citizens living abroad don’t need foreign investment approval to buy residential property, and nor do Australian permanent residents or New Zealand citizens who hold, or are eligible for, a special category visa. In Queensland, Australian citizens also don’t pay additional foreign acquirer duty. Other foreign buyers generally need to apply first and, until 30 June 2029, are generally barred from established homes.
Do Australian expats pay foreign buyer duty in Queensland?
No. Queensland’s additional foreign acquirer duty, an extra 8% on top of transfer duty, applies only to foreign persons, and an Australian citizen isn’t one. But you can lose the home concession: you must move in within 1 year of settlement and can’t rent the property out first, so budget for full transfer duty if you won’t be home by then.
Do New Zealanders need FIRB approval to buy in Queensland?
No. New Zealand citizens who hold, or are eligible for, a special category visa don’t need to apply. But Queensland’s 8% additional foreign acquirer duty applies to a New Zealand citizen who doesn’t hold that visa when they sign, such as someone still living in New Zealand. If you don’t usually live in Australia, you’re also an absentee for land tax, with a 3% surcharge once your Queensland land is worth $350,000 or more.
Can foreigners buy established homes in Australia?
Generally not. From 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029, foreign investors are generally prohibited from buying established dwellings, with limited exceptions. They can still buy new and near-new homes, or vacant land they build on within 4 years, generally after notifying the Australian Taxation Office, and they pay an annual vacancy fee if the home isn’t lived in or genuinely available for rent for more than 183 days a year.
Can I get a home loan in Australia while living overseas?
Usually, if you’re an Australian citizen: Canstar says most Australian lenders will lend to citizens living overseas, though with extra requirements and conditions. Some lenders won’t count a foreign spouse’s income, so you may need to buy in your name alone. Foreign buyers have far fewer options, mostly non-bank lenders wanting a bigger deposit and usually charging higher rates, so talk to a broker before you look.
Who can witness my signature on property documents overseas?
For a Titles Queensland form signed outside Australia, the witness should be an Australian consular officer or authorised Australian Government employee, a notary public or an Australian lawyer. A consular officer completes Annex 12.2; other witnesses complete a Form 20 identity and witnessing certification. Either way, the witness must check your identity and your entitlement to sign, so take current ID and a copy of your contract.