Buying a house in Australia: without PR the existing housing market is closed until mid-2029

First the order that is fixed on this site: in your first year you don't buy — you rent, you get to know the city, and only then do you decide. In Australia the legislator has meanwhile enforced that order: whoever has no permanent status simply may not buy an existing house.

The ban: existing homes are closed to foreign persons

Since 1 April 2025 foreign persons — and temporary visa holders expressly belong to them — may no longer buy established dwellings (existing homes). The ban was to last two years, but has been extended to 30 June 2029 in the 2026-27 budget. Permanent residents and New Zealand citizens are exempt; the remaining exemptions are narrow and aimed at investments that substantially increase the housing supply. New builds and building land remain possible under conditions, but always with prior approval under the foreign-investment regime — and the ATO actively checks on that.

The conclusion for emigrants is the same as our house rule, with a year attached: on a temporary work visa you rent; buying comes once your PR is done. Whoever builds their whole plan around an owner-occupied house builds on the wrong order.

With PR: the transfer duty — and the 200-day rule

Once your PR is in, you buy freely — but the taxes differ per state. Everywhere you pay transfer duty (stamp duty) in bands on the purchase price, with concessions for first home buyers. And then watch the catches for fresh immigrants, with New South Wales as the example: on top of the ordinary duty there is a surcharge purchaser duty of 9% for foreign persons — and you're only "not foreign" once you are an Australian citizen, or a permanent resident who was in Australia for at least 200 days in the preceding year. A fresh PR holder who buys straight after arrival can therefore still be hit by that surcharge. So plan the purchase at the earliest almost a year after the move — which nicely coincides with our rent-first year.

And after that

As an owner you pay the municipal council rates (which you already knew indirectly as a tenant) and in some states land tax on investment properties. For a specific house, request the current rates and put them in your budget. What the first months look like you'll read in your first weeks in Australia.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey: the same steps, but then for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Australia.