What types of Australian properties can be purchased by overseas buyers?

In Australia, the "overseas buyers" can usually be divided into two categories:

The first one is those overseas buyers who have obtained the Australian permanent residency ( with foreign passport).

The second category is those overseas buyers who do not have the visa of permanent residence but hold a valid temporary visa.

Among them, overseas persons who have obtained the right of permanent residence (pr) in Australia can purchase property across Australia without any special permission or approval, and can apply for a local loan.

However, overseas buyers who do not live in Australia and temporary residents with valid temporary visas must obtain approval from the foreign investment review board (FIBR) for the purchase of various properties.

In Australia, the government has been supporting the real estate industry as the main pillar industry. Every year, it takes several measures to support its development. One of the important policies is to encourage overseas people to buy Australian real estate as part of their personal investment portfolio. When buying a house, overseas people can enjoy the same policy as local residents of Australia, namely national treatment. The only additional procedure is subject to approval by the FIRB.

Here's a reminder: overseas buyers cannot get permanent residency just for buying a property in Australia.

New property

A new property is an unoccupied house that is built, is being built or will be built on residential land, and is never traded before; Or the residence has not been used for more than 12 months.

• The property that is bought as a secondhand property to decorate or renovate does not belong to new property. If you buy a second - hand house and knock it down for reconstruction, please refer to the redevelopment of the second - hand housing. 
• New home transactions are the most popular type of property chosen by overseas investors. Generally, overseas investors can obtain the approval unconditionally and have no limit on the number and quantity of new houses, but they need to reapply each time.

Second-hand property

Purchasing the second-hand property has strict restrictions.

First, the purchaser must hold an Australian temporary residence visa for one year or more (student visa, work visa); second, the purchasing property must be used as self-living house; moreover, property owners must sell the second-hand housing 3 months in advance before the expiry of the visa.

The redevelopment of the second-hand housing

For redeveloped projects, overseas investors also need to be approved by the FIRB and ensure that the number of new homes built is higher than the original number.

• The principle that FIRB follows in approving the application is to see whether or not the purchase behavior increases the housing supply in Australia. Therefore, if this condition is met, in principle, overseas investors can invest in redeveloped residential projects.

Vacant land

Generally, overseas investors will have the condition to obtain approval for the purchase of vacant lands for building houses.

The conditions are that the development of the land and the construction of the property need to be completed within four years and construction needs to start within 24 months after the purchase. And then a completion certificate or a check-in certificate needs to be provided 30 days before the completion.

FIRB does not issue any pre-approval documents, and all potential overseas buyers must provide a specific address for the property to be purchased, allowing the review board to evaluate each application separately. The buyer must obtain the purchase approval before the purchase, and if the purchase contract is signed before FIRB's approval, the contract must expressly state that the transaction will not take effect until FIRB's approval is obtained.

Approval is normally received within 30 days of submission.

From December 1, 2015, each application submitted to the foreign investment review board will be charged a fee. The new details of the fee in 2018 are as follows:

A $5,600 application fee is charged for the purchase of properties under $1 million

A $11,300 application fee is charged for the purchase of properties from $1 million to $ 2 million

And the reason why secondhand properties need to be examined and approved commonly is that it is impossible for the original owner to get the approval before selling. Therefore, the applicant must provide specific housing information when applying for the approval of the FIRB. If the approved house is not purchased, the applicant shall apply for the approval of other houses.

If any of the following conditions are met, the buyer can be exempted before buying a house in Australia:

Australian citizens do not need approval to buy residential real estate, whether they live in Australia or not;

New Zealand citizens and the holders of Australian permanent resident visas are also exempt from the approval requirement;