Can an international student buy a house in Australia?

Why a student visa makes you a foreign person

The Act treats an individual who is "not ordinarily resident" in Australia as a foreign person. Treasury's key concepts note explains the test: a person must have been in Australia for 200 or more days in the previous 12 months, and their stay must not be limited by law to a set time. A student visa is a time-limited visa, so the second part fails.

Treasury's note then sorts time-limited visa holders into two groups:

• A temporary resident holds a temporary visa that lets them stay in Australia for a continuous period of more than 12 months, however much time is left on it. That wording comes from section 4 of the Act.
• A foreign non-resident holds a visa that lets them stay for a shorter period. Treasury's example is a student on a nine-month student visa.

Both groups are foreign persons. The length of a student visa depends on the course, and Home Affairs' student visa page sets out the details. A student whose visa allows a continuous stay of more than 12 months is a temporary resident, and a student on a short course can be a foreign non-resident. The approval rules are the same either way.

What a student can buy

The ATO says temporary residents can no longer apply to buy an established dwelling as their principal place of residence, and that the application window closed after 31 March 2025. See the temporary residents page and the established home ban guide.

New dwellings carry no usual conditions on use, so a student who buys one can live in it or rent it out. Applications are made through the ATO's Online services for foreign investors, and a fee is payable. The approval guide and fees page explain more.

State duty and land tax

State revenue offices apply their own tests. For a student visa holder, as read in October 2026:

• New South Wales. Revenue NSW says anyone on a temporary or bridging visa is considered a foreign person for surcharge purchaser duty, with narrow exceptions for partner and retirement visa holders. For surcharge land tax, only citizens and permanent residents who spend enough days in Australia are not foreign.
• Victoria. The State Revenue Office publishes its own definitions for the 8% foreign purchaser additional duty and for the land tax absentee owner surcharge, so check both against a student visa on its pages.
• Queensland. A foreign individual for the 8% additional duty is anyone who is not an Australian citizen or permanent resident. The land tax surcharge applies only to people who do not usually live in Australia.

The state surcharge pages have the rates. If the dutiable value of a new New South Wales apartment is $700,000, 9% surcharge purchaser duty alone is $63,000 ($700,000 × 0.09), on top of ordinary transfer duty.

Getting a loan

Lenders set their own rules for borrowers on temporary visas, and the sources for this guide do not cover them. This site's home loans page summarises what brokers report. The sister site has a guide to temporary visa home loans.

If the student later becomes a permanent resident

A holder of a permanent visa at the time of acquisition is exempt from the approval requirement for residential land. The Regulation tests the visa at the time of acquisition, so how an earlier contract and a later visa grant interact is a question for a lawyer. State rules on refunds differ: Revenue NSW allows a refund of surcharge purchaser duty if the buyer is no longer foreign on the date the property is transferred, while the Queensland Revenue Office says additional foreign acquirer duty continues to apply even if the buyer later becomes a citizen or permanent resident.

Frequently asked questions

firbapproval.com.au is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the Foreign Investment Review Board, the Australian Treasury or the Australian Taxation Office. We do not lodge or process applications. Applications are made to the ATO. General information only, not legal, tax, migration or financial advice.