Buying property in Australia as an American: FIRB, the ban and NSW surcharges

If you're in Sydney on a temporary visa, you can't buy an existing home until at least July 2029, and a new one comes with a five-figure federal fee and a 9% state surcharge, unless you're a permanent resident or buy with your Australian spouse.

The short version

• Foreign persons are banned from buying established homes from April 1, 2025, to June 30, 2029. The ban was first set for two years and has since been extended. It covers temporary residents buying a home to live in [1][2].
• You can still apply to buy new homes, off-the-plan units and vacant land, with Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval before you sign, or with a contract conditional on it [2].
• FIRB fees start at AUD 15,600 (about USD 11,000) for a new home up to AUD 1 million in 2026–27 [3].
• NSW adds a 9% surcharge purchaser duty on top of normal transfer duty, plus a 5% surcharge land tax every year with no tax-free threshold [4][5].
• Permanent residents, and spouses buying as joint tenants with an Australian citizen or permanent resident, don't need FIRB approval [6].

USD conversions in this guide use the Federal Reserve H.10 rate of October 30, 2026 (AUD 1 = USD 0.7038), rounded.

Are you a "foreign person"?

This is the first question, and the answer decides almost everything. For the federal FIRB rules, you don't need approval to buy residential property if you're [6]:

• an Australian citizen (including one living abroad),
• a holder of an Australian permanent visa,
• a New Zealand citizen who holds or is eligible for a special category visa, or
• buying as a joint tenant with your spouse who is an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen.

Everyone else, including Americans on a 482 skills visa, a student visa or a work and holiday visa, is a foreign person for this purpose. Being a US citizen gets you nothing special here: there's no treaty carve-out for Americans the way there is for New Zealanders.

NSW has its own, slightly different test for state taxes. Revenue NSW treats you as foreign unless you're a citizen, a permanent resident who was in Australia for at least 200 days in the year before the purchase, or one of a few other exempt groups [4]. So a green-card-style permanent resident who's been living back in the States can still get hit by the state surcharge even though FIRB doesn't care.

The ban on established homes

From April 1, 2025, foreign persons are generally banned from buying established dwellings, meaning existing houses, townhouses and apartments that aren't new. The government originally set the ban for two years, to March 31, 2027, and has since extended it to June 30, 2029 [1][2][3].

This hits Americans in Sydney harder than the old rules. Before April 2025, a temporary resident could usually get approval to buy one existing home to live in, as long as they sold it when they left. That door is closed: the ban expressly covers temporary residents buying an established dwelling as their principal place of residence [1].

The exceptions are narrow and aimed at developers, not families [2][7]:

• buying to redevelop the site into at least 20 additional dwellings,
• certain commercial-scale housing, such as build-to-rent and student accommodation, and
• companies housing Pacific island and Timor-Leste workers under the PALM scheme.

Don't try to sneak around it. FIRB's guidance gives the example of a temporary resident who bought after April 1, 2025, and may be required to sell the property and pay a penalty [7].

What a temporary resident can still buy

The step-by-step

1. Confirm your status. Check your visa and, if you're married to an Australian, how you'd hold title.
2. Make the contract conditional on FIRB approval, or apply before signing. Buying without approval carries penalties [2].
3. Apply through the ATO's foreign investment portal and pay the fee upfront. Processing can take up to 30 days after full payment [2].
4. Budget for NSW surcharge duty, due with transfer duty at settlement [4].
5. Lodge an annual vacancy fee return if required, and keep the place lived in or rented [3].
6. Register for land tax with Revenue NSW, which charges the surcharge every year you own the land [5].

What it costs

FIRB application fees, 2026–27

Fees apply from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, and scale with the price [3]:

Above that, the fees keep climbing in AUD 1 million steps [3]. Joint buyers holding as tenants in common pay their share of the fee [3].

The vacancy fee

If your property sits empty for 183 days or more in a year, or you file the annual vacancy return late, you owe a vacancy fee. For vacancy years starting on or after April 9, 2024, it's double your original application fee [3]. On a AUD 1 million new apartment, that's about AUD 31,200 (USD 22,000) a year. Rent it out or live in it.

NSW surcharge purchaser duty: 9%

On top of regular transfer duty (what Americans would call a hefty transfer tax), NSW charges foreign buyers a surcharge of 9% of the price or market value, whichever is higher. It's charged in proportion to the share the foreign person acquires [4].

Revenue NSW's own example for a AUD 1 million purchase at 2026–27 rates [4]:

That's sticker shock, and it's before the FIRB fee. If your status changes so that you weren't a foreign person on the transfer date, or the foreign share is reduced, you may be able to claim a refund [4].

NSW surcharge land tax: 5% a year

Every year you own the land, NSW charges foreign owners surcharge land tax of 5% of the land's unimproved value (from the 2025 land tax year; it was 4% in 2023 and 2024). There's no tax-free threshold. Joint owners pay only on the foreign owner's share, and foreign owners who live in the property may qualify for a principal place of residence exemption if they meet the conditions [5].

For an apartment, the land value is your share of the building's lot, so the bill is usually smaller than for a house. Ask your conveyancer for an estimate before you exchange contracts.

Married to an Australian? Read this

The joint tenant exemption is the single most useful rule for Americans with an Australian spouse or partner. If you buy as joint tenants with an Australian citizen or permanent resident spouse, you don't need FIRB approval, so the established-home ban doesn't stop you [6].

The state side is less generous. NSW surcharge duty and land tax are based on the share a foreign person holds, so check with your conveyancer or Revenue NSW how your joint purchase will be assessed before you sign [4][5]. Getting your permanent visa first, and then spending 200 days a year in Australia, can take you out of the state surcharges altogether [4].

Lending is its own hurdle. If your partner is Australian, our sister site ExpatCooee explains how Australian lenders treat Australians who borrow while living abroad, which helps if you're buying from the States before you move.

The US side

Uncle Sam doesn't care which country your house is in, but he does care about these:

• Mortgage interest and property taxes on a foreign home can be deductible on your US return if you itemize, under the same rules as a home in Ohio.
• Currency gains on a foreign mortgage: paying off an AUD loan when the dollar has moved can create a taxable gain in USD. It's one of the oddest traps in expat tax.
• Selling later: the US taxes the gain in dollars, and the US–Australia tax treaty plus the foreign tax credit help avoid double tax. Australia also has its own withholding rules for sales by foreign residents.
• FBAR: property itself isn't reportable, but the Australian bank account you pay the mortgage from is.

A US expat tax preparer (or lawyer) can check your situation before you buy.

House hunting? Ask other buyers in our community group for Americans in Australia which conveyancers know FIRB well.

Sources

1. Foreign investment in Australia, Australian Taxation Office
2. Types of property a foreign person can buy, Australian Taxation Office
3. Fees for foreign residential investors, Australian Taxation Office
4. What is surcharge purchaser duty, Revenue NSW
5. What is surcharge land tax, Revenue NSW
6. Residential real estate, Foreign Investment Review Board
7. Guidance Note 6: Residential land (v5), Foreign Investment Review Board

Keep reading

• Renting in Sydney
• Australian taxes for Americans: how they fit with your US return
• Currency gains on a foreign mortgage: the hidden US tax
• Buying property in Sydney vs the US