Before December 2015 a foreign person could buy a new home in Australia without paying the Commonwealth anything to have the purchase considered, and until April 2025 a temporary resident could buy an established home to live in. Today the application fee on a $1 million new home is $15,600, the fee on an established home at the same price is $46,800, and established homes are closed to foreign buyers, with limited exceptions, until 30 June 2029 under current policy. The largest changes came in three steps: fees doubled in July 2022, fees on established homes tripled in April 2024, and the ban began in April 2025.
The node holds statutory settings that change on dates set by law, so it publishes no standardised score or position.
What the Commonwealth controls
A foreign person must notify the Treasurer and receive approval before buying residential land in Australia. Three kinds of Commonwealth rule shape what a foreign buyer faces: which homes they may buy, the application fee for having a purchase considered, and an annual vacancy fee if the home is left empty. The states add their own duty and land-tax surcharges, which are separate from everything here. This piece follows the Commonwealth’s settings from 2011, as set out in the Foreign Investment Policy (21340) register, quarter by quarter, with the law or policy that set each one.
Which homes a foreign person may buy
Until April 2025 the rules distinguished between new and established homes. Foreign persons could generally buy new dwellings with approval. Established homes were generally closed to non-residents, but a temporary resident could, with approval, buy one established home to live in.
From 1 April 2025 that exception closed. It is now the Government’s policy that foreign persons are generally banned from buying established dwellings, applied through the national interest test. The limited exceptions in the current guidance are purchases for redevelopment that adds at least 20 dwellings, purchases that support housing on a commercial scale such as build-to-rent, retirement villages or student accommodation, and employers housing workers from Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste. Near-new dwellings, for example where the first sale of a new home did not complete, may also be considered. The ban does not apply to vacant land or new dwellings. It was to end on 31 March 2027; the 2026–27 Budget extended it to 30 June 2029, which the Budget estimates will reduce receipts from foreign investment applications by $185.0 million over five years.
The application fee
Application fees for residential purchases began on 1 December 2015, at $5,000 for a home costing $1 million or less. Until April 2024 the fee was the same for new and established homes. It is indexed to inflation each July, and there have been three larger steps: a new fee framework from 1 January 2021, the doubling of fees from 29 July 2022, and the tripling of fees for established dwellings from 9 April 2024, which left new dwellings on the ordinary schedule.
Commonwealth application fee for a home costing $1 million or less, 2011 to 2026 ($)
Fee in force at the end of each quarter, established and new dwellings; nominal dollars. Source: APN Foreign Investment Policy (21340) register, from the Commonwealth fee instruments.
At $1 million, the fee on an established home rose from $5,000 in December 2015 to $45,300 in the June quarter of 2026, and the fee on a new home to $15,100. From 1 July 2026 they are $46,800 and $15,600: about 9.4 times and 3.1 times their 2015 level. Fees rise in bands with the price, and the cheapest band, below $75,000, is $13,800 for an established dwelling and $4,600 for a new one.
Commonwealth application fees from 1 July 2026 ($)
Fee for a notifiable action, 2026–27 schedule. Source: FIRB Schedule of fees, version 8 (1 July 2026), Tables 2 and 3.
The vacancy fee
Since 9 May 2017 a foreign owner who leaves a dwelling empty can be liable for an annual vacancy fee. It applies to foreign persons who applied to buy residential land after that date, and to buyers of new dwellings sold under a developer’s exemption certificate applied for after it. A home counts as occupied if the owner or a relative lives in it, or it is leased or genuinely offered for rent on terms of at least 30 days, for at least 183 days in a year; short-term holiday letting does not count. The fee was set equal to the application fee, and for vacancy years from 9 April 2024 it is twice the application fee.
Selling new developments to foreign buyers
A developer can obtain a new dwelling exemption certificate, so that foreign persons buying new dwellings in that development do not generally need their own individual approval. Since 9 May 2017 such certificates have limited foreign sales to half the dwellings in a development. Under the current guidance the developer must also market the dwellings in Australia and may sell no more than $3 million worth to any single foreign buyer under the certificate; a buyer who wants more than that in the same development needs their own approval.
| Date | Change | Instrument |
|---|---|---|
| 1 December 2015 | Application fees introduced: $5,000 for a home costing $1 million or less, established or new | Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Fees Imposition Act 2015 |
| 9 May 2017 | Annual vacancy fee, equal to the application fee, for applications made after this date; developers selling under a new dwelling exemption certificate limited to selling half the dwellings to foreign persons | Treasury Laws Amendment (Housing Tax Integrity) Act 2017; FIRB Guidance Note 8 |
| 1 January 2021 | New fee framework: $6,350 at $1 million, and a lowest band of $2,000 below $75,000 | Fees Imposition Regulations 2020 |
| 29 July 2022 | Fees doubled: $13,200 at $1 million | Fee Doubling Regulations 2022 |
| 9 April 2024 | Fees for established dwellings tripled ($42,300 at $1 million); vacancy fee doubled to twice the application fee; new dwellings unchanged | Fees Imposition Amendment Act 2024 |
| 1 April 2025 | Foreign persons generally banned from buying established dwellings, with limited exceptions | Government policy applied through the national interest test; FIRB Guidance Note 6 |
| 12 May 2026 | Ban extended from 31 March 2027 to 30 June 2029 | Budget 2026–27 |
| 1 July 2026 | Fees indexed: $46,800 established and $15,600 new, at $1 million | FIRB Schedule of fees, version 8 |
Fees are also indexed to inflation each 1 July, in the years not shown. Sources: APN Foreign Investment Policy (21340) register; FIRB Schedule of fees v8; FIRB Guidance Note 6 v5; Budget 2026–27 Budget Paper No. 2.
What this does not show
These are rules and fees, not outcomes. The register shows what the Commonwealth set and when; it does not show how many foreign purchases were approved, how much the fees raised, or what effect any rule had on prices, rents or construction, and no such claim is made here. The ban is a policy applied case by case, so its reach depends on how exceptions are decided. Fees are nominal dollars. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.
Findings are presented on the basis of data and evidence alone.
