- Australian citizens abroad
- Non-Australians
- Temporary residents
- Foreign companies
- High borrowing capacity
- We manage for you
Overseas purchasers
At Time Finance our broking services extend to Australian citizens living abroad and overseas purchasers of property in Australia who are not Australian citizens, or do not have residency status in Australia.
If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident living and working overseas, but purchasing in Australia.
Mortgage lenders tend to be more conservative when financing Australians living overseas. That is, they would usually lend no more than 80% of the value of the property; however Time Finance has mainstream lenders who can loan more to you on a case by case basis.
The majority of loan types within the suite of products are available to Australians living abroad, however some restrictions may exist if you wish to borrow on a low doc/no doc basis.
If you are a foreign national with no Australian residency and wish to purchase and finance property within Australia.
There are lenders that can provide finance to foreign national borrowers, subject to normal conditions related to foreign nationals.
If a foreign buyer wishes to purchase an Australian property they will require approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).
The Rule Changes
The Australian Government has recently made changes to the foreign investment rules governing the purchase of residential property in Australia, in an effort to improve flexibility.
The changes, which took effect in March 2009, include:
- Temporary residents are now allowed to buy an established dwelling as their principal place of residence. They can also buy any new dwelling regardless of purpose without needing to notify the government.
- Foreign-owned companies, overseas trust estates and non-residential foreign persons purchasing vacant residential land need to build within two years of the purchase date. Previously, they had only 12 months.
- Foreign companies can now buy existing property for the use of their Australian-based staff, provided they sell or rent the property if it’s vacant for more than six months.
- Accommodation facilities such as resorts and hotels are to be treated as commercial real estate rather than residential real estate.
- Developers are no longer limited to selling a maximum of 50 per cent of one development to foreign buyers, so long as they still market their product locally as well as overseas.
Non-residents of Australia are not allowed to purchase an established property for investment purposes. However, investors are able to purchase established dwellings for the purposes of a redevelopment that will increase the number of dwellings or make an existing dwelling inhabitable.
In this case, buyers must notify the FIRB of their intentions and must commence the redevelopment within 24 months of purchase. They can’t rent out the existing dwelling before redevelopment.
Non-residents can purchase newly built dwellings – whether they be units within a complex or standalone houses – so long as the property has never been sold before and has not been occupied for longer than 12 months.
Buyers must notify the FIRB of their plans and receive approval for any purchase of this kind.
Further information on the FIRB is available at www.firb.gov.au
With hundreds of different loan products in the market from all lenders, your professional Time Finance Mortgage Broker will help get the right loan for you! The benefits of why you should use a professional Time Finance Mortgage Broker are guaranteed.
Any advice contained in this article is of a general nature only and does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. Therefore, before making any decision, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice with regard to those matters. Information in this article is correct as of the date of publication and is subject to change.