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Home Loans for Visa Holders, Permanent Residents, and Expats

  • Specialist approvals across every Australian visa class, plus PR and expat
  • Borrow up to 95% of the property value, with deposits from 5%
  • 31+ lenders, with specialists who accept foreign income and every visa class
  • We match your file to the lender most likely to approve your situation, first time
Free Home Loan Strategy Session



Find the right home loan for your situation

Every visa class has different lending policy, deposit requirements, and FIRB rules. We’ve built dedicated pages for each — choose your pathway below for the specifics, or book a free strategy session and we’ll match you to the right lender.

Foreign partner of an Australian

NZ citizens and family

Temporary workers and skilled migrants

Australians abroad

Permanent residents

Home Loans for Every Visa Type

MAP Home Loans specialises in Australian mortgages for visa holders and expats — 482/TSS, 485, 491, 494, 461 NZ, 309 and 820 partner visas, bridging visas, and permanent residents. Our 31+ lender panel includes banks and non-bank lenders who assess visa income properly, without the punishing haircuts that kill most applications at the big four.

If you’ve been declined by your bank or told you don’t qualify because of your visa, that usually means the wrong broker asked the wrong lender. We know which lenders approve which visa types — and we’ve done this for hundreds of clients in your situation.

Put simply: don’t give up until you’ve contacted a specialist who works in this space every day.

How Much Deposit Do You Need?

How much you can borrow — and therefore how much deposit you need — depends on your visa and residency status. Here’s a summary of what’s available at different deposit levels.

95% of the Purchase Price:

Visa holders can borrow up to 95% of the purchase price with as little as a 5% deposit if they hold permanent residency, or if they are purchasing jointly with a co-borrower who is an Australian citizen or permanent resident. As long as one borrower holds PR or citizenship, a select panel of banks and non-banks will lend up to 95% LVR.

Most common 95% LVR situations:

90% of the Purchase Price:

Visa holders on the following subclass visas can borrow up to 90% of the purchase price with a 10% deposit through a small panel of specialist lenders. Each visa has its own lender policy — see the dedicated page for specifics:

80% of the Purchase Price:

Visa holders on other visa types — and those not purchasing with an Australian citizen or permanent resident — can generally borrow up to 80% of the purchase price through a specialist lender panel. Each lender has its own visa policy. Common examples:

  • Bridging Visa A or B holders can borrow up to 80% of the purchase price with a select number of lenders. See Bridging Visa A and B Home Loans.
  • British nationals living overseas can borrow up to 80% LVR. See British Expat Home Loans.
  • Other foreign nationals on subclass visas not listed above — contact us for specific LVR and lender guidance for your situation.

Stamp Duty and Purchasing Costs

The LVR above reflects what banks will lend against the property. You’ll also need funds for stamp duty, government fees, legal costs, and lender fees on top of your deposit. In most states these total 3–7% of the purchase price.

Temporary visa holders purchasing with FIRB approval face an additional foreign buyer stamp duty surcharge — typically 7–8% of the purchase price in NSW, VIC, QLD, WA and SA. ACT and the Northern Territory have no surcharge. Buying jointly with an Australian citizen or permanent-resident partner as joint tenants can remove the surcharge entirely.

Free Home Loan
Strategy Session

Request an exploratory chat about your options and how to secure fast home loan approval, at a competitive rate – even if you don’t have a 20% deposit.

Free Home Loan Strategy Session

FIRB Approval for Visa Holders — 2025 Rule Changes

Temporary visa holders generally require FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) approval before committing to an Australian property purchase. From April 2025 through March 2027, the rules have tightened: temporary residents can only buy new dwellings — off-the-plan apartments, newly built houses, or vacant land to build on. Established homes are not available to this audience during the two-year window.

Permanent residents, Australian citizens, and NZ citizens on a 461 visa are not affected by the ban — established dwellings remain available to these buyers, and most don’t need FIRB approval at all.

For temporary visa holders, FIRB applications are usually a technicality once your lender and visa are aligned. We handle the paperwork as part of your application.

Declined Before? Here’s What Changes With MAP

Being declined usually comes down to one of three things: your visa wasn’t properly understood, your foreign income was haircut incorrectly, or your broker sent the application to the wrong lender. Each is solvable.

MAP’s advantage is specialisation. We work only with visa holders, expats, and non-residents — so we know which lenders accept foreign income without standard discounts, which approve 482/TSS sponsorships, which approve 461 NZ partner visas, and which require specific employment tenure for partner visa applicants.

If you’ve been declined elsewhere, contact us. The conversation is free and often the answer is “yes, we can do this” — it just takes the right broker.

Free Home Loan
Strategy Session

Request an exploratory chat about your options and how to secure fast home loan approval, at a competitive rate – even if you don’t have a 20% deposit.

Free Home Loan Strategy Session

FREE Quick-Start Guide To Financing Australian Property

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A mortgage when our adviser said no bank would

I’m a NZ citizen and my husband is a British citizen who’s able to live and work in Australia on a NZ partnership visa. When our regular mortgage adviser informed us that we’d not be able to have both names on the mortgage, that I’d be considered a foreign investor (so have to pay tax) and that basically no bank would give us a mortgage, it obviously was a terrible thing to hear and really stressed us out. Within 2 minutes of talking with MAP Home Loans we were assured that we COULD get a mortgage and lots of banks would provide us the chance to buy a house together. My broker has been amazing throughout the mortgage advice side of this and the settlement and we couldn’t be happier. From the get-go he made this a simple and even actually relaxing (!) experience and we can’t thank him enough.

Hayley

Complex case approved with flying colours

A huge thank you to MAP Home Loans for getting my complex case over the line with flying colours 🙌 My broker made everything simple and seamless, and his savvy, personable nature ensured we had all bases covered before putting in the application to ensure ultimate success! I couldn’t have gotten a better outcome and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend MAP Home Loans in the future. Thank you for helping me and my little family. I’ll definitely be back again when I am ready to buy my next investment!

Jodie

Temp visa loan approved when banks said no

We would highly recommend MAP Home Loans. My broker was professional, highly knowledgeable and was always there when we needed advice and help. All other banks and brokers had said it was not possible for us to get a loan (temp visa). She was able to find a way. On top of this, we had very tight deadlines and complications with our loan, and she was able to find a solution with the best possible outcome and was always quick to respond to our enquiries. We really appreciate all your hard work and help in finding our dream home! Thank you so much. Kind regards, John and Meileen

John and Meileen