Home loans for 494 visa holders

What lenders look at

On a 494, your visa and your income both come from the same place: a regional employer who sponsored you. Lenders look at that link, as well as the usual income, expenses and deposit.

FIRB and the established-home ban

For FIRB a 494 holder is a temporary resident, so you are a foreign person regardless of how long you have lived here.

Established homes: foreign persons are generally banned from buying established dwellings from 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2029. The exceptions are commercial and don’t cover a home to live in.

New homes and land: you can buy a new dwelling or vacant land with FIRB approval and an application fee. On vacant land the home must be completed within four years. If the builder or developer holds a New or Near-New Dwelling Exemption Certificate, your own approval isn’t needed. A house-and-land package is often two contracts, land and build, so check how FIRB applies to each before you sign either.

After you buy: foreign owners pay an annual vacancy fee if the home isn’t lived in or genuinely available to rent for at least 183 days a year.

Duty, concessions and grants in each state

Each state treats a 494 holder as a temporary visa holder. Where there is a foreign buyer surcharge you pay it, and where first home concessions exist they generally need a citizen or permanent resident in the purchase.

Deposit and LMI

The 5% Deposit Scheme isn’t open to 494 holders: every applicant must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident. Help to Buy is for citizens only.

With a standard loan, expect lenders to want more deposit from a temporary resident than from a citizen, and LMI if you borrow more than 80% of the value. Lenders mortgage insurers set their own rules for temporary residents, so the LMI question is answered lender by lender.

Budget for the extra costs as well as the deposit. In the Queensland scenario below, additional foreign acquirer duty and the FIRB fee add $66,800 to the purchase.

Condition 8579 on a 494

Like the 491, the 494 carries condition 8579: while you are in Australia, you must live, work and study only in a part of Australia that was a designated regional area when your visa was granted. Designated regional areas are all of Australia except Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

On a 494 the condition sits alongside your sponsorship. Your employer is regional, your work is regional, and the home you live in has to be regional. A purchase in a capital-city postcode doesn’t fit the visa and won’t fit the lender’s assessment either.

The NSW postcodes in a designated regional area are listed below. For other states, use the Home Affairs regional postcodes page in Sources.

Moving from the 494 to the 191

The permanent visa for 494 holders is the subclass 191, available after you have held the 494 for at least three years. Home Affairs also requires three income years of ATO notices of assessment for the 191, with no minimum income.

On the 191 you are a permanent resident. FIRB approval and the established-home ban no longer apply, the foreign buyer surcharges fall away, and first home concessions, grants and the 5% Deposit Scheme become available if you are first home buyers.

If you are a year or less from applying, compare the cost of waiting with the cost of buying now. In states that fix your status at the contract date, signing after the 191 grant is what counts. A migration agent can tell you where you stand on the visa; we work out the numbers for the loan.

Documents checklist

Sponsorship and FIRB documents go with the standard list.

• Passport
• Visa grant notice
• VEVO check showing visa conditions and expiry
• Recent payslips
• Employment contract or employer letter
• Bank statements showing savings and deposit source
• ATO notice of assessment or income statement
• Sponsoring employer details
• Employer letter confirming your role, salary and sponsorship
• FIRB approval letter, or the builder's or developer's exemption certificate
• Building contract and land contract, for a house-and-land purchase

This list is common lender practice, not a government rule. Each lender sets its own requirements, so we send you a checklist for the lender we recommend.

Illustrative scenario: a new house in regional Queensland

An electrician holds a 494 sponsored by a regional Queensland employer; his partner is on the same visa as a secondary applicant and works part time. They have held the visa for 18 months, rent in a regional city well outside Brisbane, and have a 20% deposit. They have found a newly built three-bedroom house, never lived in, for $640,000.

The table compares buying it now on the 494 with buying a similar house after both are granted the 191.

Common mistakes