Western Australia

Financing a Perth Property Purchase as a Foreign Buyer

Deposit expectations, loan-to-value limits, how lenders treat foreign income, and the costs that catch overseas buyers off guard.

Updated 1 August 20267 min read

General information, not advice. Foreign investment rules, duties and taxes change and depend on your personal circumstances (visa status, entity structure, property type). Always confirm current requirements with FIRB, RevenueWA, and a licensed conveyancer, migration agent, or tax adviser before acting.

Financing is usually the biggest surprise for first-time foreign buyers — not because it’s impossible, but because the numbers look different to what a local buyer, or what you might be used to in your home market, would expect.

Bigger deposits, lower LVR

Most Australian lenders restrict the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) they’ll offer non-resident and many temporary-resident borrowers. As a general pattern:

Foreign non-resident borrowers commonly see LVR capped around 60–70%, meaning a deposit of roughly 30–40% of the purchase price
Temporary residents with an Australian visa, local employment income, and genuine savings history are sometimes offered better terms — occasionally up to 80% LVR — but this varies significantly by lender and individual circumstances
Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI), which lets local buyers borrow above 80% LVR, is often unavailable to non-resident borrowers — which is a large part of why the deposit requirement is higher, not just lender caution

These are general patterns, not quotes. Loan products and appetite for foreign-buyer lending change frequently — talk to a broker who specifically handles non-resident and expat lending, not just any mortgage broker.

How lenders treat foreign income

If your income is earned overseas and not in Australian dollars, expect:

Income “haircuts” — many lenders discount foreign income (commonly by 20–40%) when assessing how much you can borrow, to account for currency and verification risk
Extra documentation — payslips, tax returns and employment verification often need translation and sometimes notarisation
Currency risk — your mortgage is in Australian dollars regardless of what currency you earn in, so a shift in exchange rates changes your real repayment cost

FIRB approval and your loan

Most lenders will want to see (or at least know the status of) your FIRB approval before or at settlement — see our FIRB guide. If your contract is conditional on finance, it’s worth also making it conditional on FIRB approval (or securing approval first), so the two timelines don’t collide against WA’s no-cooling-off-period settlement structure — see the legal process guide.

The full cost stack, not just the deposit

A deposit is the headline number, but budget for the full stack before you commit:

Deposit (per your lender’s LVR, or 100% if you’re not financing)
Standard WA transfer duty + 7% foreign buyers duty (see tax guide)
FIRB application fee
Settlement agent / conveyancing fees
Building and pest inspection fees
Loan establishment and valuation fees
International funds transfer costs and exchange-rate margin — transferring a large deposit internationally through a retail bank can cost meaningfully more than using a dedicated foreign exchange service
Buffer for rate movements between pre-approval and settlement, if your loan isn’t rate-locked

Proving your source of funds

Australia has strict anti-money-laundering requirements. Be ready to clearly document where your deposit and purchase funds came from (savings, sale of another asset, gift, inheritance) — banks, conveyancers and FIRB may all ask, and delays here are a common cause of missed settlement dates.

Run the numbers before you talk to a lender. MillionaireCompass has free, private mortgage and investment calculators that run in your browser — useful for sanity-checking deposit size, repayments and borrowing capacity before you’re in front of a broker.