Australia's foreign-buyer ban now runs to 30 June 2029. NSW hits 9%, VIC 8%, QLD 8% on the new-build stock offshore investors are pushed toward

This article is general information only. It does not consider your personal circumstances and is not tax, credit or investment advice. Speak to a registered tax agent, licensed conveyancer or property lawyer before acting on any of the figures below.

What actually happened on 12 May#

The 2026-27 Federal Budget did two things to the foreign investor framework. The first was the well-covered negative gearing carve-out on established dwellings from 1 July 2027. The second, quieter announcement was an extension of the temporary ban on foreign purchases of established dwellings by 2 years and 3 months, from the original 31 March 2027 end date out to 30 June 2029 (ATO new legislation page).

The Budget also topped up the enforcement envelope. The ATO and Treasury will share $8.9 million between 2025 and 2029 to run the compliance program, and another $1.9 million across the following four years (foreigninvestment.gov.au). That is not a large sum on its own. Set against a compliance target with millions of dollars per transaction and a well-established data-matching pipeline into the ATO from state land registries, it is enough to keep the audit function credible.

For a landlord, the practical read is that the ban is now half a decade in length rather than two years. The offshore investor cohort that was waiting for the 2027 window to reopen on established stock is now waiting for 2029, and the market pricing for that cohort should reflect the extra 27 months of tenure.

What foreign buyers can still buy#

The ban only applies to established dwellings. Everything else on the residential side sits inside the ordinary FIRB approval framework, at the ordinary application fees. A foreign person can still apply to purchase:

• A new or near-new residential dwelling (a dwelling that has not previously been sold as a dwelling and has been built or substantially renovated).
• An off-the-plan apartment from a developer with an FIRB new dwelling exemption certificate.
• Vacant residential land for the purpose of building a new dwelling.

For 2025-26, the standard FIRB application fee for a new dwelling valued at or below $1 million is $14,100, and fees are indexed on 1 July each year (FIRB Guidance Note 10 fees, July 2025). The fee scales up in bands for higher-value acquisitions, and the ATO's residential fees page publishes the full schedule.

The narrow exception cases where a foreign person can still buy an established dwelling, such as a redevelopment that adds at least 20 additional dwellings or a build-to-rent scheme at commercial scale, pay the tripled established-dwelling fee introduced on 9 April 2024. That starts at $42,300 for a property under $1 million and climbs to $3,514,800 for properties over $40 million (Ensure Legal, residential fees for foreign persons).

The state surcharge map, October 2026#

FIRB approval is the federal layer. On top of it, every state and territory runs its own duty and land-tax settings for foreign persons, and each layer stacks. This is the map any foreign landlord considering entry, and any Australian landlord marketing to offshore buyers, needs to read in one sitting.

New South Wales#

Surcharge purchaser duty is 9% on residential property acquired by a foreign person, on top of ordinary transfer duty. The rate stepped up from 8% to 9% for surcharge duty transactions on or after 1 January 2025 (Revenue NSW). Surcharge land tax is 5% on residential land owned by a foreign person at midnight on 31 December, for the 2024 assessment year onwards (up from 4%). Both changes were legislated through the Revenue Legislation Amendment Bill 2024.

A foreign purchaser buying a $1.2 million Sydney off-the-plan apartment pays about $108,000 in NSW surcharge duty on the dutiable value, then holds it against a 5% annual surcharge on unimproved land value on top of ordinary land tax.

Victoria#

Foreign Purchaser Additional Duty is 8% on any interest in residential property acquired by a foreign purchaser (SRO Victoria FPAD). Absentee Owner Surcharge is 4% on the total Victorian taxable land value of an absentee owner at 31 December, added on top of general land tax (SRO Victoria AOS). The 2026-27 Victorian Budget announced no changes to either rate.

Queensland#

Additional Foreign Acquirer Duty is 8% on residential land acquired by a foreign person, for transactions where the duty liability arises on or after 1 July 2024 (up from 7%) (QRO AFAD). The absentee land tax surcharge is 3% on taxable value above $350,000, calculated as (taxable value less $350,000) multiplied by 3% (QRO absentee land tax rates). Queensland's 2026-27 land tax liability is set at midnight on 30 June 2026, and the notices are already out per the QLD 2026-27 notices piece.

Western Australia#

Foreign Buyers Duty is 7% on residential property acquired by a foreign person, in addition to ordinary transfer duty (Wa.gov.au foreign buyers duty). WA does not currently apply a separate foreign owner surcharge on land tax.

South Australia#

Foreign Ownership Surcharge is 7% on residential land acquired by a foreign person or foreign trust, added to ordinary stamp duty (RevenueSA FOS). South Australia does not apply a separate foreign owner land tax surcharge.

Tasmania#

Foreign Investor Duty Surcharge is 8% on residential property and 1.5% on primary production property acquired by a foreign person (SRO Tasmania FIDS). Tasmania does not levy a separate foreign owner land tax surcharge.

ACT and NT#

Neither the Australian Capital Territory nor the Northern Territory currently levies a foreign purchaser surcharge on residential property duty. Foreign buyers pay the same conveyance duty and land tax as domestic buyers, subject to FIRB approval and the federal fee schedule. That leaves both territories as the softest domestic tax jurisdictions for offshore buyers of new stock, though the market pool in each is materially smaller than the eastern seaboard capitals.

The Build-to-Rent seam#

The one place large-scale offshore capital still flows into the residential rental market at scale is the Build-to-Rent pipeline. NSW removed the 9% foreign purchaser surcharge duty from qualifying BTR and retirement village developments from 1 July 2026 (Henry William Lawyers), and the federal Build-to-Rent tax settings enacted in late 2024 include a 15% MIT withholding rate (down from 30%) and 4% capital works deduction (up from 2.5%) for qualifying BTR trusts.

For a domestic landlord that competes with BTR product in the mid-market rental cohort, the seam matters. The Knight Frank pipeline data has BTR at roughly 4,000 completions this year, and the tax framework is now firmly steering offshore capital toward that supply channel rather than toward disparate off-the-plan owner-investor lots.

What the extension actually means for a domestic landlord#

Three practical items.

One, the resale pool for established stock now excludes offshore buyers for another two years and three months. For a landlord planning a sale of an established investment property in 2027 or 2028, the marketing campaign to any offshore audience is not going to move settlement. That collapses the effective buyer pool by whatever share offshore purchasers were of gross demand in that segment. Foreign approvals have already fallen materially since April 2025 per the CBA housing outlook, and the extension locks that read in through mid-2029.

Two, the off-the-plan and new-build stock now carries the combined weight of tax-preferred domestic investor demand (from the 1 July 2027 negative gearing carve-out) and the residual offshore demand that is still allowed at 7% to 9% state surcharges plus a $14,100 FIRB fee. That intensifies the competition on that specific slice of stock. If you are a domestic landlord evaluating a new-build purchase for the depreciation, the negative gearing preservation and the CGT position, the pricing floor on that stock is set with foreign capital in the room.

Three, the compliance layer is real. The ATO has $8.9 million of enforcement funding through 2029 for this specific ban, and its data-matching program already pulls foreign resident title records against tax returns. That is separate from the 2.3 million property records the ATO is cross-checking against 2025-26 landlord returns, but it sits inside the same enforcement culture.

What a foreign landlord already in the country needs to price#

The ban does not compel a foreign landlord to divest existing established property. Anyone who bought under FIRB approval before 1 April 2025 can continue to hold. What has changed is:

• Their exit pool. They can sell to any domestic buyer, but not to another foreign investor in the ordinary case. That thins the marginal bid by whatever share offshore buyers were in their price bracket.
• Their annual surcharge land tax bill. NSW's 5%, Victoria's 4% absentee, Queensland's 3% absentee and any subsequent state moves land in their assessment each year on the total taxable land value they hold in that jurisdiction, regardless of whether the property is rented, vacant or owner-used.
• Their FIRB position on any add-on purchase. Any new dwelling or off-the-plan purchase they add to the portfolio between now and 30 June 2029 still triggers FIRB approval and the fee schedule on top of state surcharges.

The 29 September RBA read#

The Reserve Bank Board meets on Tuesday 29 September 2026 at 2:30pm (RBA calendar). Markets have been pricing a hike inside 82% odds (Aussie) and nine lenders have already hiked fixed rates in September. Cotality's preliminary auction clearance for the 27 September weekend fell 4.6 percentage points to 54.0%, the lowest in ten weeks, as auction volume rose 15.6% ahead of the meeting.

The interaction with the foreign investor framework is subtle but real. A rate cycle that pushes established stock lower makes the surcharge-heavy foreign investor tax bill on new builds relatively more painful, because the yield line matters more when the capital growth line is not doing the heavy lifting. It also pushes domestic investor money into the same new-build corridor via the negative gearing rules. That is the tension the pricing on new-build stock has to resolve through the rest of this cycle.

What to do with this on Monday morning#

Three moves.

One, if you are a domestic landlord marketing established stock in the next 21 months, drop the offshore buyer channel from the marketing budget. The pool is closed to established until 30 June 2029, and the exception cases are commercial-scale redevelopments, not owner-investor purchases. The ordinary listings audience is domestic.

Two, if you are looking at a new-build or off-the-plan purchase yourself, run the pricing against a demand curve that includes offshore capital paying 7% to 9% state surcharges plus a $14,100 FIRB fee. That is the floor bid on your stock. Model your bid against the Propkt mortgage calculator at both a 4.35% RBA hold and a 4.60% hike outcome, and price the depreciation, negative gearing and CGT position on the new-build stream through 2027.

Three, if you already hold established stock, note the compliance layer. The ATO and Treasury are running a $10.8 million enforcement program across the ban window. Related-party transfers that move a property into foreign hands via a corporate structure are inside that scope. Use the Propkt document vault to keep contracts, FIRB correspondence and land tax notices in one place, and the Propkt tax summary to keep the annual holding-cost line legible when the accountant asks about surcharge land tax versus ordinary land tax.

The bottom line#

The foreign-buyer ban was announced with a two-year clock. The 12 May 2026 Budget turned that into a five-year and three-month clock. Every state surcharge that stacks on top of the FIRB fee sits at or near a decade high. For a domestic landlord, the extended ban is quiet news that materially thins the offshore bid on established stock through mid-2029. For a foreign landlord considering entry, the door is still open on new builds and off-the-plan, but the toll on that door is 7% to 9% at the state layer, $14,100 minimum at the federal layer, and an annual absentee surcharge on land tax through the holding period. Price accordingly.