Foreign residents can purchase Australian residential or commercial property "off the plan" or property that is new and previously unoccupied. In addition, developers are only allowed to sell a limited percentage of the units within a development to overseas investors.

Purchases by non-residents must be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). If you do not fit one of the criteria below, you must obtain FIRB approval:

• Australian citizen residing in Australia or abroad
• Holders of Australian permanent resident visas
• Persons holding a special category visa (ie. New Zealand citizens)
• Australian citizens and their foreign spouses when purchasing residential real estate in joint names as joint tenants

Standard Queensland offer contracts contain an optional clause specifying that the purchase is conditional upon FIRB approval. Unless they already have FIRB approval, foreign parties MUST invoke this clause. A date must be specified by which approval is obtained, after which the contract becomes void. FIRB approval normally takes up to 14 working days, and applications can be mailed, couriered or faxed to the authority.

Click to view or download the official FIRB Guidelines in Adobe Acrobat PDF format (32k).

Click to view or download the official FIRB Application in Adobe Acrobat PDF format (60k).