Home loans for Australian expats
You earn more overseas. Most lenders act like you earn less.
Getting an Australian home loan as an expat isn't about proving you're good for it. It's about finding the lender who reads your foreign income properly, before shading, tax assumptions and rate loadings shrink what you can borrow.
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The expat catch
The problem isn't your income. It's how a lender reads it from overseas.
You took the overseas role and your income went up. Then you apply for a loan back home and a bank's system does three things at once: it shades your foreign salary down, taxes it as if you'd paid full Australian rates, and treats your currency as risk. Add a rate loading for living abroad and your borrowing power looks nothing like your payslip.
What a lender's system sees
- Foreign income, shaded down 20–40% before it counts
- A salary taxed as if you paid full Australian rates, even on 0–15% overseas
- A currency it treats as risk, not pay
- A non-resident it may load the interest rate for
- One bank's "no", taken as the whole market's answer
What's actually true
- A strong, stable income that happens to be earned abroad
- Take-home pay well above what the assessment assumes
- A currency plenty of lenders on our panel accept without a haircut
- Lenders who lend to expats at competitive rates, if you know which ones
- The right lender from 30+, matched to how you actually earn
The shift
Stop guessing which lender says yes. Start planning it.
Applying as an expat usually means firing an application at whatever bank you've heard of, from the wrong timezone, and hoping. Planning flips it. We map which lenders read your income, your currency and your residency the way you need, gather the paperwork once, and time the move around the things that cost you later.
What working with us gives you
Fire an application at a bank from overseas and you get none of this.
We match you to lenders who count your income
Not every lender shades foreign income the same way, and some won't load your rate for living abroad. We know which is which across 30+ lenders, and we present your salary, bonuses and currency so more of it counts. In some cases that stretches to 95% of the property value, assessed on your situation.
Share once. We handle the timezone.
Two years of overseas payslips, foreign tax returns, currency conversions, the lot, collected a single time. We build the case the bank needs and push it through while you sleep, so you're not up at 2am your time re-sending documents. Most clients just tell us the plan and let us work out how.
This loan sets up the next one, and the exit
Buying, refinancing or eventually selling from overseas each carry timing and tax consequences, including how the main-residence rules treat a non-resident. We plan the lending with you and your accountant so today's loan doesn't cost you later. After settlement, your loan stays watched.
Who you'll talk to
A licensed broker who knows expat lending, not a call centre.
You'll work with a licensed credit representative who arranges home loans for Australians living and working overseas, and who's across the parts that trip expats up: foreign income assessment, currency treatment, non-resident policy, and which lenders actually say yes. They work around your timezone, not the other way around.
What clients say
60% was the best they'd been offered. It wasn't the best available.
Australian expats on foreign income
"Being Australian expats, earning foreign income… Other brokers found us lenders who… would only lend to us with a 60% LVR. After feeling quite dejected, we spoke to my broker, and within a matter of a few weeks, we had pre-approval for a loan that actually worked for us… as we are not in Australia, he is still helping us sort out little things like setting up banking facilities."
First home, bought from overseas
"We had a very complex mortgage transaction to negotiate as we live overseas and did not have the 20% deposit. However, MAP Home Loans was instrumental in helping us purchase our first home."
Sorted while working overseas
"As an expat working overseas, MAP Home Loans have been great in getting me a home loan… I never thought buying a home from overseas was easy."
Real customer reviews from MAP Home Loans, the mortgage brokerage behind Approov.
Good to know
Across timezones
We work when you can't be there
You're in Singapore, Dubai or London; we're across your file here. Updates come to you, questions get answered around your hours, and you're never chasing an email at midnight your time.
Human first
The AI never decides
Approov's process handles the documents, the conversions, the updates and the monitoring. A licensed broker makes every call and signs off on the advice.
In your corner
Free to you, and on your side
We're paid by lenders for introducing loans. Under the Best Interests Duty we're legally bound to recommend what's right for you, not what pays us most.
Common questions
Australian expat home loans, answered.
- Can expats get a mortgage in Australia?
- Yes. Australian citizens and permanent residents living overseas can get an Australian home loan. Many lenders accept foreign income; the catch is that their rules differ a lot, so matching you to the right one is most of the work.
- How much can I borrow on overseas income?
- It depends on your currency, how your income is earned, and the lender. Most will "shade" foreign income before counting it, and a deposit of around 20% is common. In some cases, expats on stable foreign salaries borrow up to 95% of the property value. We'll model your real numbers before you commit to anything.
- Which lenders accept foreign income?
- Most major banks and several non-majors will consider it, but each treats currency, employment type and residency differently. Some also load the interest rate for non-residents. We compare across 30+ lenders to find the ones that suit how you earn.
- Do Australian expats pay higher interest rates?
- Some lenders add a loading for non-resident borrowers; others don't. Which one you land with matters more than the headline rate, and it's exactly what we sort out for you.
- Can foreign nationals (non-citizens) buy property in Australia?
- Sometimes, but it's a different path: foreign buyers usually need FIRB approval and face different lending and tax rules. This page is written for Australian citizens and permanent residents overseas. If you're a temporary visa holder, talk to us about your situation.
- What about capital gains tax if I sell while I'm overseas?
- That one's for your accountant or the ATO, not us. The rules treat non-residents differently to residents, and the difference can matter a lot, so it's worth getting advice well before you sell rather than after. Our side is the lending: once you and your accountant have settled on the timing, we plan the loan around it and can work alongside them.
Let's find the lender who reads your real income.
A licensed broker walks you through what you can borrow on your overseas income, wherever you are. Nothing to prepare, no obligation.
15 to 30 minutes · no obligation · 30+ lenders