buying a house in SA

[Prema]

Hi there,

Does anyone know if you can buy a house on a 457 visa?

Do you need to be PR before you can buy?

Thanks
Prema x

[soggy]

Hi there,

Does anyone know if you can buy a house on a 457 visa?

Do you need to be PR before you can buy?

Thanks
Prema x

Hi,
I believe you can buy a property on a 457 providing it has at least one year left on it and you get FIRB approval, have a look at their web site http://www.firb.gov.au/content/default.asp you can also give them a phone call, helpful people.

Simon:)

[Andrew Williams]

Hi Prema.

Just bear in mind also that as a temp/provisional visa holder if you are looking to get a mortgage then generally you will only be able to borrow maximum of 80% of the property value.

Regards

Andy

[Bernie]

Hi Prema,
Really good news for all temporary resident visa holders in Australia.
The rules have just changed.
I am copying a blog post I wroye about this below.

The Australian Government's twenty year old rules applying to temporary residents buying property in Australia have just been relaxed. Yippee!
What does this mean? Previously if you were a temporary resident you had to notify the Foreign Investment Review Board of your proposed purchase and had to comply with restrictions on resale and development.

Not any more, here is how it will work in future.
If you are living in Australia as a temporary resident, (apart from tourists, business people and those here for medical treatment).

You will now be able to do the following without notifying the FIRB:

-Buy an established or new home to live in as your principal place of residence (not for investment purposes).
-Buy a single block of residential land on which to build your new home.

In addition foreign students resident in Australia will no longer have a $300,000 restriction on the value of a property they can purchase to live in.



For more information read the press release in full and always get independent professional financial and legal advice.
Good luck

[soggy]

Hi Prema,
Really good news for all temporary resident visa holders in Australia.
The rules have just changed.
I am copying a blog post I wroye about this below.

The Australian Government's twenty year old rules applying to temporary residents buying property in Australia have just been relaxed. Yippee!
What does this mean? Previously if you were a temporary resident you had to notify the Foreign Investment Review Board of your proposed purchase and had to comply with restrictions on resale and development.

Not any more, here is how it will work in future.
If you are living in Australia as a temporary resident, (apart from tourists, business people and those here for medical treatment).

You will now be able to do the following without notifying the FIRB:

-Buy an established or new home to live in as your principal place of residence (not for investment purposes).
-Buy a single block of residential land on which to build your new home.

In addition foreign students resident in Australia will no longer have a $300,000 restriction on the value of a property they can purchase to live in.



For more information read the press release in full and always get independent professional financial and legal advice.
Good luck

Hi,
I am not sure if this has happend yet, I am on a sir 495 and am buying a house as we speak, I spoke to FIRB directly 2 weeks ago and 1 week ago and at that time approval was still needed, they thought then that the change would have taken place 3 weeks before that but there were delays, I was granted FIRB approval to buy a house to live in as recently as Tuesday (25-03-09) so if you are about to buy check first to make sure. Even if you do still need to get FIRB approval it is not a big problem anyway so you need not worry.:)

Sorry Rachel but South Plymton will be going down market a bit from Easter.:D

[Bernie]

Hi Soggy,

Thanks for the info. The press release was in Dec 2008 and the changes were due to be implemented by Feb 2009. The wheels of officialdom may have ground to a halt finalising the paperwork. I am checking for updates on the situation.

Glad you're got sorted with a new home.

[burgermeister]

We're currently on a 3 year temp visa and hoping to get PR after that. We've just paid the deposit on a new block of land at Wasleys (just north of Gawler) and were unsure about whether we still needed FIRB approval.

We showed the agent the info about regulations changing from 18 Dec 08 but not being fully in place until end of Feb / early March 09 re no longer needing approval.

He wrote a clause into our contract re pending non-requirement of approval and we said we would check and still apply if needed.

When I rang FIRB a few weeks ago they said approval would not be required within the next couple of weeks so it would be easier and quicker to hold off going any further until the regulations were officially changed. I rang 3 times altogether to clarify points and each person was helpful but seemed to tell a slightly different story.

The expected date for the regulations has so far gone back at least one month and we're now thinking that we had better get the approval after all, especially as Simon mentioned he got his this week.

[Bernie]

Hi Burgermeister,
Yes it is a bit frustrating and what I am finding too, no definitive answer about exactly when the changes will be implemented.
No harm getting the approval as you have done the right thing by writing it into the contract.
All the best with in your new place!

[burgermeister]

Bernie,
the changes have now been made official as of 31st March 2009 and for anyone (like us) who signed up between 18th Dec 08 and 31st march 09, we don't have to apply for FIRB approval.
http://www.firb.gov.au/content/policy.asp

[TC for short]

Just be careful buying a house on a 457 visa. Remember your visa has strings related to your sponsor (ie your employer) and the EXACT job you do so if anything goes wrong at work you could end up in deep doo-doo. You might want to consider waiting until you're on something a little more stable, given the current economic climate.

TC