New to Australia, permanent residency granted
Home loans for new permanent residents in Melbourne
The day your permanent residency is granted, the lending picture changes completely. Most lenders will now treat you the same as an Australian citizen, the foreign investment restrictions no longer apply to you, and the first home buyer grants and schemes open up. What holds new arrivals back is usually not the visa. It is a thin Australian credit file, a job that is still on probation, and savings that arrived from overseas. All three are manageable with the right lender.
Why the first year is the tricky one
The three things lenders actually look at
First, credit history. Your record from Afghanistan, Iran, India or anywhere else is invisible to an Australian lender. What they see is a file that may only be a few months old, with a phone plan and perhaps a car loan on it. A short, clean file is fine with most lenders. A short file with missed payments on a Buy Now Pay Later account is not. Small habits in the first year matter more than most people are told.
Second, employment. Many new residents are in a job less than twelve months, sometimes still on probation. Some lenders will not lend during probation at all. Others will, if the role is permanent and you have a history in the same field, including overseas. Knowing which is which saves a wasted application.
Third, the deposit. Money that came from overseas is completely acceptable, but lenders want to trace it: bank statements from the sending account, the transfer records, and evidence it has been sitting in your Australian account. Some lenders also want to see three months of regular savings here before they count it as genuine savings. Set this up early and it is a paperwork exercise, nothing more.
- Lenders who accept a short Australian credit history and overseas employment history
- Overseas deposit funds documented the way lenders want them, before the application
- First Home Owner Grant, stamp duty concession and the 5% Deposit Scheme checked for eligibility
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Twenty years inside Australian banking, including senior roles at ANZ, before starting Exceed Finance. Plain answers, no pressure.
The numbers that matter
At a glance
General information only. Lender policies change and your full situation has to be assessed before any lender will confirm what they will do. Our service is free to you on residential home loans and everything is disclosed in writing.
Where we can usually help most
The new-arrival situations that come up again and again
PR granted, job on probation
Some lenders lend during probation for permanent roles with relevant experience. Others want it finished. We route you accordingly rather than letting a bank say no.
Savings still overseas
Bring the money across early and keep the paper trail. Lenders need to see where it came from, and some want three months of it sitting here.
Family here, family there
Gifted deposits from parents overseas are accepted, with a gift letter and transfer evidence. Sending money home regularly is fine too, but it shows up in your statements and lenders will ask.
Buying together, one partner still on a visa
Very common. Most lenders can work with one PR applicant and one temporary-visa applicant, though the lender choice narrows and there may be a foreign investment step for the visa holder's share.
Where our clients are
Across Melbourne, and Australia-wide
Shaheera speaks Dari and Farsi as well as English, so if the conversation is easier in your own language, have it that way. Many of the families we have helped arrived in Australia within the last few years. See also our pages for Afghan and Dari-speaking clients and Farsi-speaking clients.
We are based in Dandenong South and a lot of our clients are across Melbourne's south-east, but everything can be done by phone, video and secure upload, so we help clients anywhere in Australia.
Other situations we write about:
Simple from start to finish
How it works
Free chat
We work out your goals and what you can actually borrow.
We compare
We search 35+ lenders and shortlist the ones whose policy fits your situation.
We apply
We package and submit your application, and chase it for you.
Settlement
We see it through to approval, and stay in touch afterwards.
Common questions
Questions we get asked a lot
Do lenders treat permanent residents differently from citizens?
For most lenders, no. Once permanent residency is granted you are assessed on the same policies, the same deposit requirements and the same interest rates as a citizen. A small number of lenders have extra conditions for recently granted PR, but the panel is wide enough that it rarely matters.
Do I need FIRB approval to buy a house as a permanent resident?
No. Permanent residents are not foreign persons under Australia's foreign investment rules, so you can buy an established home without approval and without the foreign purchaser surcharge on stamp duty. That is different from temporary visa holders, who generally do need approval and are currently limited to new dwellings. If you are buying with a partner who is still on a temporary visa, their share can still be affected, so tell us early.
Can I use the First Home Owner Grant and the 5% Deposit Scheme as a new resident?
Yes, if you meet the other criteria. Both require at least one applicant to be an Australian citizen or permanent resident, and both require it to be your first home in Australia. Owning a home in another country does not disqualify you from the Victorian grant or from the federal scheme. Victoria's stamp duty exemption to $600,000 and concession to $750,000 for first home buyers apply as well.
I have no Australian credit history. Is that a problem?
Not on its own. Lenders are used to new arrivals with short files. What they are looking for is the absence of bad marks: no missed payments, no defaults, and not too many recent enquiries. Opening several Buy Now Pay Later accounts or applying for multiple credit cards in the first year is the mistake we see most often, and it is avoidable.
My deposit came from overseas. Will the lender accept it?
Yes, with documentation. Expect to provide statements from the overseas account showing the funds, the transfer record into your Australian account, and your Australian statements since. If any of it was a gift from family, a signed gift letter. Some lenders also want to see regular savings in Australia for around three months before they count the balance as genuine savings, so the sooner the money arrives the better.
Do you charge for this?
Our service is free to you on residential home loans. Everything is disclosed in writing before you commit to anything, and as a licensed credit representative we operate under Best Interests Duty, which legally requires us to act in your interests rather than our own.
Will talking to you affect my credit score?
No. A conversation with us, and the work we do comparing lenders, involves no credit check. A credit enquiry only happens when an actual application is lodged with a lender, and we do not lodge anything until you have chosen to go ahead. The point of doing the work first is so that the application that does go in is the right one.
Sort out where you stand before you go to a bank
One conversation, in English, Dari or Farsi, and you will know which lenders fit your situation and what to gather. Free, no obligation.