Buying Melbourne Property as a New Zealander

New Zealanders get a better deal on Australian property than almost any other nationality, and most of the guidance online stops right there. It should not, because there is a second test that a lot of New Zealand buyers never hear about until their conveyancer raises it, and it can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The good news, which is genuinely good

New Zealand citizens granted a Special Category Visa (subclass 444) are exempt from needing Foreign Investment Review Board approval to buy residential property in Australia. No application, no FIRB fee, no waiting on a decision before you can sign. That puts a New Zealander in a materially different position from a Singaporean, Malaysian or Vietnamese buyer, who must apply and is restricted to new dwellings.

The exemption covers residential land. It does not cover rural or commercial property, where a New Zealand citizen applies like anyone else.

The test changed on 26 November 2025

This is the part that makes most existing articles wrong. Victoria used to ask a simple question: do you hold a subclass 444 visa? If yes, you were not a foreign purchaser and the additional duty did not apply.

That is no longer the test. From 26 November 2025 the visa requirement was replaced with a residency requirement under section 3K of the Duties Act. Broadly, a New Zealand citizen is not treated as a foreign natural person, and therefore does not pay the additional duty, where they have ordinarily resided in Australia for a continuous period of at least six months within the window defined around the acquisition.

Read that against your own situation. If you have been living in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch and you buy a Melbourne apartment, you may well need no FIRB approval and still be assessed the 8 per cent. Two different governments, two different tests, one very large number in between.

We are not going to tell you which side of that line you fall on. The precise window is set in the legislation, it turns on your actual travel and residence history, and it is your conveyancer's job to confirm it. What we will do is raise it at the first conversation rather than the last, because the sequence of a move and a purchase can change the answer.

The annual cost people forget

Victoria also applies a 4 per cent absentee owner surcharge on top of land tax where the owner is an absentee owner. That is charged every year on the land value, not once at settlement. For a New Zealander who buys before relocating and rents the property out in the meantime, it is a real line in the budget and it belongs in the numbers from the start.

What you can buy

Because the Special Category Visa exemption removes the FIRB approval requirement for residential property, New Zealand citizens are not in the same position as other foreign nationals under the current restrictions on established dwellings. That said, the exemption is about approval requirements, and the interaction is worth confirming with a specialist rather than assuming, particularly if you are looking at established stock.

Where we work is new build. Off-the-plan apartments and townhouses, house and land, and completed turnkey stock. For a buyer still living in New Zealand that has a practical advantage that has nothing to do with tax: you are buying something specified rather than something you need to inspect in person, and the settlement timeline gives you room to organise a move around it.

Why New Zealanders look at Melbourne

Mostly for reasons that have nothing to do with property. Family already here. A job. Children at an Australian university. Trans-Tasman mobility that makes the move reversible in a way a move to Europe is not.

The price comparison does its own work. Melbourne's median house price sat at $812,621 as at 31 May 2026, the lowest of Australia's four largest capitals and below both Brisbane and Perth. We have written about why that is, including the arguments against reading it as a buy signal, because it would be easy and dishonest to present a soft market as an opportunity without saying what made it soft.

Questions we are asked most

Do New Zealand citizens need FIRB approval to buy Australian property?

No, not for residential property. New Zealand citizens granted a Special Category Visa (subclass 444) are exempt from the requirement to obtain Foreign Investment Review Board approval for residential land. That exemption does not extend to rural or commercial property, where approval is required in the same way as for any other foreign national.

Will I pay Victoria's 8 per cent foreign purchaser additional duty?

It depends on where you have been living, and the test changed on 26 November 2025. Victoria used to look at whether you held a subclass 444 visa. It now applies a residency test under section 3K of the Duties Act. Broadly, a New Zealand citizen is not treated as a foreign natural person, and so does not pay the additional duty, where they have ordinarily resided in Australia for a continuous period of at least six months within the window around the acquisition. The precise window is set in the legislation. Your conveyancer should confirm it against your actual travel history rather than estimating.

So can I be exempt federally and still pay the state surcharge?

Yes, and this catches people out. The FIRB exemption and the Victorian duty position are two different tests administered by two different governments. A New Zealand citizen living in Auckland who buys a Melbourne apartment may need no FIRB approval at all and still face the 8 per cent additional duty, because they do not meet the Victorian residency test. On a $700,000 purchase that is a $56,000 difference. It is the single most expensive thing to get wrong.

What if I am moving to Australia but have not moved yet?

Timing matters more than intention. The Victorian test looks at where you have actually been living across a defined period, not at what you plan to do. If a move is on the cards, the sequence of your move and your purchase can change the duty outcome materially. That is a conversation to have with a conveyancer early, not after you have signed.

Is there an annual cost as well?

There can be. Victoria applies a 4 per cent absentee owner surcharge on top of land tax where the owner is an absentee owner. That is an annual charge, not a one-off, and it is assessed on the land value. Whether it applies to you turns on your residency in the same broad way.