Treasury’s final quarterly report for 2025–26 shows foreign residential approvals at their lowest in at least three years. The policy goal is to steer foreign money into new homes. The purchase data shows that market was shrinking before the ban began.
Foreign buyers received approval for 2,979 residential property purchases in the year to 30 June 2026.
Two years earlier, that number was 5,581.
The figures come from Treasury’s quarterly report on foreign investment for April to June 2026, the last report for the 2025–26 financial year. Over the same two years, the value of approved residential proposals fell from $6.6 billion to $4.7 billion.
A falling number is not surprising on its own. Since 1 April 2025, foreign persons have been banned from buying established homes. What matters for builders is the other half of the policy.
The ban was designed to push foreign money into new homes
Treasury’s guidance on residential land states the government’s policy is to channel foreign investment into new dwellings rather than established ones, because new dwellings add to housing supply.
That direction is not new. Foreign persons were generally barred from established homes before 2025. The ban closed the main remaining exception, which allowed temporary residents to buy one established home to live in.
The ban was originally set to run for two years. In the 2026–27 Budget, the government extended it by two years and three months, so it now runs to 30 June 2029.
Under the ATO rules, foreign persons can still apply to buy new or near new dwellings, off the plan property and vacant residential land. Temporary residents, who could previously buy one established home to live in, can now apply only for vacant land or new dwellings.
Treasury’s guidance says there is no limit on the number of new dwellings a foreign person can buy. Vacant land approvals generally require construction to be completed within four years, and the land cannot be sold before then.
Redeveloping an established home is still possible, but generally only where the project creates at least 20 additional dwellings. That rules out the single knockdown rebuild.
On paper, every remaining pathway runs through new construction.
Foreign purchases of new homes fell by more than a third in two years
Approvals measure intention. The ATO’s Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets measures what was actually bought.
The register’s 2024–25 report, tabled in March 2026, shows foreign persons acquired 4,623 residential properties in 2024–25, down from 6,265 the year before. Established homes fell from 32.9 per cent of those acquisitions to 22 per cent.
The ATO links that drop to two changes: the tripling of application fees for established dwellings in April 2024, and the ban that began in the final quarter of 2024–25.
New dwellings tell a different story. Foreign acquisitions of new dwellings fell from 2,640 in 2022–23 to 2,028 in 2023–24, then to 1,655 in 2024–25.
That is a fall of more than a third over two years. Most of it happened before the ban existed.
That is a fall of more than a third over two years. Most of it happened before the ban existed.
Approval versus acquisition
A foreign investment approval is permission to buy. It is recorded when Treasury or the ATO approves a proposal, and some approvals are never used. An acquisition is a completed purchase, recorded on the ATO’s Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets. Approval numbers show intent. Register numbers show what foreign buyers actually bought.
Why the latest approval figures cannot settle the question
The register’s 2024–25 figures cover only one quarter of the ban. The approvals data covers the full 2025–26 year, but Treasury’s quarterly reports do not split residential approvals into new dwellings, vacant land and established dwellings.
So the 2025–26 approval figures cannot show whether foreign demand for new homes has picked up, held steady or kept falling.
There are other limits. Treasury notes its statistics reflect investor intentions rather than actual purchases, and can include approvals that are never acted on. Proposals also include exemption certificates, which can cover purchases made over several years.
That matters for apartment and townhouse projects. Treasury’s guidance allows developers of 50 or more dwellings to hold a new dwelling exemption certificate, so foreign buyers in that project generally do not need their own approval. Those sales do not appear as individual approvals.
The certificate carries its own limits. No more than half of the dwellings in the project can be sold to foreign persons under it, and each foreign buyer is generally limited to $3 million of dwellings in a single development.
Foreign approvals have fallen across most source countries
The source country figures show a broad decline rather than a single market pulling back.
Approvals for buyers from China fell from 1,998 in 2023–24 to 785 in 2025–26. India fell from 550 to 243, and Nepal from 321 to 112.
Taiwan is the exception among the largest sources. Its approvals rose to 463 in 2024–25 before returning to 387 in 2025–26, close to where they were two years earlier.
Processing has slowed. The ATO’s median processing time for approved residential proposals was four days in 2024–25 and 11 days in 2025–26. In the April to June 2026 quarter, it was 14 days.
The ATO says it is enforcing the ban through enhanced screening of residential proposals. The quarterly report does not give a reason for the longer processing times.
Foreign buyers are a small share of Australian home purchases
The scale is small. According to the ATO, foreign persons made 0.5 per cent of all Australian residential property acquisitions in 2024–25, down from 0.8 per cent the year before.
In dollar terms, approved residential proposals were worth $4.7 billion in 2025–26, against $277.5 billion in approved commercial proposals. Residential was less than 2 per cent of the total.
Against the wider housing supply picture, that is a minor input. The policy settings themselves show where any effect lands: off the plan sales, new home purchases and vacant land, the only pathways still open to foreign buyers.
The 2025–26 register report will be the real test
The register’s next annual report, covering 2025–26, will be the first full year of purchase data under the ban. It will show whether foreign purchases of new dwellings steadied once established homes were off the table, or kept falling.
When it lands, the line that matters to builders is new dwellings, not the total. A smaller total is the expected result of the ban. A smaller new dwelling count would mean the redirection is not happening.
Until then, the policy rests on an assumption: that foreign buyers shut out of established homes will buy new ones instead.
The data so far does not show that happening. It shows fewer foreign buyers across the board.
The Good Builder Take
The foreign buyer ban has been framed as a supply measure. For our community, the useful question is narrower. Is it sending more buyers to new homes?
Two years of data say not yet. Foreign purchases of new dwellings were falling before the ban, and total approvals have kept falling since.
That does not make the ban the wrong call. Foreign buyers were a small part of the market before and are smaller now. But redirected foreign demand is not showing up in the numbers, and a presale plan that counts on it is resting on an assumption rather than evidence.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Foreign persons can apply to buy new or near new dwellings, off the plan property and vacant residential land. Treasury guidance says there is no limit on the number of new dwellings a foreign person can buy. The ban applies to established dwellings, with limited exceptions.
The ban began on 1 April 2025 and now runs to 30 June 2029. It was originally due to end on 31 March 2027, and was extended by two years and three months in the 2026–27 Budget.
The ATO’s Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets recorded 4,623 residential acquisitions by foreign persons in 2024–25, down from 6,265 in 2023–24. That included 1,655 new dwellings. Foreign persons made 0.5 per cent of all Australian residential property acquisitions that year.
Generally, yes. Treasury guidance says vacant land approvals are usually conditional on at least one dwelling being built and construction being completed within four years of approval. The land generally cannot be sold before construction is finished.
Related articles
- Federal Budget 2026–27: What Builders Need to Know
- Australian Construction Industry News and Analysis
Last updated: 23 October 2026. Figures current to Treasury’s quarterly report for 1 April to 30 June 2026 and the ATO Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets 2024–25 Report.
General Information Only: This article provides general information only and does not constitute legal, financial or professional advice. It does not take into account your particular circumstances. You should seek independent professional advice before making any decision based on this information. We take care to ensure accuracy at the time of publication, but data, rules and guidance may change, and we accept no liability for any loss arising from reliance on this content.
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