Housing — Public Housing, Rent Assistance, and Foreign Buyer Rules

Australian housing support runs on three tracks: state-run public/social housing, Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) paid by Centrelink, and a set of First Home Buyer incentives plus the FIRB approval regime for foreign purchases. The biggest contrast with Korea is that public housing waitlists are extremely long (5–10+ years in some states), so for most new permanent residents the realistic path is private rental + CRA.

Public / social housing

• Run by state and territory housing authorities (NSW Housing, Homes Victoria, QBuild, etc.).
• Eligibility: PR or citizen, household income and assets below the cap, with a minimum residence period in your state.
• Wait times: priority cases (domestic violence, homelessness, etc.) are fast-tracked; standard applications can wait several years to over 10 years.
• Rent: typically 25–30% of household income.
• Community Housing: non-profit-run quasi-public housing — sometimes faster than mainstream public housing, so apply to both.

Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA)

• Paid automatically as a top-up if you receive another Centrelink benefit (JobSeeker, FTB, Age Pension, etc.) and pay private rent above a certain level.
• Up to roughly AUD 212 per fortnight for singles and AUD 280 per fortnight for families with children, indexed in March and September (2026 guide).
• No separate application needed — register your rent (lease) with Centrelink and CRA is calculated automatically.

First Home Buyer

• First Home Owner Grant (FHOG): state-set, typically AUD 10,000–30,000 for first-time buyers of new homes.
• Stamp duty concessions: first-home purchases below a state threshold (around AUD 600,000–800,000) often get full or partial stamp duty exemption.
• First Home Guarantee: the federal government guarantees your loan so you can buy with as little as 5% deposit and no LMI (Lenders Mortgage Insurance).
• First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS): make voluntary super contributions and later withdraw a portion towards a first home, with tax savings.

Foreign buyers — FIRB approval is mandatory

Australia tightly restricts foreign property purchases.

• Temporary visa holders and non-resident foreigners must obtain Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval, and are typically limited to new dwellings or vacant land.
• From April 2025 to March 2027, foreigners are temporarily banned from buying established (existing) homes, as part of policy to protect supply for first-home buyers.
• Permanent residents do not need FIRB approval and can buy on the same basis as citizens.
• FIRB application fees scale with purchase price and can run from AUD 13,000 into the hundreds of thousands — confirm costs before committing.

Things to watch

• Temporary visa holders (student, working holiday, 482, etc.) don't qualify for CRA.
• In the highly competitive Sydney and Melbourne rental markets, rental applications (employment, income, references) are essentially interviews.
• First Nations households and domestic-violence survivors have priority channels — contact your state housing authority.

Official guidance: Services Australia: Rent Assistance, FIRB