Buying in Dublin vs back home: the costs Australians compare

Ireland's stamp duty is among the lightest you'll meet: 1% on a typical Dublin home, whoever you are. The hard part isn't the tax, it's the loan.

The short version

• Ireland has no restrictions on foreigners buying homes and no foreign buyer surcharge. Australians buy on the same terms as Irish citizens.
• The single biggest cost difference: stamp duty of 1% on the first €1 million in Ireland [1], against NSW transfer duty of about 3.9% on a A$1 million home [7].
• Irish mortgage rules cap most loans at 90% of the price and at 4 times income for first-time buyers, or 3.5 times for everyone else [2].
• Local Property Tax replaces council rates and land tax. On a €600,000 home it's a few hundred euro a year [3].
• Sell an Irish home you lived in and the gain is usually tax-free; sell an Australian one as a foreign resident and you lose the main residence exemption [9].

Can an Australian buy in Ireland?

Yes, with no paperwork beyond the normal conveyancing. Ireland doesn't approve, cap or surcharge foreign buyers. You can buy a red-brick terrace in Stoneybatter, an apartment by the Grand Canal Dock or a semi-d in Clontarf exactly as a local would.

That means an Irish passport doesn't change your purchase costs. Plenty of Australians have one through an Irish-born grandparent, and it helps with living and working in the EU, but at the solicitor's office it makes no difference.

What does matter:

• Whether you're a first-time buyer. It affects your loan limits [2] and whether you can use the Help to Buy scheme on a new home [6]. If you've owned a home in Australia, expect lenders to ask about it; you may not count as a first-time buyer.
• Whether you're buying new or second-hand. New homes carry 13.5% VAT in the price, but stamp duty is charged on the price without VAT.
• Your residence status. Lenders look closely at your visa, Stamp type and how long you've worked in Ireland.

Upfront costs side by side

Rates as at November 2026. Euro converted at the RBA rate of €0.6228 per Australian dollar on 5 November 2026 (€1 is about A$1.61).

The headline: on most Dublin homes, Irish stamp duty is a quarter or less of what NSW charges at a similar price. Buy above €1.5 million and that changes quickly, because the 6% band kicks in [1].

Help to Buy, if you qualify

First-time buyers of a new or self-built home worth €500,000 or less can claim back up to €35,000, or 10% of the price, capped at the income tax and DIRT you paid in the previous four years [6]. The scheme runs until 31 December 2029 and needs a mortgage of at least 70% of the price [6]. A recent arrival who hasn't paid four years of Irish tax will usually get less than the maximum.

Getting a loan

In Dublin

This is where Australians hit the wall. Irish banks lend to non-EU nationals, but most want to see a solid employment history in Ireland, a permission to remain with real time left on it, and Irish bank statements. Newcomers often need a year or two of Irish payslips before a bank will look at them.

The Central Bank of Ireland sets the limits every lender works within [2]:

Banks can exceed these for a limited share of their lending each year (15% for home buyers, 10% for buy-to-let) [2], so exceptions exist but aren't guaranteed. On a €620,000 home, a 10% deposit is €62,000, plus stamp duty and fees in cash.

Back home

Australian lenders accept euro income, but they'll usually count only part of it and lend at a lower LVR than for a borrower in Australia. As an Australian citizen buying in your own name, you don't need FIRB approval [8]. Ironically, the Australian loan can be easier to land than the Irish one in your first year in Dublin, while the Irish one is cheaper to set up.

Holding costs

There are no water rates or land tax on an ordinary home, and LPT is modest. Councils can move the basic rate up by as much as 25% or down by as much as 15% [3].

If you become Irish resident, Ireland taxes your worldwide income, so rent from an Australian property belongs on your Irish return, with credit for Australian tax under the tax treaty. If you're still an Australian tax resident, Australia taxes your worldwide income, Dublin rent included.

Selling and tax

Dublin

The home you've lived in as your main residence is generally exempt from Irish capital gains tax. An investment property is taxed at the standard CGT rate, currently 33%. On sales of houses or apartments over €1 million, the buyer must withhold 15% of the price unless you give them a CG50A clearance certificate from Revenue [4]. That rule will feel familiar.

Australia

Australia now has its own version, and it has no threshold. Since 1 January 2025, the buyer withholds 15% on every property sale unless the seller provides an ATO clearance certificate by settlement, and foreign residents can't get one [10]. If you sell while a foreign resident, the main residence exemption is generally gone, even for years you lived in the home, unless you pass the narrow life events test [9]. The May 2026 federal Budget also proposed replacing the 50% CGT discount with indexation and a 30% minimum tax for gains from 1 July 2027.

Currency risk

You'd be swapping one currency risk for another. Euro savings put into a Sydney deposit lock in today's rate; an Irish mortgage on a euro salary carries no currency risk until the day you move home and sell.

A worked example

Illustration only. We compare a €620,000 Dublin home (about A$995,500 at the 5 November 2026 RBA rate) with a A$1,000,000 NSW home. For context, the median Dublin price in the 12 months to June 2026 was €500,000, up 4.6% on a year earlier [5]. Legal, survey and loan fees are left out because they vary.

How we got there: 1% of €620,000 is €6,200. For a new home, stamp duty applies to the price without VAT, about €546,300, so the duty is about €5,460. The NSW figure is A$11,602 plus 4.5% of A$613,000.

NSW duty is roughly four times the Irish bill. In Dublin, the cash you need goes into the 10% deposit instead.

Which suits whom

There's no universal answer. The factors that tend to decide it:

1. Can you get the Irish loan? If not for a year or two, buying back home may be the only option for now.
2. How long you'll stay. Low stamp duty makes Ireland cheaper to enter and exit than most places, which suits medium-term stays.
3. Whether you'll move home. An Australian property can become your future home. Check the main residence rules before you sell anything as a foreign resident.
4. Rental plans. Dublin has strong rental demand, but also detailed tenancy rules and rent controls. Renting out an Australian home from overseas means a property manager and foreign resident tax.
5. Estate planning. Ireland's inheritance tax and Australia's lack of one interact in ways that need advice on both sides.

Want to know how other Australians got their first Irish mortgage approved? Join Cooee Ireland, our Facebook group for Australians in Ireland, at /join/.

Sources

1. Stamp duty rates on residential property – Revenue (Irish Tax and Customs)
2. Mortgage measures framework review – Central Bank of Ireland
3. Local Property Tax valuation bands and rates – Revenue
4. CGT clearance certificate (CG50A) on the disposal of an asset – Revenue
5. Residential Property Price Index June 2026 – Central Statistics Office
6. State supports for first-time buyers – Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
7. How to calculate transfer duty – Revenue NSW
8. Surcharge purchaser duty for individuals – Revenue NSW
9. Main residence exemption for foreign residents – Australian Taxation Office
10. Foreign resident capital gains withholding overview – Australian Taxation Office

Keep reading

• Renting in Dublin as an Australian
• Irish citizenship by descent and working in Dublin
• Deposit and LVR as an expat borrower: how much you need
• Buying the home you'll move back into