Buying in Los Angeles vs Australia: costs compared

Los Angeles has no stamp duty worth the name, but it sends you a property tax bill of roughly 1% or more of the price every single year.

The short version

Australians can buy in California on the same terms as Americans. There's no foreign buyer approval, no quota and no surcharge.
The single biggest cost difference: on about A$1 million, NSW transfer duty is about A$39,200 [8]. In the City of Los Angeles the transfer taxes on a US$700,000 home come to about US$3,900 (A$5,600) in total, and they're often charged to the seller [1].
The trade-off is the annual property tax. California's base rate is 1% of the assessed value, plus voter-approved levies, and in most of LA County the total stays at or under 1.25% [2].
E-3 visa holders can get a mainstream US mortgage from many lenders, but FHA loans have been closed to non-permanent residents since May 2025 [3][4].
Selling is where the paperwork bites: FIRPTA withholding of 15% if you've become a non-resident, plus a California withholding of 3⅓% of the price unless an exemption applies [5][6].

Can an Australian buy in the United States?

Yes. There's no federal rule stopping an Australian citizen buying a house, a condo or a duplex in Los Angeles, and California has no foreign ownership restriction on homes. Your visa status matters for the loan, not for the title.

A few things to know before you start hunting in Silver Lake, Culver City or Long Beach:

Condos come with an HOA. The homeowners' association sets monthly dues and rules, and the lender will want to see its finances.
Agents' pay changed in 2024. Since the national settlement over real estate commissions, buyers in most markets sign a written agreement with their own agent before touring homes, and what that agent is paid is negotiable. Ask early who's paying whom.
Escrow and title insurance are standard. A neutral escrow company holds the money and a title insurer covers the ownership. Expect to pay for the buyer's title policy and escrow share.
Dual citizens don't gain much. A US passport changes the loan and tax picture, not your right to buy, which you already have.

Upfront costs side by side

Rates as at November 2026. US dollars converted at the RBA rate of US$0.7014 per Australian dollar on 5 November 2026 (US$1 is about A$1.43).

Cost	Los Angeles	Buying back home (as an Australian living abroad)
Purchase tax / stamp duty	No state stamp duty. LA County documentary transfer tax of 0.11% plus City of LA real property transfer tax of 0.45% (about 0.56% in total), commonly paid by the seller but negotiable [1]	NSW transfer duty: A$11,602 plus 4.5% of the value over A$387,000, up to A$1.29 million (2026–27) [8]. Other states differ
Foreign buyer surcharge or additional duty	None. The City's Measure ULA adds 4% from US$5.4 million and 5.5% from US$10.9 million (from 1 July 2026), whoever the buyer is [1]	None for Australian citizens in NSW [9]
Legal or notary fees	Escrow and title insurance fees; a real estate lawyer is optional	Conveyancer or solicitor, typically a few thousand dollars
Buyer's agent / commission	Negotiated in a written agreement with your agent; the seller may or may not contribute	Optional buyer's agent; common for buyers based overseas
Registration and other fees	County recording fees, home inspection, and a supplemental property tax bill after purchase	Land registry transfer and mortgage fees of a few hundred dollars, plus building and pest reports
Loan fees	Origination fees, appraisal, sometimes "points" to buy down the rate	Application and valuation fees; lenders mortgage insurance above 80% LVR

That supplemental bill trips up newcomers. Under Proposition 13, a sale resets the assessed value to market value on the transfer date. If the old owner was paying tax on a 1990s value, you'll get a catch-up bill for the rest of the tax year on top of the regular one.

Getting a loan

In Los Angeles

Fannie Mae, which buys a large share of US home loans, accepts lawful non-permanent residents "under the same terms that are available to U.S. citizens", leaving the lender to check your status [3]. In practice an E-3 holder with a US job, a Social Security number and a credit file can often get a conventional loan with a deposit similar to a local's. The catch is the credit file: US lenders can't see your Australian history, so it pays to start building one the week you arrive.

FHA loans, the low-deposit government-backed option, are no longer available to non-permanent residents for case numbers assigned from 25 May 2025 [4]. Green card holders still qualify.

If you're buying in LA while living outside the US, you're in "foreign national" loan territory: fewer lenders, larger deposits and higher rates.

Back home

An Australian lender sees your US dollars as foreign income. Expect a haircut on how much counts, a lower maximum LVR than local borrowers get and a shorter list of lenders. Some don't accept US income at all. As an Australian citizen you don't need FIRB approval and NSW charges no foreign surcharge [9].

Holding costs

	Los Angeles	Australia (NSW example)
Annual property tax	1% of assessed value plus voter-approved debt, at or under 1.25% in most of the county [2]. Assessed value then rises by no more than 2% a year while you own it. Owner-occupiers can claim a homeowners' exemption of US$7,000 of assessed value [2]	Council rates; land tax on investment property above the NSW threshold. Your home is usually exempt
Building costs	HOA dues for condos; homeowner's insurance, which has become harder and dearer to get in parts of California after the 2025 fires	Strata levies for units, building insurance for houses
Tax on rent	Taxed by the US and California once you're a US tax resident. Non-resident landlords face US withholding on gross rent unless they elect to be taxed on net income	Foreign residents pay 30% from the first dollar on Australian rent up to A$135,000 (2025–26)

Two tax systems can grab the same income. Most E-3 holders become US tax residents under the substantial presence test, and the US then taxes worldwide income, rent from your Brisbane unit included. If you're also still an Australian tax resident, Australia taxes your worldwide income too, LA rent included. The tax treaty and foreign tax credits stop most double tax, but you need someone who knows both systems.

Selling and tax

Los Angeles

Sell the home you've owned and lived in for at least two of the last five years and you can exclude up to US$250,000 of gain, or US$500,000 for a married couple filing jointly [7]. Above that, long-term gains are taxed federally at 0%, 15% or 20% depending on income, and California taxes gains as ordinary income on top.

Two withholdings apply at closing:

FIRPTA. If you're a foreign person for US tax when you sell, which usually means you've moved back to Australia, the buyer must generally withhold 15% of the price [5].
California real estate withholding. The default is 3⅓% of the sale price, with exemptions for sales of US$100,000 or less and for a principal residence you've owned and lived in for two of the last five years [6].

Both are prepayments, not the final tax. You file and get the excess back, which can take months.

Australia

If you sell an Australian property while a foreign resident, you generally can't claim the main residence exemption, even for years it was your home, unless the narrow life events test applies. Since 1 January 2025, buyers must withhold 15% of every Australian property sale unless the seller provides an ATO clearance certificate by settlement, which foreign residents can't get [10]. 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, pending legislation.

Currency risk

Buy in LA on a US salary and you carry no currency risk until you move home. Then every dollar of sale proceeds converts at whatever rate applies that week.

A worked example

Illustration only. One budget, two places: US$700,000 for a Los Angeles condo (about A$998,000 at the 5 November 2026 RBA rate) against A$1,000,000 for a NSW home. Escrow, title, inspection and loan fees are left out because they vary. We assume the home is in the City of Los Angeles.

	Los Angeles, seller pays transfer taxes	Los Angeles, buyer agrees to pay them	NSW, Australian citizen abroad
Transfer tax / duty	Nil to the buyer	US$3,920 (0.56%) [1]	A$39,187 [8]
Foreign surcharge	Nil	Nil	Nil [9]
Upfront tax total	Nil	US$3,920 (about A$5,600)	A$39,187
First-year property tax, roughly	US$7,000 to US$8,750 (1% to 1.25%) [2]	Same	Council rates, a few thousand dollars

The NSW sum: A$11,602 plus 4.5% of A$613,000. The LA sum: 0.11% plus 0.45% of US$700,000 is US$3,920.

Now run it forward. At 1.1%, five years of LA property tax comes to about US$38,500 (A$54,900) before the yearly increases of up to 2%, already more than the one-off NSW duty. LA is cheap to enter and steady to hold; NSW is expensive to enter and cheaper to hold for an owner-occupier.

Which suits whom

These factors change the answer:

How long you'll stay. LA's low entry cost suits a shorter horizon better than most cities. A five-year E-3 stint can make sense on purchase costs alone.
Visa certainty. The E-3 is renewable but tied to a job. Think through what happens to the loan and the home if the job ends.
Insurance and risk. Fire, earthquake and insurance availability are real costs in parts of LA. Get quotes before you bid, not after.
Whether you're moving home. Selling from Australia means FIRPTA, a US tax return and waiting for refunds. Keeping it as a rental means a US landlord's tax life.
Estate planning. US estate tax treats non-resident non-citizens much less generously than citizens. Get advice in both countries.

Want to compare notes with others who bought on an E-3? Join Cooee United States, our Facebook group for Australians in the US, at /join/.

Buying in Los Angeles vs back home: the cheap entry and the long tail