What's the difference between leasehold and freehold property?

Freehold (Torrens title): full + indefinite ownership of land + building. Single most-common ownership structure in AU residential property. Title is registered on the state Land Registry under each state's Real Property Act (e.g. NSW Real Property Act 1900 (NSW), VIC Transfer of Land Act 1958). Strata-titled apartments have a freehold interest in the lot with shared common-property ownership through the body corporate.

Leasehold (in AU): rare residentially. Most common in: (a) ACT, all residential land is technically leasehold from the Commonwealth (typically 99-year leases that automatically renew), so 'ACT freehold' is a colloquialism; (b) Crown-land arrangements for some coastal/regional sites; (c) Aboriginal-trust + native-title arrangements; (d) commercial / retail property (often leasehold with longer terms).

What changes for a leaseholder: you can sell + mortgage your interest, but only for the remaining lease term. As the lease ages, the property's saleability + lender appetite drops, most banks won't lend on a residential lease with under 50 years remaining. Lease renewal is at the landlord's discretion + can come with significant fee increases or non-renewal in some cases.

Practical buyer impact in the ACT: 99-year auto-renewing leases function near-identically to freehold in most respects. Stamp duty + buyer rights apply normally. ACT-specific quirk: 'land lease' fees (annual) are negligible in residential contexts. For a buyer, the ACT 'leasehold' framing is mostly a legal technicality + a conveyancer will explain the practical implications.