# Changes to rules for foreign ownership of property in Australia



## startrader (19 April 2010)

For anyone who is interested I am just listing below the changes (as much as I could find out) which the Government made in December 2008 to the rules for foreign ownership of property.  These changes were made on the sly without consultation with the community or experts.

- Temporary visa holders do not now have to notify the FIRB of proposed acquisitions.

- Overseas businesses can buy property to accommodate staff.

- *ALL* apartments in new projects can now be sold to foreigners.  Previously only 50% could.

- There is now no limit on what student visa holders who live in Australia can spend on property and they don't have to sell when they leave the country.  They previously could only spend up to $300,00 per property .

Seeing as I watched prices in my neighbouring suburb increase 53% last year, directly as a result of buying from Chinese purchasers, I am extremely concerned about this issue.  Prices in Melbourne have risen over 19% in the last year.

We have a situation in Australia where loan approvals have fallen for five months in a row and yet at the same time we have record auction clearance rates!  A most unusual situation.  A lot of Australians probably aren't seeing what is happening as a lot of the buying is in inner city suburbs.

The Chinese have recently pushed up property prices in Hong Kong and Singapore and the governments there have imposed policies to cool the housing markets.

Our Government now has no way of tracking how many overseas buyers there are here.

How are Australians who are not in the market going to be able to afford to get into the market with this going on?

Yet another thing that the Labor Party has touched which has turned into an unmitigated disaster.  

I rang Wayne Swan's office this morning to ask when the changes are going to be reversed and was told that "it's on the Government's radar and there will be an announcement about it shortly".

I urge any of you who are interested to contact your local member about the issue.


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## Bushman (19 April 2010)

The legislation was snuck in just before Christmas. 

The cynical part of me wonders if it was done to prop up the housing market? Bit like the retail stimulus package, just the funding of this was private. 

Off course, hot Chinese money chasing offshore hard assets could show a lack of faith in Chinese paper assets and the banking system a la what Greek investors are doing to the London market at present. 

Lol; social time bomb IMO.


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## GumbyLearner (19 April 2010)

startrader said:


> For anyone who is interested I am just listing below the changes (as much as I could find out) which the Government made in December 2008 to the rules for foreign ownership of property.  These changes were made on the sly without consultation with the community or experts.
> 
> - Temporary visa holders do not now have to notify the FIRB of proposed acquisitions.
> 
> ...




Hi startrader.

Cheers for the informative post. Don't mean to nitpick but you forgot to include the First Home Buyers Grant which is I understand also available to foreign purchasers as long as they reside in the purchased principal place of residence for 12 months.


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## startrader (19 April 2010)

GumbyLearner said:


> Hi startrader.
> 
> Cheers for the informative post. Don't mean to nitpick but you forgot to include the First Home Buyers Grant which is I understand also available to foreign purchasers as long as they reside in the purchased principal place of residence for 12 months.




Hi GumbyLearner,

Are you serious?  I can't believe that!  My daughter wasn't even eligible for the grant as she and her husband bought an apartment with his sister, even though it was a first home for all of them.


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## GumbyLearner (19 April 2010)

startrader said:


> Hi GumbyLearner,
> 
> Are you serious?  I can't believe that!  My daughter wasn't even eligible for the grant as she and her husband bought an apartment with his sister, even though it was a first home for all of them.




Yeah, I'm pretty sure an applicant only needs permanent residency status
to be entitled to the grant under section 30(1) of the Migration Act 1958.


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## startrader (28 April 2010)

Last Friday night, a few hours after the Storm news broke, Senator Nick Sherry chose to make an announcement regarding the tightening of foreign investment rules for residential housing.  The Age newspaper reported the news as "FOREIGN HOME BUYERS BACKFLIP" and stated that "the Federal Government will scrap its controversial new rules on foreign investment".  In fact that statement was completely inaccurate.

The new rules mean that:

- Now all temporary residents seeking to purchase an existing property will be brought within the FIRB notification, screening and approval process. They will have to sell the established property when they depart Australia.
- There will be a civil penalties regime that will apply to breaches of the foreign investment in Australian real estate.

This modification to the Government' previous rule changes will be very easy to be bypassed - foreigners will still be able to own property in the name of an Australian entity (company or trust).

So the only change to the disastrous modifications to rules for foreign ownership is that temporary residents will now have to notify the FIRB of a purchase and they will have to sell when they leave Australia. The biggest change had been the removal of the $300,000 cap for student visa holders as this allows them to buy any existing property - in any suburb- regardless of value.  This was the biggest change and had the biggest impact.  The recent FIRB changes will not have any material impact on purchases by overseas buyers because NONE of the previous rules - rules that made it easier for temporary resident/student visa holders to purchase residential property - are being changed.


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## poverty (5 May 2010)

What about non-residents who already own a house in Australia and come and go on tourist visas a few times a year?  Will they be pulled aside at the airport and told they need to sell their house when they try to leave?


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## startrader (6 May 2010)

poverty said:


> What about non-residents who already own a house in Australia and come and go on tourist visas a few times a year?  Will they be pulled aside at the airport and told they need to sell their house when they try to leave?




Hello poverty,

Why don't you contact the FIRB and find out.  

Cheers,
Startrader


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## dutchie (25 October 2017)

*'New Zealand no longer for sale': New Kiwi government announces plan to BAN foreigners from buying property*

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-buying-houses-New-Zealand.html#ixzz4wUSpSsBX 

We should do the same and more importantly we should stop the sale of agricultural land to foreigners!


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## CanOz (25 October 2017)

Another country destined to the toilet. Can’t wait to see her fail by the skin of her teeth...


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## satanoperca (25 October 2017)

CanOz said:


> Another country destined to the toilet. Can’t wait to see her fail by the skin of her teeth...



Nice attitube, so you hope that a PM that is standing up for the interests of the citizens of their country fails but making housing more affordable and not allowing any foreigner to come in and buy and thus exclude the residents of the country from a home.

Nice one. Seems you are aligned to the LNP and FIRB, who have laws in place to restrict foreign ownership but select not to enforce them.

I hope you have no children that would like the opportunity to buy a home in the mother country Australia


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## Smurf1976 (25 October 2017)

Ignoring the arguments for or against, NZ banning foreigners from buying property is yet another example of what has become a trend - rising nationalism.

From an investment perspective that underlying theme is one to be aware of certainly since it does seem to be a rising trend.


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## CanOz (25 October 2017)

I have a Scottish mate that recently moved to nzd, luckily for him he bought his house a couple years ago....Bannister foreigners from buying property is protectionism and curbing migration is long term suicide.


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