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Australia targets foreign home buyers
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Australia is cracking down on foreigners who unlawfully own residential properties, investigating hundreds of cases ahead of the introduction of tougher penalties, Treasurer Joe Hockey said on Saturday.
The government said in May that it would increase penalties for illegal purchases to enforce rules under which foreigners can buy only new homes, and not pre-owned ones.
Hockey said he had ordered the sale of six properties illegally owned by foreigners who had so far come forward on their own, but officials were working on hundreds more cases.
“Through the information provided by the public together with our own inquiries, we now have 462 cases under investigation for breaches of the law by foreign nationals in the purchase of residential real estate,” he said.
“I expect more divestment orders will be announced in the not-too-distant future,” he told a press conference.
Australian real estate prices, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, have soared in recent years, with concerns growing that cashed-up foreigners, particularly from China, have helped inflate the market.
Most of the cases being investigated are in New South Wales and Victoria, the states of which Sydney and Melbourne are the respective capitals, and Western Australia, Hockey said. The “significant foreign investment ... has certainly increased over the past few years,” he said.
The treasurer said that he will introduce legislation into parliament within the next few weeks to ensure that the reporting requirements, enforcement and penalty regimes for foreign investors who break the rules on real estate purchases are tougher.
As already announced, foreigners who illegally buy real estate in Australia will face up to three years in prison or fines of A$127,500 (US$95,000) for individuals and A$637,500 for companies.
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