Australian Federal Government gets tough on foreign ownershi
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Australian Federal Government gets tough on foreign ownership rules
From: Herald Sun
By Phillip Hudson
April 24, 2010 12:01AM
FOREIGN students and temporary residents will face tough new rules when buying a house and will have to sell on leaving Australia.
The Federal Government’s crackdown, to be announced today, reverses its December 2008 decision to relax foreign ownership rules.
Bowing to public pressure, the Government will also introduce a hotline for concerned locals to “dob in” foreigners they suspect of breaching the rules.
Under the rules, temporary residents and foreign students will be:
SCREENED by the Foreign Investment Review Board to determine if they will be allowed to buy a property.
FORCED to sell property when they leave Australia.
PUNISHED if they do not sell by a government-ordered sale plus confiscation of any capital gain..
REQUIRED to build on vacant land within two years of purchase to stop “land banking”. Failure to do so would also lead to a government-ordered sale.
There have been growing claims that real estate prices have been forced up by wealthy Asian families, especially from China and Korea, buying up property and outbidding locals at auctions.
The Government is concerned by anecdotal reports that foreigners are “collecting” houses, often in the same street, and leaving them empty when there is a shortage of housing.
Assistant Treasurer Senator Nick Sherry said he wanted to ensure foreigners did not put “pressure on housing availability for Australians”.
Treasury is investigating 50 suspicious residential buys by foreigners in Melbourne.
Senator Sherry said the changes would “ensure that investment is in Australia’s interests and in line with community expectations”.
He said the Government would catch cheats with new powers allowing it to cross-match information from Land Victoria and the Immigration Department.
It will also rely on members of the public to report suspicious property buyers to a new hotline: 1 800 031 227.
“I want to make sure everyone in the community has a direct line to report their concerns,” Senator Sherry said.
“If you do the wrong thing, you will be found out.”
New penalties, which may be linked to the value of the property, will apply to buyers, sellers and estate agents.
There is no data showing how many properties have been bought by temporary residents.
Since the Government’s 2008 change, the median house price in Melbourne has risen from $450,000 to $524,500.
Foreigners living overseas are still prevented from buying existing homes and only allowed to buy or build new ones.
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About time. The miserable little cockroaches are wrecking the market.
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Senator Sherry should join our SDP, get a seat and take over ah Mah
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aussie govt makes more sense than our local ivory tower
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Foreigners should come buy up public and private property in Singapore.
They won't face such problems.
Really.
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FOREIGN PROPERTY BUYERS WHO CANT BUY PROPERTIES IN AUSTRALIA NOW FOCUSIING ON SINGAPORE PROPERTIES INSTEAD.
PRICE OF SPORE HOUSING EXPECTED TO RISE ASTRONOMICALLY IN LESS THAN A YEAR!
SOME "LEADER" ON DEFENDING SPORE PROPERTY: WHAT U SELL IN YER PROPERTY PRICES NO MATTER HOW HIGH IT IS CANT BE USED BY U RIGHT NOW N UNTIL 20 YEARS LATER AT LEAST.....MEANWHILE ALL PROFITS WILL BE CHANNELED INTO MY CPF FUNDS.ITS MINE!!!ALL MINE!!!HAHAHA...WILL GIVE BACK YER MONEY WHEN IM THRU WIV IT.THATS A PROMISE.
ANOTHER "LEADER": PUT YER LEFT LEG OUT AND YER RIGHT FOOT IN ....WIGGLE YER ASS A LIL AND TURN ALL THE WAY ROUND........AND THATS HOW ITS DONE!!HICCUP!!
ANOTHER FUTURE "LEADER":TAKES $$$$ AND BLOWS IT ON A COMPANY IN BROADWAY FEATURING A BUNCH OF DANCING CATS.
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well done aussie/.
i salute for what u done for your countrymen.
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That's is why they are very lazy
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they arent lazy,,,,,,more like toopid.
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whose lazy or stupid?
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See? Australia's land is bigger than us, but they care abt their own citizens & know lands are precious. Over here? Even with the fact that they know our land is limited but still, doesn't wanna get tough on Foreign ownership. Where is our hotline huh?!
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one of the reason for australia home prices is of coz due to foreign ownership + i think the real culprit was australia govt slow in releasing land for home building. they had such vast land andn yet the govt is quite unreluctant to release land for more home building. they are abt environment more than their own ppl ba.