The Australian says that "overseas buyers may be crowding locals out of the market"! "Anecdotes abound about cashed-up Chinese investors "land banking" by collecting houses, only to leave them vacant while desperate first home buyers lose out at auctions to these foreign buyers.
This situation largely results from a change implemented rather quietly, a few days before Christmas 2008, by the Rudd government relaxing Australia's previously stringent restrictions on foreign purchases of residential real estate. The Australian says that barely a year later, property prices have surged so strongly that the RBA is having to raise interest rates to dampen the buyers' desires.
Under the changes, called "administrative" by the FIRB, visitors on 12 month visas are allowed to buy one property to live in while they are here, and are no longer required to sell that property when they leave Australia. There are typically 300,000 visitors eligible under these new rules each year.
The author of this blog lives in a street where a Chinese visitor last year bought a property before auction for well over the expected price, and the property is still empty. We understand that Ray White Beecroft, the selling agent, has written to the new owner offering to put tenants in, so far without result. Meanwhile the neighbours are getting very distressed by the growing weeds in the front garden!
This situation largely results from a change implemented rather quietly, a few days before Christmas 2008, by the Rudd government relaxing Australia's previously stringent restrictions on foreign purchases of residential real estate. The Australian says that barely a year later, property prices have surged so strongly that the RBA is having to raise interest rates to dampen the buyers' desires.
Under the changes, called "administrative" by the FIRB, visitors on 12 month visas are allowed to buy one property to live in while they are here, and are no longer required to sell that property when they leave Australia. There are typically 300,000 visitors eligible under these new rules each year.
The author of this blog lives in a street where a Chinese visitor last year bought a property before auction for well over the expected price, and the property is still empty. We understand that Ray White Beecroft, the selling agent, has written to the new owner offering to put tenants in, so far without result. Meanwhile the neighbours are getting very distressed by the growing weeds in the front garden!
No comments:
Post a Comment