Why are foreigners allowed to buy houses in Australia?
“Chinese homebuyers have made a strong return to the Australian housing market, driven in part by the weaker dollar and the Chinese New Year holiday period.
Peter Li of Plus Agency, which specialises in selling homes to Chinese buyers, said it had already seen a 20 per cent increase in enquiries for viewing properties during the Chinese New Year.”
And
“Australia has the highest ratio of international students per capita in the world by a large margin.
Australian universities’ concentration of international students is unparalleled. Australia has roughly 2.5 times the number of international students per 100,000 population of second-placed United Kingdom and around three times Canada.”
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In estimates I asked what the rules were in regard to foreigners buying houses in Australia.
Foreign students are allowed to buy houses if they are studying here. This rule was introduced by Kevin Rudd in 2008 during the GFC to keep property prices high.
This explains why the number of foreign students studying in Australia increased dramatically after the GFC.
The Chinese buyers referred to in the article would be “foreign students” studying here no doubt funded by their parents or related entity.
Foreign students or any other foreigners should not be allowed to buy either new property or existing property.
It’s time the Australian government put the Australian people first.
Quotes from:
https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/11/australian-universities-double-down-on-international-students/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14353059/amp/chinese-buyers-australia.html
Economics Legislation Committee
26/02/2025
Estimates
TREASURY PORTFOLIO
Department of the Treasury
Senator RENNICK: Can I clarify the rules around foreign ownership of housing. I’d like to reference an article on the web from the Daily Mail that says:
“Chinese homebuyers have made a strong return to the Australian housing market, driven in part by the weaker dollar and the Chinese New Year holiday period. … of … Agency, which specialises in selling homes to Chinese buyers, said it had already seen a 20 per cent increase in enquiries for viewing properties during the Chinese New Year.”
My understanding of it was that foreigners can only buy new property, not existing property. That is question 1. Question 2 is: can the parents of students studying here buy property here?
Mr Tinning: In answer to your first question, there’s recently been an announcement of a ban on the purchase of established dwellings. Until recently, there were certain circumstances under which people could buy established dwellings, but that will change effective 1 April with the ban. I’m happy to go through the exceptions that there were, but basically—
Senator RENNICK: What were the exceptions, if you don’t mind?
Mr Tinning: Either it involves a primary residence in Australia or the purchase of a property by an employer on behalf of an employee or there is substantial redevelopment that adds to the housing stock.
Senator RENNICK: So, in the case of a foreign student, if they were studying here and they wanted a house to live in, you could have bought a house for the student studying here?
Mr Tinning: They would have to buy it.
Senator RENNICK: They would have to buy it while they were here and then sell when they left?
Mr Tinning: Correct.
Senator RENNICK: That’s good to know.
