From: Herald Sun
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April 24, 2010 12:01AM
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-->FOREIGN students and temporary residents will face tough new
rules when buying a house and will have to sell on leaving
Australia. <!-- google_ad_section_end(name=story_introduction)
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google_ad_section_start(name=story_body, weight=high) -->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..
<!-- // .story-sidebar -->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.
Source:
http://www.news.com.au/money/property/australian-federal-government-gets-tough-on-foreign-ownership-rules/story-e6frfmd0-1225857643432
