The Australian Government has warmly welcomed and encouraged people from all parts of the world to investment in Australian real estate by foreign nationals. However, some migrants must get special permission to buy real estate in Australia. Only Australian citizens, people with Australian permanent residency and New Zealand citizens can buy a house or other property in Australia without permission from the Foreign Investment Review Board. As a migrant without permanent residency, if you get permission to buy a house, there will be a number of conditions that you have to fulfill.
The Australian Foreign Investment Guidelines confirm that a foreign person wishing to acquire real estate in Australia must seek prior approval from the Government through the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) or, unless a specific exemption exists under the guidelines. A foreign person is:
- a person who does not ordinarily reside in Australia. A person who is a citizen of a foreign country is not ordinarily resident in Australia unless they have been in Australia for 200 days in the past year and they have Australian citizenship or migration approval to reside here permanently;
- a company in which a natural person not ordinarily a resident in Australia or a foreign corporation holds a controlling interest (holding of 15 per cent or more). A corporation with a substantial foreign interest (where several foreigners and any associates have 40 per cent or more in aggregate of the ownership) is also regarded as a foreigner.
Purchases requiring Board approval
If the purchase falls under one of the following categories, it must be submitted to the Board for its approval.
Second-hand real estate
Purchasers of second-hand houses or units are not normally approved unless they fall under one of the categories below.
- You are a student at a university and you want to buy an established home to live in while you’re studying. If the purchase price is under $300,000 and you are over 18 years of age, hold a student visa for at least the next 12 months and you undertake to live in the property as your home and not rent any part of it, you will be eligible for approval. You will also need to undertake to sell the property when you leave Australia or when your studies are completed, and you’ll have to provide proof of your enrollment at the institution. My firm has represented many students from Indonesia, Malaysia and other Asian countries who are studying on the Gold Coast and whose parents have funded the purchase of properties around the local universities to provide safe accommodation for them away from the temptations of student accommodation on campus. It has worked well for these families with the properties being sold on completion of their degrees.
- If you are a foreign company with a substantial Australian business and you wish to buy a property for your senior executives to live in while they reside in Australia. If they will be residing for periods longer than 12 months and the company is prepared to undertake that no part of the property will be rented, and it is sold when the executives move out, approval will normally be granted for the purchase.
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