You’ve got to hand it to the politico-housing complex. Like some Skynet computer virus it can evolve and mutate so as to inflict ever more pain upon the economy in the long term. We’ve already had news today that foreign investors are gorging on NSW new home grants, now it’s citizenship exports that are booming. From BS:
New analysis from the real estate advisory arm of Korda Mentha has revealed that the government’s significant investment visa scheme is booming, with the number of approved visas growing exponentially in the second half of 2013.
As per the visa requirements, a “significant investor” is required to commit at least $5 million worth of investment to Australia. Off the Korda Mentha figures, this means that in 2013, the scheme brought in at least $440 million to the Australian economy.
Apparently the figures have taken off since the election.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
