Callam Pickering today joins the crusade to bring clarity to foreign property investors at locked-BS:
I see three primary issues with the terms of reference as they currently stand.
First, the inquiry appears set to focus primarily on investors living overseas, but it is the behaviour of temporary residents that should be of greatest concern. It is quite simply too easy to get around the FIRB rules for temporary residents, encouraging foreign investors to increase their holdings of Australian property.
Second, they have not explicitly stated that they will address information collection or publication. Current information collection is slow and opaque, leaving the public uncertain surrounding the nature of foreign investment. Who is buying Australian property and to what extent? It is frustrating that anecdotal evidence is the best available evidence that we have on the state of foreign investment in Australia.
Third, there is no mention of the costs of foreign investment into Australian real estate. The inquiry is framed under the assumption of benefits but the public is primarily concerned about the cost. The reason this inquiry exists is because of concerns that Australians are being priced out of the market.
…Chinese property investment in Hong Kong outstrips investment in Australia but that is the type of shock we leave ourselves open to by allowing practically unfettered investment into Australian property. Widespread foreign investment leads to a more volatile housing market — greater gains during upswings but also greater losses during downturns.
Could not have put it better ourselves!
