Via Domainfax:
Foreign purchasers are buying as much as 40 per cent of all new apartments in Melbourne, with new figures showing a surge in a tax raised from offshore investment.
Official data, released to The Age under freedom of information legislation, reveals that a tax on foreign buyers of residential property, introduced in mid-2015, has become a significant money-spinner for the Andrews government, with revenue almost doubling in a year.
However, while the tax now generates substantial revenue of more than $133 million, it is not specifically itemised in state budget papers.
Property industry insiders and analysts believe this is because of the political sensitivity around foreign ownership and declining housing affordability.
The figures come as a separate analysis by leading property advisory firm Charter Keck Cramer found about four out of 10 of Melbourne’s new apartment purchases are to offshore buyers.
Truth is the first casualty of the population ponzi, even when there is nothing wrong with foreign purchases of off the plan apartments. Tax ’em high and hard!
It’s foreign purchases of existing dwellings that are the main problem which is why they elect to hide the lot.
