Following a small uptick in activity in Q2, the trend decline in the number of foreign buyers in Australian housing markets that started in early-2018 resumed in Q3 2019, with their share of falling to 5.8% in new property markets (7.1% in Q2), and 3.4% in established housing markets (4.1% in Q2).
In the key markets, the share of sales to foreign buyers in new housing markets fell to 7.3% in VIC (after jumping to 12.2% in Q2) and was well below average (13.7%). In NSW, market share fell to an 8½ year low of just 2.0% (7.8% in Q2) and was also well below average (9.6%). In QLD, foreign buyers accounted for 7.9% of total sales (6.8% in Q2), but this was well below the survey average (12.4%). Foreign buyers were more prevalent in WA (5.8%), after having fallen to a survey low 0.8% in the previous quarter.
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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.
