By Leith van Onselen

Another day, another report about foreign investors hoovering up established Australian homes, this time in Queensland [my emphasis]:

MOVE over, Sydney and Melbourne. Chinese interest in Australian property is increasing, and there’s a new hot location. Chinese purchasing intent was up 35 per cent month-on-month and up 17 per cent on the same period one year ago, according to Juwai.com’s Purchasing Intent Index for Q2. Queensland is the clear winner… Christine Rudolph of Ray White New Farm said 30 to 40 per cent of her sales in the last six months had been to overseas Chinese, mainly from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. She said some of her recent sales included 125 Crosby Road, Hamilton, which sold to buyers from Guangzhou after multiple offers over $2 million, 12006/8 Harbour Road, Hamilton, which sold to buyers based in Shanghai for $1.65 million, and 81 Markwell Street, Hamilton, which sold post-auction to a Singaporean Chinese family for upwards of $3 million… Mr Rudolph said she was making sure all of her listings were automatically translated to Mandarin. “I have changed my recommendation to clients to take the Chinese buyer seriously,” she said.

I will inform readers, once again, that Australia’s foreign investment rules preclude non-residents from purchasing existing dwellings. And yet, here we have another two examples where established homes appear to have been sold to foreigners. These examples are:

And 81 Markwell Street, Hamilton:

Last week, NAB also released its June quarter Australian Residential Property Survey, which revealed that foreign buyers increased their share of existing home sales to around 10% nationally:

Again, it is obvious to all and sundry that Australia’s foreign ownership rules are being flouted with frequent occurrence, thus helping to price young Australians out of home ownership.

We should also not forget that the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on money laundering has already warned that Australian residential property is a haven for international money laundering, particularly from China. As has the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), which warned that “laundering of illicit funds through real estate is an established money laundering method in Australia”.

Viewed in this light, it beggars belief that Australia’s governments can launch thousands of prosecutions and fines against unauthorised Uber-X drivers, while effectively turning a blind eye to the seemingly many illegal sales of existing homes to non-residents.

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