The Australian Government has published its latest insight into foreign buyer property transactions, with the data indicating purchase volume dropped 19.5 per cent in 2019-20, while sales volume increased 66.4 per cent in the same period.
The data further reveals the drop in foreign buyer purchases had been an ongoing trend for the three-year period to June 2020.
Foreign buyer purchases
In 2019-20, the total number of residential real estate purchase transactions with a level of foreign ownership was 7482 and had a value of $6 billion dollars, according to the report from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
This equated to a 19.5 per cent reduction in the number of purchase transactions and a 19.8 per cent reduction in transaction value compared to 2018–19.
The volume and value also represented a continuing trend of decline over the three years to 30 June, 2020.
In 2017-18, there were 10,491 transactions to the value of $8.5 billion. That then decreased 11.4 per cent in terms of volume and 11.8 per cent in terms of value the following year.
As for where foreign buyers were purchasing in 2019-20, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland represented 88 per cent of all purchase transactions and made up 92.1 per cent of the total value of purchase transactions.
The state with the highest number of purchase transactions for all property types in 2019 to 2020 was Victoria, and residential properties with values under $1 million formed the majority of those transactions, accounting for 79 per cent of property transactions in 2019 to 2020.
By far the most popular property type across all regions was new dwellings, followed by established dwellings, then land.
Foreign buyer sales
The total number of residential real estate sales transactions by foreign persons in 2019-2020 was 1957 with a value of $1.5 billion.
This represented a 66.4 per cent increase in the number of sales transactions and a 49 per cent increase in sales value in 2019-20 compared to 2018-19.
It was also a rise in volume and value compared to 2017-18.
In 2017-18, 1677 properties, to the value of $1.4 billion, were sold by vendors with a level of foreign ownership.
In 2018-19 this dropped to 1176 properties, valued at $990 million, before increasing again in the 2019-20 financial year.
The rise in sales transactions was widespread, with increases reported in all states and the Australian Capital Territory.
The data indicates Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland represented 98 per cent of the total value of sales transactions.
However, the state with the most sales by foreign vendors was New South Wales, which overtook Victoria in terms of the highest number of foreign sales.
By and large the greatest increase was in properties valued at under $1 million, which rose from 80.5 per cent in 2017-18 to 85.3 per cent in 2019 to 2020.
When it came to the type of properties sold, 79.8 per cent were new and existing dwellings when purchased.
When comparing property types, new dwellings had the greatest increase of 91.1 per cent in 2019-20. Vacant land increased by 40.4 per cent and established dwellings increased by 42.8 per cent.
