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Australia toughens property ownership laws for foreigners

Saturday, 02 May 2015 5:44 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 02 May 2015 5:44 PM ]

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott,

Australia has devised new punitive measures to enforce the restrictions set for the foreigners who violate the country’s law on the purchase of real estate.

Under the new measures, foreigners in violation of the property law will face up to three years in jail or fines of 127,500 Australian dollars (USD 100,050) for individuals, and 637,500 Australian dollars for companies.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced that, despite his country’s willingness to attract outsiders to bring their money into the country, he did not want them to buy any of the existing residential properties, advising foreigners to purchase the “right things” instead.

Abbot said, “We do need to have a foreign investment review system which encourages public confidence that the foreign investment we need really is in Australia’s national interest.”

He also warned third parties, such as real estate agents, that if they facilitated and/or assisted foreigners in buying illegal property, they would be fined as well.

Abbott said the punitive measures were not aimed at lowering real estate prices and were only intended to give locals a “fair” chance to buy their own real estate.

According to the country’s law, foreigners are not allowed to purchase any of the existing residential properties, and if they are interested in the purchase of real estate in Australia, they must buy only newly-developed property.

In March, the Australian government forced China’s Evergrande Real Estate Group to sell a Sydney mansion worth 39 million Australian dollars to an Australian national, claiming the group had bought the property illegally under the foreign investment rules.

Foreigners, especially rich Chinese businessmen, have been cited by real estate experts to be behind a bullish trend in the prime property market in key Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne.

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