Treasury admits dearth of foreign ownership data
The Federal Treasury has admitted that it does not have accurate data on the stock of residential properties in Australia held by foreign investors.
The dearth of accurate data has been confirmed in an answer to a question on notice posed by NSW Greens Senator, Lee Rhiannon during Senate Estimates.
Treasury admitted that there was “currently a lack of data available on the stock of residential properties held by foreign investors”.
It said the total number of Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) applications for residential real estate was expected to be around 15,000 in 2016-17 but admitted, “we do not currently have data on the breakdown of this figure into price ranges for this time period”.
“Since 1 December 2015 the Australian Taxation office (ATO) has collected data on applications to the FIRB rather than actual property settlements,” it said. “From 1 July 2016, FIRB applicants who applied for approval to purchase residential property and purchased property after 1 July 2016 were requested to register their purchase on the Land Register.”
“In regards to the budget impact reference of ‘an estimated gain to revenue of $20 million over the forward estimates’ in 2017-18 Budget Factsheet 1.6, the costing focuses on the revenue raised from the vacancy charges and makes only high level assumptions on properties for which the vacancy charge will not be paid,” the Treasury response said.
Recommended for you
Government has introduced a bill to Parliament to legislate the first stream of the QAR reforms.
ASIC now has a 1:1 ratio when it comes to court success in the enforcement of crypto activities and more action is expected as Treasury seeks to introduce a regulatory framework.
A leading governance body has hit out at “specialist interest groups proposing ad hoc law reform” when it comes to reforms of financial services legislation and believes an independent body is needed.
The release of ALRC’s final report into financial services legislation has highlighted financial advice as a “significant” focus as it seeks to reduce costs and help advisers understand their obligations, alongside the Quality of Advice Review.
