Foreign Investment Facts

Only 40,000 of the estimated 11 million residential dwellings in Australia are owned by foreign investors.

Data from the Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets for residential land tracks homes bought from 2016 to 2024, that are still owned by international interests.

Victoria accounts for 40% of those properties (16,929), followed by New South Wales with 8862 properties, Queensland with 8129 and South Australia with 2129.

The majority of properties bought by foreign buyers are new builds, although there are about 8000 established properties that were purchased.

From April 1 2025, the Federal Government introduced a 2-year ban on foreign investment in established property in an effort to improve housing affordability and accessibility for local buyers.

ATO data shows mainland China investors are the largest group of foreign owners in Australia, followed by residents of Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and the United Kingdom.

Its data shows 31,888 of the purchases were for less than $1 million.