Why limit these fees to foreigners? Why not penalize anyone who is leaving properties empty?
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Unoccupied housing in growth areas needs to be taxed mercilessly.
And taxes on non-multifamily rental properties should also be physically painful for the owners.
How many properties are currently affected by this? 6 times the taxes is mentioned, but how much is that per property and in total? It's odd. This is the second time I've seen this story and that relevant information is missing in each one. It reads more like a government press release to make it look like they are doing something but it's window dressing only. We need structural reform in housing. Not just in Australia, but worldwide. It's a necessity, not an asset.
It's an ongoing fee. The initial fee is raised by 3 times, and if the property is empty for more than 6 months of the year, they are charged twice the fee (so 6 times what the fee currently is, which starts at $13200aud and is up to $105600aud depending on the value of the property)
This means it will cost tens of thousands of dollars up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, each year, to leave it empty over half the year
Yeah. The article doesn't go into details whether vacancy is self reported and what enforcement looks like.
The cynic in me says this is a great political policy, but something foreign investors will sidestep with minimal effort.
Is it based on water consumption? Leave a tap dripping.
Is it based on electricity consumption? Leave a light on.
Is it based on garbage being collected? A friend takes your bins out once every couple of months.
I want these policies to work to better support Australians with more housing options, but I'm not convinced this is enough.
Haven't read the article- does it explain why are there so many empty properties? I didn't know this was a thing. I'm glad they're finally coming along with regulations though
Chinese and boomer investors.
I'm aware of who but not why. Are they just letting them sit there until the prices rise ( I know that doesn't take too long)? Or is there another reason?
yes ,becuase the house prices in Australia rise so fast it's actully profitable to buy one outright (if you can afford it) and literally let it sit empty for 5 years ,sell it again and make hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars.
The when system (of capitalism) is ethically bankrupt and downright disgusting. Houses should be for homes, not profits.
That's usually the reason and the possibility of getting a citizenship (depending on what country the property is in it can help).
I’ve a friend in Taiwan. She says it’s common for rich Chinese people to buy homes in Taiwan as a way of locking down that money in a way the government can’t access it.
Fairly common scheme with Canada, rich Chinese buy a house in Canada, declare their taxes as being paid in Canada to Chinese authorities and being paid in China to Canadian authorities...
The different levels of Canadian governments get criticized for letting them buy properties and companies here when Canadians would never be allowed to do the same in China...
My friend in Taiwan is experiencing something similar. Their bank was all “oh yeah you can absolutely get a loan as a foreigner with us as long as your Taiwanese parent is willing to cosign”.
They already own the home, they’re just trying to restructure the mortgage after a breakup.
It’s ridiculous.
The bogeyman reason is investors (and especially Chinese investors).
Suspect the real reason is they're a mix of holiday homes, near ruins, crap properties in crap locations, tangled up in a bunch of legal shit, inheritance proceedings, or the old person that owns it is in care.
There's a bunch of greed as well, but it's not worth leaving a property empty over renting it out for an exorbitant sum.
There are many, but one of the reasons is to buy a house in the catchment area of a good school. They child can attend and pretend they are living in the house but still live in the city
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