The Albanese Government will ban foreign investors from buying established homes for at least two years and crack down on foreign land banking.
We’re coming at this housing challenge from every responsible angle.
This is all about easing pressure on our housing market at the same time as we build more homes.
These initiatives are a small but important part of our already big and broad housing agenda which is focused on boosting supply and helping more people into homes.
It’s a minor change, but a meaningful one because we know that every effort helps in addressing the housing challenge we’ve inherited.
We’re banning foreign purchases of established dwellings from 1 April 2025, until 31 March 2027. A review will be undertaken to determine whether it should be extended beyond this point.
The ban will mean Australians will be able to buy homes that would have otherwise been bought by foreign investors.
Until now, foreign investors have generally been barred from buying existing property except in limited circumstances, such as when they come to live here for work or study.
From 1 April 2025, foreign investors (including temporary residents and foreign‑owned companies) will no longer be able to purchase an established dwelling in Australia while the ban is in place unless an exception applies.
These limited exceptions will include investments that significantly increase housing supply or support the availability of housing supply, and for the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
We will also bolster the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) foreign investment compliance team to enforce the ban and enhance screening of foreign investment proposals relating to residential property by providing $5.7 million over 4 years from 2025–26.
This will ensure that the ban and exemptions are complied with and tough enforcement action is taken for any non‑compliance.
Alongside the temporary ban on foreign purchases of established dwellings, we will tackle land banking by foreign investors.
We’re cracking down on land banking by foreign investors to free up land to build more homes more quickly.
Foreign investors are subject to development conditions when they acquire vacant land in Australia to ensure that it is put to productive use within reasonable timeframes.
The Government is focused on making sure these rules are complied with and identifying any investors who are acquiring vacant land, not developing it while prices rise and then selling it for a profit.
This activity breaks the rules and results in delays to the development of essential residential housing and commercial developments.
We are providing the ATO and Treasury $8.9 million over four years from 2025–26 and $1.9 million ongoing from 2029–30 to implement an audit program and enhance their compliance approach to target land banking by foreign investors.
Foreign investors that have already acquired or are proposing to acquire vacant residential or non‑residential land will be subject to heightened scrutiny by the ATO and Treasury to ensure they comply with development conditions.
A temporary ban on foreign purchases of established dwellings, strengthened compliance activity by the ATO to enforce the ban, and an enhanced compliance approach by both the ATO and Treasury to discourage land banking by foreign investors will help ensure that foreign investment in housing is in our national interest.
The ATO and Treasury will publish updated policy guidance prior to the commencement of these changes.
These initiatives are an important part of the Albanese Government’s $32 billion Homes for Australia plan.
We’re investing more in housing than any government in history.
Peter Dutton and the Coalition have promised to cut tens of billions from housing and to halt construction on thousands of new homes by scrapping Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund.
The housing crisis would only get worse under Peter Dutton.
The contrast is clear – Labor is all about more homes, the Liberals are all about more cuts.
We’ll continue to do everything we can to ease pressure on the housing market and build more homes, more quickly, in more parts of Australia.