Sydney, 16 February 2025 (dpa/MIA) - The Australian government has announced a two-year ban on foreign entities purchasing established residential property in the country.

"Today the government is announcing that we are going to ban foreign ownership of existing property in Australia," Australian Housing Minister Clare O'Neil told broadcaster Sky News on Sunday, calling the ban "an important move."

"It is not a silver bullet to the housing crisis because there is no silver bullet, but I really firmly believe that given the housing pressures that Australians are facing today, we need to orient the entire efforts of the Australian government around security of housing for Australians and, wherever possible, home ownership for a broader range of young Australians," the minister told Sky News.

"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," O'Neil said in a statement.

"From [April 1,] 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."

O'Neil said that in the 2022-23 financial year, foreign buyers bought around 1,800 existing homes.

"Over a two-year period we're going to free up ... effectively twice
that for Australians to get into home ownership," she said.

The minister also announced that the government would provide A$5.7 million (US$3.6 million) over four years from July 2025 "to enforce the ban and enhance screening of foreign investment proposals relating to residential property."

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported that developments of at least 20 properties would be exempt from the ban.

For the period from July 2022 to June 2023, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) reported 5,360 residential real-estate purchases - for a total value of $4.9 billion - had "a level of foreign ownership." Of these, 1,823 were "established dwellings."

In the same period, the "total number of residential real-estate sale transactions by foreign persons" was 1,119, the ATO said, with a total value of $1 billion.

The policy echoes a similar proposal by the opposition a year ago, meaning it should receive bipartisan support.

The Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has stated that helping young Australian get on the property ladder is one of its priorities ahead of a federal election this year.