Australia
A predictable legal framework — that does not let foreigners in everywhere.
- Role in a portfolio
- Long horizon
- Foreign ownership
- FIRB approval, generally new-build only
Australia is here because people with children studying or living there keep asking about it. The legal framework is mature and predictable, and for a non-resident foreigner it is also the most restrictive on this list: the purchase must be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board, and approval is generally granted for new dwellings — established housing is usually off limits to a non-resident.
On top of that come foreign-buyer surcharges to stamp duty and an annual vacancy fee. On paper these are percentages; in a budget they are a visible share of the transaction, and they belong in the model before the property is chosen, not after.
In our own material Australia almost always appears as a comparison against Dubai — Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney set against the Dubai alternative. That is the honest framing: as a standalone investment market for our buyer it rarely wins, as the solution to a family problem it regularly does.
The caveat: FIRB approval and foreign-buyer surcharges consume part of the budget before the transaction even starts.
Other locations
Comparing this market with Dubai
Tell me the budget, the horizon and what the purchase is for. Where the answer is Dubai I will say so with numbers from our own stock; where it is not, I will say that too.