Australia
Australia is amongst the 11th wealthiest country and 12th largest economy in the world. Its’ consistently strong economic growth with the country’s economy rated as “AAA”, and the legal and political stability welcomes investors to invest in Australia. Australia is well-known for its’ well-connected ties with ASIA, making it as one of the major destination for business investment. The Australia-Asia trade relationships, data has shown that ten of Australia’s top 12 goods and services export markets were in the Asian region in 2014, and it will be expected that the Asia’s share of Australia’s total exports to exceed 80% by 2030 (Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2014).
It has been recognised that Australia has the largest coral reef and monolith in the world, and with many magnificent beaches attracting influx of international visitors to the country. There were 9 million visitor arrivals, as at year end of March 2018, with an increasing trend of international visitors to Australia. The implementation of multi-year visas boosts the number of leisure travellers and increased demand for serviced apartments (The Straits Times, 2016).
Australian universities have one of the highest numbers of international students in the world owing to its’ presence of strong reputation of universities such as University of Western Australia.
The Australian dollar has been depreciating against the Singapore dollar, which provides for numerous buying opportunities in the property industry. Currently, its currencies are almost on par with Singapore dollars (1 AUD to 1.02 SGD). According to World Economic Forum (2016), real estate sector continues to dominate the Chinese direct investment in Australia, which accounts for 45% of the 2015 total investment. This is driven by investors seeking better returns and asset diversification overseas, as well as the expectation of long term population and economic growth in Australia. In addition, the economic stability of Australia makes the future economic indicators more predictable. Australia has a stable low inflation rate, with expected rate falls between 2% to 3% in upcoming years. Moreover, data has shown decreasing trend of Australian interest rate (1.50%), and hence, it is unlikely that the interest rate will rise sharply in the upcoming years. The low interest rate reduces the cost of borrowing and thus attracts a significant number of investors as their rate of return increases.
Perth
Perth is the capital city of western Australia. Perth has an estimate population of 2.02 million which ranks as the 4th most populated state capital city in Australia, with projected growth at 2.5% per annum until 2036. According to Statista (2017), Perth ranked the top 7th most liveable cities amongst other countries in the world. Perth gained recognition as a beautiful, clean and friendly city as well as a centre of commerce, culture, sports, shopping and entertainment. The capital city is easily accessible by air flights, ferry services, and on land with an extensive bus network and a fully-electrified train system, which provides efficiency and convenience to the people.
Attractions:
There is numerous place of attractions in Perth, attracting influx of visitors, such as the Swan Valley, Perth Arena, The Bell Tower and several beaches. The Fremantle market, well-known for its’ goodness of food is the Western Australia’s ultimate market experience for the locals and tourists. The City of Joondalup, located at the northern suburbs of Perth accessible through direct train service from Perth City, which offers the largest shopping centre the Lakeside Joondalup, in Western Australia. Another of which, the City of Rockingham, located at the Southern suburbs of Perth, offering beautiful expanses of beaches, water sports, beach skydiving, environmental parks and shopping paradise to the people. As well, the City of Mandurah, located at southwest coast of Western Australia, one hour’s drive from south of Perth, renowned for its water-based activities offering adventurous activities including water parks, many gourmet restaurants and cafes overlooking waterfront boardwalks, as well as seasonal events such as the annual Crab Fest in March. With a train line to Perth, Mandurah is a popular destination for people seeking a more relaxed lifestyle, while still having access to the Perth metropolitan area. Also, Perth is an hour’s drive away from the Boddington which is home to Australia’s largest producing gold mine providing income and employment to the locals. In addition, the gateway to Margaret River, tucked away in Australia’s south-west corner, allows ones’ to enjoy the scent of beauty and the sight of magnificent view for ones’ to relax and rejuvenate.
Economy:
- Iron Ore
According to Bloomberg (2016), Western Australia is one of the major iron ore exporters (approximately 950 million tonnes) as compared to Brazil and the rest of the world. The $3.2 billion South Flank mine, located in Western Australia’s Pilbara region has received a significant boost with $244 million investment into the iron ore’s project. This creates several thousands of jobs, and thus increases the employment rates in Western Australia which is a significant boost for the Western Australia economy.
- Lithium
One of the world’s largest lithium refineries is set to be established south of Perth, located at the port of Kwinana, which puts Western Australia at the centre of the thriving global industry.
The rising demand for lithium is due to the growing use for renewable energy storage and electric car batteries. The recent Kwinana lithium project involves the development of a $400 million investment refinery (ABC Net, 2018). The Kwinana-based refinery will create more than 600 jobs opportunities in regional Western Australia.
- Perth’s Housing Prices
Data has shown that Perth’s economy is picking up with housing prices bottomed-out recovery and expected to rise in the coming years (Urban Development Institute of Australia, N.d). This aligns with Business News, Western Australia (2017), which states that Perth home prices have risen 0.3% for three consecutive months for the first time since 2014. This is an initial sign of a recovery phase in the Perth housing market, after dwelling values have fallen 10.8% since peaking in mid-2014. According to BIS Oxford Economics (2017), housing prices are predicted to enter a growth phase and will persist through to 2020.
There are many job opportunities in Western Australia and with the State Government Treasury anticipated points to wage growth doubling up in 2018/19, as well as the low interest rates encourages buying opportunities in the property market. Moreover, data has also indicated positive signs in consumer confidence in Western Australia’s economy, at a four-year high showing signs of economic recovery (PerthNow, 2018). In addition, according to REIA (2017), it states that the affordability in Western Australia’s housing and rental markets had shown improvements in 2017. Rental vacancies has fallen from 11,000 in 2016 to 9,000 in 2017, showing improvements in Perth’s economic conditions (Peard Real Estate, 2018).
Infrastructure and Upcoming Developments:
Perth has been modernising and incorporating of world-class infrastructure to enhance one’s quality of living, for instance the building of Fiona Stanley Hospital. Additionally, the most recent infrastructure development within the healthcare industry is the Perth’s Children Hospital, located in Nedlands, replacing the existing Princess Margaret Hospital to improve the quality of living for the people with better medical equipment and facilities providing the best possible clinical care.
There are reputable schools in Perth, featured in the QS World University Rankings 2018 with University of Western Australia ranked at 93rd and Curtin University ranked at 262th. Other reputable schools include Murdoch University, Edith Cowan University and The University of Notre Dame Australia.
Moreover, there are large scale projects within Perth for instance Elizabeth Quay, Perth City Link, Yagan Square, Belmont Park Redevelopment and New Ritz-Carlton.
- The Elizabeth Quay within Perth’s CBD, $2.6 billion project, is a mixed-use landmark waterfront development of lifestyle precinct with commercial offices, retails and residential that reconnects Perth City with the Swan River.
- The Perth City Link is an urban renewal and redevelopment project that reconnects the CBD to Northbridge through new commercial space and improved public transport.
- The Yagan Square, located in the heart of Perth’s CBD is a popular community and celebration place for the people where the hub of activities takes place within which connects the city’s CBD to Northbridge. This is the place where people meet, connect and experience Western Australia’s culture and heritage.
- The Belmont Park Redevelopment, strategically positioned on the Swan River in Perth which will be transformed into a landmark $3.8 billion development with 4,500 new homes.
- The New Ritz-Carlton development, is one of the prestigious hotel in the world providing a new luxury destination for tourists and attracting visitors across the globe. This upcoming development is set to be a long-term investment in Australia and will be scheduled to open in mid-2019.
The scale of the individual projects within these areas are significant and will ensure Perth can take its place as a major player in the global market. As such, property owners will be able to benefit from the array of quality amenities and services from the developments which would increase their value of assets in Perth.
Legality, Taxation and Finance:
- Legality
Under Australia’s foreign investment framework, foreigners need to apply to Foreign Direct Investment Board (FIRB) for foreign investment approval before purchasing residential real estate in Australia. Foreign individuals are required to pay a fee for each application being made to FIRB.
Temporary residents can purchase one established dwelling to use as a residence while they live in Australia. However, this is upon conditional where there will be a need to sell the property upon leaving Australia, or when he/she cease being a temporary resident and do not becomes a permanent resident or an Australian citizen, as well as not being able to acquire established dwellings to rent out or for use as a holiday home.
Foreigners (both temporary residents and non-residents) will be able to purchase established dwellings for redevelopment.
In the 2017/18 Federal Budget stating that there will be 50% cap on foreign ownership restrictions in new developments. However, this applies to developments which are multi-storey and have at least 50 dwellings.
- Taxation
The Western Australian government will be introducing a 4%/7% (tentatively, subject to changes) foreign citizen stamp duty surcharge on the purchase of new properties from January 2019. Thus, this presents a good period to purchase houses as currently, there will be no foreign citizen surcharge on stamp duty and land tax.
Other taxes that investors will be subjected to, includes: Property taxes, Strata levies, Council rates, Lease duty on rents, Tax depreciation, Personal Tax, Vacancy charge, Capital gains tax where the property market value is above $750,000 (withholding rate is 12.5% of acquisitions).
- Finance
With various financing loan available to foreigners, it becomes more affordable to purchase units in Australia. Some of the approachable banks include National Australia Bank (Australia), DBS Bank (Singapore) and United Oversea Bank (Singapore). NAB offer loan of financing quantum up to 60% which will only be available for temporary visa holders living in Australia. DBS and UOB offers loan to Singapore citizens of financing quantum up to 75% and 70% respectively.
- Invest in Perth:
Perth ranked the top 7th most liveable cities amongst other countries in the world. There are various places of attractions and world-class infrastructure within Perth which attracts influx of visitors. Western Australia is one of the major exporter for iron-ore and lithium, which attracts many investors to invest in projects, boosting the economy significantly and creating many job opportunities for the people. The quality of living of the people are also enhanced with many existing and upcoming developments within Perth providing various quality amenities. Moreover, data has shown that Perth’s housing prices has reached its bottom-out phase and initial signs showing that Perth beginning its’ recovery phase. This can be further supported by Hotspotting founder Terry Ryder which states “The best time to get into any market is when the market is at the bottom of the cycle and Perth has reached that point”. Thus, this presents a good opportunity for investors to enter the property market and purchase houses at low prices ahead of the recovery. Perth’s economic is starting to show positive signs of recovery, where it is expected to see price growth return, albeit at a slow and steady rate. In addition, currently there is no foreign citizen surcharge on new properties. Thus, if investors wait any longer to enter the property market in Perth, they will have to pay a relatively significant amount of surcharge.