Implode-o-Meter News - Australia Slaps Chinese Home Buyers With New Taxes

As AFP notes, last year, leading apartment developer Lend Lease sold out more than Aus$600 million (US$445 million) worth of new units in Sydney's Darling Harbour in under five hours, with the Australian Financial Review reporting that one-third of buyers were foreign. Lend Lease said the sale broke local records but such reports have also fuelled calls for government action to protect Australian buyers.
Prior to Sydney's move, other Austrlian states had already implemented protections and in response to China's unprecedented influx of cash, the New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland state governments have introduced or are set to slap new property and land taxes on foreign buyers, sparking an outcry from developers fearful that they will flee to other markets such as New Zealand and Canada. "It is very bad. Without the Chinese nothing would ever get built," the country's richest man and head of prominent developer Meriton, "high-rise" Harry Triguboff told the Australian Financial Review last week.

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Australia Slaps Chinese Home Buyers With New Taxes