Is Australia Selling Off Its Real Estate?

In the recent Federal election campaign in Australia, the Greens political party and several other candidates from other political persuasion expressed a concern that Australia was opening up and selling off its real estate to foreign buyers. They also argued that this has resulted in making residential real estate unaffordable to the average person in Australia. According to the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), the level of 'expected' foreign investment in Australian real estate has increased from $269 million to $45 billion over the past 30 years. This paper will examine the regulations for foreign investment in the Australian real estate market and identify the critical changes to these regulations over the past three decades. It will also identify the changing investment patterns and the level of investment and see if there is a relationship between foreign investment and rising prices in the Australian residential real estate market