Australia is tightening scrutiny of foreign ownership in agriculture and real estate to combat public fears that Chinese investment is forcing up house prices and could potentially undermine the country’s food security.
From next month, purchases by foreign investors of agricultural land worth more than A$15m (US$11.6m) will be subject to regulatory approval from Australia’s Foreign investment Review Board. The previous threshold was A$240m.
The Australian tax office will undertake a stock take of agricultural land ownership by foreign owners, and new rules on foreign investment in residential real estate will be outlined in “coming weeks”, according to Canberra.