Abstract:
The level of foreign investment in the Australian property market has
increased nearly one hundred fold since 1980, rising from $269 million in
1980 to over $25.7 billion in 2004. But the increase cannot be attributed to
anyone factor or anyone investor country. Whilst Japan more or less
dominated foreign investment into the Australian property sector in the 1980s,
there have been several other countries with large investment since the
1990s.
Using statistics from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), this paper
will analyse the foreign investment pattern into the Australian property market
over the past 25 years, identifying the changing pattern of investor country.
The paper will also identify the major reasons for its changing pattern and
discuss whether such factors will have influence on the level of any future
investment into Australia.
