Foreign buyers made 5,360 residential real estate purchases in Australia over the past financial year, spending $4.9 billion, according to new data from the ATO.

Their average price was $914,000, according to the register of foreign ownership of residential land.

Of the 5,360 purchase transactions in 2022–23, 164 registrants became a permanent resident or gained Australian citizenship during the year and are included in these statistics.

The count of transactions purchased by foreign buyers has increased to 5,360 in 2022-23 from 4,228 in 2021-22 and 5,310 in 2020-21.

The value of transactions purchased has lifted to $4.9 billion in 2022-23, up from $3.9 billion in 2021-22 and $4.2 billion in 2020-21.

Residential properties with values under $1 million dollars formed the majority of residential property purchase transactions. They accounted for 78.2 per cent of property transactions in 2022-23. This is an increase compared to 75.4 per cent in 2021-22.

Luxury properties – those worth more than $1 million – accounted for 78 per cent of transactions, up from 75 per cent the year prior.

The top states for foreign buyers were Victoria (Melbourne), Queensland (Brisbane and the Gold Coast), New South Wales (Sydney), and South Australia (Adelaide).

“The 27 per cent increase in buying last year shows that overseas buyers were bouncing back after the travel slowdown during the pandemic,” according to Juwai IQI co-founder and group managing director Daniel Ho.

“The number of offshore buyers in New South Wales was flat, and actually decreased by 1 per cent from 664 to 656.

“Meanwhile, the number of buyers in Queensland and Victoria jumped. The number of buyers in Queensland climbed 17 per cent, while the number of buyers in Victoria jumped 32 per cent, by about a third.”

“This is the second consecutive year that more foreign buyers purchased in Queensland than in New South Wales.”

While Queensland attracted more buyers over all, New South Wales attracted more millionaire buyers.

“Foreign buyers purchased 284 homes in New South Wales during the year that were worth at least $1 million, compared to only 200 in Queensland,” he said.

“Victoria got by far the most millionaire buyers, with 569 foreign buyer transactions worth over $1 million each.”

If a buyer does not have Australian permanent residency or citizenship at the time of purchase they pay under 10 per cent  of the purchase price on stamp duty and tens of thousands of dollars on foreign buyer application fees.

The increase in foreign buyers comes after a fall during the pandemic, which I wrote about in this feature: