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 Investing In The Gold Coast Australia

If you are wanting to buy an investment property, we can help you via our free property finder service. Tell us want you are wanting, your price range and leave the rest up to us. We will do all the leg work for you, saving you time. You may also like to consider our house and land packages for tax benefits.

You may like to consider the secrets of real estate investing via this free DVD.



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  • Population increase of 12,000 residents per year (6-8% growth)
  • Sixth largest city in Australia with a multilingual, multicultural population exceeding 500,000 people
  • Gold Coast only 40 minutes from Brisbane
  • Rail link to Brisbane and Brisbane International Airport
  • Vibrant business community
  • Quality educational facilities - four universities catering for international students
  • Different types of housing available - beachside, highrise, waterfront, suburban, hinterland, rural living
  • Low noise and environment pollution
  • Much lower traffic congestion
  • Low state taxes and local government property rates
  • Unenvied picturesque surrounds - beaches, canals, lakes, rain forests, mountains
  • Excellent sporting facilities
  • Endless amounts of entertainment
  • Sub-tropical climate
  • Outdoor lifestyle all year round

More information:

 Premiere Holiday Destination

 
The Gold Coast being Australia's premiere holiday destination, also makes it a place where many people dream of living - superb weather, long beaches, scenic canals, excellent fishing, abundance of golf courses, magnificent hinterland area, beautiful homes - in other words, the Gold Coast gives you a great outdoor lifestyle you cannot achieve in many of the other states of Australia.

Rental properties are in high demand and you can pick your own market - the low end Uni students to the high end, corporate business people working here on short term projects from interstate and overseas. A rental property can achieve a weekly rental starting at around $195 (AUD) per week with an average four bedroom home being rented for $320 per week.

Foreign Investment

 
Overseas Buyers

The Australian Government's foreign investment policy has been developed to encourage investment in Australia and ensure that such investment is consistent with the needs of the Australian community. The Government recognises the important contribution offshore investment makes to the development of Australia's industry, resources and community.

Definition of Foreign Investment
A foreign interest is briefly described as:

1. A person not ordinarily resident in Australia

2. A corporation, business or trust in which a foreigner and any associates have 15% or more ownership or in which several foreigners have 40% or more aggregate of the ownership.

There are various forms of investment and proposals with regard to foreign investment in Australia real estate. These include:

1. Acquisition of developed commercial real estate valued at AUD$5 million or more.

2. Acquisition of urban real estate - irrespective of size.

3. Acquisition of urban real estate - irrespective of size - unless exempt under regulations.

Development
Proposed acquisition of real estate development (within 12 months) is normally approved unless it is contrary to national interest.

Residential
Proposed acquisition of residential real estate is exempt from examination in the case of Australian citizens living abroad who are holders of permanent visas or entitled to hold a 'special category' visa.

Foreign interests are usually given approval to buy vacant residential land on condition that construction of a dwelling is to commence within 12 months. Approval will also usually be granted to buy home units and townhouses off the plan, under construction or newly constructed (but never occupied), on condition that no more than half of the units in any one development are sold to foreign interests.

Other situations where approval is normally granted includes:

1. Foreign companies buying residences in Australia for their senior executives

2. Foreign nationals temporarily resident in Australia for more than 12 months buying for their own use as a principal place of residence subject to the sale of the property when they cease to reside in Australia.

3. Foreign nationals purchasing residential real estate as joint tenant with an Australian spouse.

Vacant Land - House and Land Packages
Acquisitions of vacant land for development (including house and land packages where construction has not commenced) by foreign interests are normally approved subject to:

  • Continuous substantial construction commencing within 12 months

  • A minimum amount equivalent to 50 per cent of the acquisition cost or current market value of the land (whichever is higher) must be spent on development

  • Once construction is completed, parties notify the completion date and actual development expenditure.

Once these conditions have been fulfilled, properties acquired under this category may be rented out, sold to Australian interests or other eligible purchasers, or retained for the foreign investor's own use.

Commercial
Proposed acquisitions of commercial development is normally approved unless it is contrary to the national interest. This is determined by the Government on a case by case basis.

For more information, visit www.firb.gov.au
 

Temporary Residence Visas

Second–Hand Real Estate

Acquisitions of residential real estate that has been previously owned or occupied, that is second-hand houses, flats or units, are not normally approved except for the following two categories:

1. Foreign nationals temporarily resident in Australia, holding a current temporary resident visa which permits continuous residence in Australia for a further period of more than 12 months from the time of application. The dwelling must be used as their principal place of residence and not for rental purposes, and must be sold immediately when their visa expires, they no longer reside in the property or when they cease to reside in Australia.

  • Persons who hold visitor or bridging visas are not eligible for approval under this category.

  • This category includes students 18 years of age and over studying courses of more than twelve months duration at recognised tertiary institutions.

A general limit of $300,000 applies to the value of properties acquired by these students.

2. Foreign companies with a substantial Australian business, buying for named senior executives continuously resident in Australia for periods longer than 12 months, provided the dwelling is sold when no longer required for this purpose. Whether a company is eligible, and the number of properties it may acquire under this category, will depend upon the scope of the foreign company's operations and assets in Australia.

  • Unless there are special circumstances, foreign companies normally will not be permitted to buy more than two dwellings under this category.

Foreign companies would not be eligible under this category where the property would represent a significant proportion of its Australian assets.

Keep up to date with the latest Gold Coast news here

Room for more migrants: Costello

06/04/2006 Herald-Sun

FEDERAL Treasurer Peter Costello says skilled migration could increase in the light of low unemployment figures released today, but he won't say by how much.

The labour force figures showed the jobless rate fell to five per cent in March, from 5.2 per cent in February.
"I think it's possible to run an increased immigration program focussing on skills. I'm not going to put a number on it," Mr Costello told reporters in Melbourne today.

He said the government had lifted the immigration intake quite considerably in recent years, and focussed on skilled migrants because of a skills shortage in Australia and because the new arrivals were more likely to secure jobs.

"So I think we can continue to run a pretty strong migration program with figures like this, but bear in mind of course that we are also looking to get Australians born here in work," Mr Costello said.

Opposition Leader Kim Beazley yesterday said the Howard government had increased skilled migration at the expense of training Australians and therefore had created a skills shortage.

Mr Beazley said he would invest more in training to address the skills shortage in Australia if he won the next election.

The federal government had brought in an additional 270,000 skilled migrants, while 300,000 people had been turned away from TAFE institutions since 1998, Mr Beazley said.

When asked if the Coalition was being hurt by its policy on skilled migration, Mr Costello today said the government was focussed on training Australians but importing skills was an interim solution.

Mr Costello blamed the states for the present shortage, saying they had made a disastrous mistake in closing technical colleges.

"Now the Commonwealth is going to bring them back and we are going to give them a prestige that they didn't have in the past," he said.

"We are going to set up technical colleges to get skills going, but all of this takes time.

"If you start at an Australian technical college in year 11 today, it's going to be four, five or six years before you are fully trained and out in the workforce.

"So you do have to make some of this up with migration, but it should never be to the detriment of young Australians having an opportunity."

A Productivity Commission report released in January found Australia should significantly increase its level of skilled migrants to make the workforce more highly qualified.

The report into the economic impacts of migration and population growth advocated an increase of 50 per cent on skilled migrant levels of 2004-05.

 

Disclaimer: We do not offer investment advice as that is not our expertise so we highly recommend you seek professional investment advice before making any decision to purchase an investment property.

 
 
 
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110 Old Pacific Hwy Oxenford QLD 4210
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Email: colin.wilson@raywhite.com
Specialising in the high growth
northern end of the Gold Coast