Foreign investment tumbles in Australian residential real estate
China was the largest source of approved residential real estate investment in the past quarter
2 min
The number of approvals for foreign purchases of residential property fell in the first quarter of FY24, according to the latest statistics released by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). China remains our biggest source of residential investment, followed by India and Hong Kong.
The FIRB approved 1,374 applications from foreign residents to buy residential real estate between 1 July and 30 September 2023 (1Q FY24). This represented $1.5 billion in investment. This is significantly lower than the previous quarter and is tracking well below the rate of investment in 2023. Between 1 April and 30 June 2023 (4Q FY23), the FIRB approved 1,932 applications worth $2.4 billion. For the full financial year of 2023, 6,576 proposals were approved, thereby averaging 1,644 per quarter.
In 1Q FY24, China was the largest source of approved residential real estate investment with 523 approvals worth $700 million. Making up the top three were India with 148 approvals worth $100 million, and Hong Kong with 111 approvals also worth $100 million.
The fall comes amid the Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers introducing legislation into the Parliament earlier this month to significantly raise foreign investment application fees, as per his announcement in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook. Currently, foreign investment application fees start at $14,100 for purchases of residential property worth $1 million or less, and rise to a maximum of $1,119,100 for acquisitions worth more than $40 million.
The Albanese Government wants to triple the fees for the purchase of established homes, which foreigners are allowed to buy if they are living in Australia to work or study, and must sell when they leave. Dr Chalmers explained that the government hopes this will encourage foreigners to buy new property instead. “This will help create additional housing stock, jobs in the construction industry and support economic growth,” he said.
The government also wants to double the vacancy fee charged to foreign owners whose properties are not genuinely occupied as a residence either by themselves or a relative, and are not rented out on a lease term of more than 30 days for at least six months of the year. The vacancy fee is the same as the applicable application fee in each case, hence $14,100 on properties purchased for $1 million or less.
On Census night 2021, more than one million homes in Australia were unoccupied, which created fierce national debate about home ownership affordability and rental supply for Australians. “The increased vacancy fees will encourage foreign investors to make their unused properties available to renters,” Dr Chalmers said. The government is also proposing a reduction in application fees for build-to-rent projects to encourage more foreign investment in this emerging real estate sector.
“Higher fees for the purchase of established homes and increased penalties for those that leave properties vacant will help ensure foreign investment in residential property is in our national interest,” Dr Chalmers said.
FIRB application fees were first introduced in 2015. They are indexed to annual inflation but have been increased markedly several times by governments in response to public discourse over the impact of foreign investment on rising property prices. Real estate industry insiders say rising fees are dissuading some foreign nationals from investing here.
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Jack Freeman believes the most compelling interiors are not decorated, but collected. The FREEMAN & CO founder creates layered, personal spaces shaped by art, travel and craftsmanship.
4 min
For Jack Freeman, a compelling interior should not look as though it was completed in a single shopping trip.
The founder and designer behind FREEMAN & CO prefers rooms that develop through art, travel, commissioned furniture and objects collected over time. It is an approach that treats the home less as a decorative project and more as an evolving portrait of its owner.
“I am a true believer in collecting versus decorating,” Freeman says.
That distinction underpins the international practice he has built across private residences, hotels, property developments, yachts and private aviation. Its projects stretch from Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay and Toorak to Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean.
Although the locations and architecture vary considerably, the work is connected by a restrained design language. Natural stone, warm timbers and sculptural furniture establish the foundation, while art, bespoke lighting and individual objects give each interior its identity.
The objective is not to overwhelm a room with obvious symbols of expense. It is to create an environment that feels calm, layered and particular to the people living within it.
“The greatest luxury isn’t about excess,” Freeman says. “It’s about creating an oasis where you come home and feel immediately grounded — effortlessly chic and deeply personal.”
Collecting instead of decorating
Decorating can imply the completion of a room: selecting the required furniture, filling the available walls and producing a coherent finished image.
Collecting is less conclusive.
A collected interior has room to change as its owners travel, discover artists, inherit pieces or reassess how they use their home. Its character comes from the relationship between objects rather than adherence to a single brand or season.
That does not mean placing unrelated pieces together without discipline. The designer must understand scale, proportion, material and provenance well enough to create a dialogue between them.
A contemporary artwork might sit beside a historic piece of furniture. A precisely detailed new interior may be interrupted by an irregular object made by hand. Smooth stone can be balanced by timber, textiles or a patinated metal surface that becomes richer with age.
The tension between those elements is part of the appeal.
For Freeman, art is not an accessory to be added once the furniture plan is complete. It forms part of the architecture and atmosphere of the room from the beginning.
Lighting is considered in the same way. Beyond its practical purpose, a bespoke fitting can operate as a suspended sculpture, changing both the room’s composition and the way its materials are experienced after dark.
A design perspective shaped by travel
International travel plays a significant role in Freeman’s creative process.
Design fairs such as PAD Paris and Salone del Mobile in Milan provide opportunities to encounter emerging designers, established galleries, new materials and collectible furniture away from the filter of social media.
More spontaneous discoveries can prove equally important.
“Sometimes it’s the simple things,” Freeman says. “That piece found on a shopping trip with a client in Paris, stumbling across an artisan’s workshop, or a special memory that forms the narrative of the story.”
Objects selected during travel bring more than visual interest into a home. They carry an association with a place, maker or experience, giving the client a connection that cannot be reproduced by ordering an entire interior from a catalogue.
Freeman’s influences are international, but his projects are not conceived as replicas of Parisian, Milanese or Californian style. Each commission responds to its architecture, setting, natural light and the daily lives of its occupants.
A waterfront Sydney residence demands a different treatment from a Mayfair townhouse. A Caribbean estate shaped by brutalist architecture and reflecting pools calls for another response again.
The designer’s role is to absorb those references without allowing them to overwhelm the individual qualities of the property.
Designing the complete experience
FREEMAN & CO extends beyond conventional interior decoration.
The practice’s stated services include interior design and architecture, project management, property acquisition, development advice, concept design, documentation, furniture and lighting design, procurement and art curation.
That breadth allows the team to become involved before a room’s dimensions and finishes are fixed.
Early participation can be important at the top end of the residential market, where architecture, landscape, interiors, technology and art must operate as one environment. Decisions about ceiling heights, wall dimensions, sightlines and lighting can directly affect where art is installed or how custom furniture is proportioned.
The practice can then carry those decisions through to procurement and final installation, maintaining the design narrative as a project moves between architects, builders, specialist craftspeople, dealers and suppliers.
Its residential portfolio includes a South Coast retreat conceived as an escape from urban life, a Caribbean estate with reflecting pools, an East Coast-inspired Palm Beach residence and a Mayfair townhouse organised around an expressive drawing room.
The studio also says it has worked on highly tailored Sydney residences with values exceeding $100 million, although the private nature of such commissions means individual addresses and clients are not always disclosed.
A home that can keep changing
The risk in creating a perfectly resolved interior is that it can become too static — a composition that looks exceptional in photographs but leaves little room for life.
Freeman sees the home as something that should evolve with its owners.
“I love the evolution of design,” he says. “We are talking about people’s lives, and as they evolve, so too should their private sanctuaries.”
That evolution might involve adding art, reupholstering a significant piece, adapting rooms as a family changes or making space for objects gathered through future travels.
The original design needs to be strong enough to accommodate those layers.
This may be the clearest expression of Freeman’s approach to luxury. It is not simply access to rare stone, collectible furniture or commissioned craftsmanship. It is the creation of a personal environment whose meaning deepens rather than diminishes with time.
Fact box
- Designer: Jack Freeman
- Role: Founder and managing director
- Practice: FREEMAN & CO
- Base: Australia, with international projects
- Project locations named by the practice: Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay, Toorak, Palm Beach, the NSW South Coast, Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean
- Sectors: Private residences, hotels, residential developments, private aviation and superyachts
- Services: Interior design and architecture, property development, project management, property acquisition, documentation, furniture and lighting design, FF&E procurement, interior dressing and art curation
- Design philosophy: Collected, personal interiors shaped by art, craftsmanship, travel and enduring materials
- Website: free-man.co
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