Fifteen foreign owners have been forced to sell their illegally bought properties by the Australian government, reports the Australian Financial Review (6 February 2017). The properties were owned by nationals of Britain, Germany, Indonesia, China, Iran, Malaysia, and India. According to Chinese property website Juwai.com CEO Charles Pittar, out of the $343 billion worth of property purchases approved by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) since 2010, only $140 million worth of investments have had to be divested. "What does it mean? These new divestments mean that, out of more than 2,000 investigations of potential illegal home-buying since the process started, there have been only 61 forced sales. Just 3 percent of investigations find wrongdoing that forces divestment," said Pittar. He further adds that the Australian Tax Office has estimated that 5 percent of rich Australians attempt to evade paying their taxes, and that when taken into context, foreign investors have behaved extremely well. "We find the Chinese investors we work with to be eager to follow the rules," said Pittar.
