Following the imposition of stamp duty surcharges on overseas buyers in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, South Australian Treasury Secretary Tom Koutsantonis also announced in the 2017-18 Budget that the state goverment will impose a stamp duty surcharge on foreign buyers and temporary residents buying residential properties in South Australia from January 1, 2018, at a rate of 4 percent of the transaction price. South Australia is the state with a lower stamp duty surcharge, with a maximum of 8 percent in New York, 7 percent in Victoria, 4 percent in Western Australia and 3 percent in Queensland.
The main purpose of the stamp duty surcharge is to "protect the locals," not to discourage foreign buyers from buying property in South Australia, Koutsantonis said. If other states charge surcharges and we don`t, you`ll find foreign investment pouring into our residential property market. I don`t want my daughter to be too expensive to buy as a result of foreign investment and have to go far away from us.
In addition to the stamp duty surcharge, overseas buyers of properties across Australia will have to pay an additional 10 percent of the FIRB application fee for residential properties that cost less than A $10 million from July 1, 2017.
The new stamp duty surcharge and the rising FIRB application fee have undoubtedly had an impact on overseas property buyers, thanks to the lower surcharges imposed in South Australia than in New and Victoria.
