2020 –21 Insights
Purchases
From 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021, 5,310 residential real estate purchase transactions had a level of foreign ownership, with a total value of $4.2 billion.

Sales
The total number of residential real estate sale transactions by foreign persons during the 202021 period was 3,103, with a total value of $2.7 billion.

Purchase transactions in 2020 –21
Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland represented 83.3 per cent of all purchase transactions and make up 88.8 per cent of the total value of purchase transactions recorded on the Register for the 2020–21 period.

■The concentration and value of transactions in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland fell slightly in 2020–21 from 88.0% of all purchase transactions and 92.1 per cent of the total value.
■New dwellings represented 68.6 per cent of purchase transactions, followed by 18.0 per cent for vacant land and 13.4 per cent for established dwellings in 2020 –21. In comparison, in 2019 –20, new dwellings represented 67.8 per cent of purchase transactions, followed by 17.8 per cent for vacant land and 14.4 per cent for established dwellings.
■Across Australia, purchase transactions fell by 29.0 per cent. The state with the greatest number of purchase transactions for all property types in 2020–21 was Victoria, the same result as in 2019-20.  New South Wales had the largest decrease in property purchases with a fall of 50.1 per cent.
■Residential properties with values under 1 million dollars formed the majority of residential property purchase transactions, accounting for 83.4 per cent of property transactions 2020-21. This compares to 79.0 per cent in 2019-20.
■Of the 5,310 purchase transactions in 2020–21, 111 registrants became a permanent resident or gained Australian citizenship during the year and are included in these statistics.

Breakdown of 2020–21 purchase transactions by property type

Sale transactions in 2020–21

Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland represent 96.6 per cent of all sale transactions, making up 97.6 per cent of the value of sale transactions for the reporting period.

■In comparison, in 2019–20 Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland represented 97.3 per cent of all sale transactions and 98.0 per cent of the value.
■In 2020–21, new dwellings represented 45.6 per cent of sale transactions, followed by 27.7 per cent for established dwellings and 26.7 per cent for vacant land. The property type reflects the type of property at time of purchase, e.g. new dwellings were new at the time of purchase.
■Victoria had the greatest number of sale transactions across all property types in both 2020–21 and 2019–20.
■Properties with values under 1 million dollars represented
80.2 per cent of sale transactions. This is a slight decrease when compared to the proportion of sale transactions in 2019–20 of 85.3 per cent.
■Sale transactions numbers reflect any sale transactions settled
by foreign persons within the reporting period, regardless of when the initial purchase was contracted.

Breakdown of 2020–21 sale transactions by property type

Four-year comparison of purchase transactions

Purchase transactions have declined over the four years from 201718 to 202021. There was a 29.0 per cent reduction in the number of purchase transactions in 202021 when compared to 201920. The value of transactions also reduced by 30.0 per cent in 202021 when compared to 201920.

Purchase transaction trends by state or territory in the four years 201718, 201819, 201920 and 202021 show New South Wales and Victoria had greatest number in each property type.

Four-year comparison of sale transactions
Sale transactions have increased in 2020-21 when compared to 2017-18, 2018-19 and 201920.
There was a 58.6 per cent increase in sale transactions in 202021 when compared to 2019-20. The value of sale transactions also increased by 83.9 per cent when compared to 201920.

Sale transaction trends by state or territory in the four years 2017–18, 2018 –19, 2019 –20 and 2020-2021 show New South Wales and Victoria had the greatest number in each property type.