Property for Sale in Australia

Property in Australia has boomed over the past three years and all the major hotspots from Sydney to Brisbane and Cairns to Melbourne have seen significant rises in overall real estate worth.

All proposed acquisitions of urban property by non-resident foreigners must be approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board.

With property prices varying massively across the entire continent your search will likely be focused on a small and specific area. Your search may be dominated by location because of work requirements, it may be driven by the investment potential of a particular hotspot.

Whatever area you decide to search for property in you can begin by looking at local papers for an idea of what’s available to you for your budget. If you approach any estate agent to assist you - and you probably will - make sure that they are registered with the Real Estate Institute of the particular Australian State they are located in.

 

 

The Saturday editions of major newspapers are the best for home advertisements, and most of them have a property section. However, the advertised price is sometimes only for the plot, and the building is extra. The measurements of rooms are usually stated in feet and inches and aren’t usually included in advertisements; the size of a house is usually expressed in ‘squares’, where one square equals 100ft2 (9.3m2). The size of a plot may be stated in square metres or acres.

A popular way of buying and selling property in Australia is by auction but you can also buy and sell through a real estate agent, as in the UK, or by private sale.

If you’ve never bought a property at auction before we strongly advise you to take some time out to go to a few before you start bidding for your dream home! When buying at auction you will need a 10% deposit available on the day. If you’re the successful bidder you have to pay the deposit there and then and it is non-refundable if you change your mind about the property later.

Therefore it’s essential you visit the property that you’re interested in a few times before the day of the sale and have any surveys, pest inspections and searches carried out on the property that either you or your lender require before you start bidding. Get finance agreed in theory on the property before you begin bidding and set yourself a maximum threshold above which you will not bid.