After many months of lobbying for the Queensland Government to withdraw their newly introduced transfer duty surcharge on foreign investment, the property industry has lost their battle. "As announced in the State Budget 2016-17, additional duty of 3% will apply to acquisitions of residential land by foreign persons (including companies and trusts) from 1 October 2016." - Queensland Government
What does this mean for foreign investors?
For an investment property with a purchase price of $500,000, the duty will be calculated as $1,050 for the first $75,000, plus an additional $14,875 for the balance above $75,000, totalling $15,925.
As of 1 October 2016, foreign investors will also have to pay an additional 3% transfer duty surcharge on top of the purchase price, which in this example, would be an extra $15,000. So the overall transfer duty payable for foreign investors on a $500,000 property would be $30,925.
