While varying a bit from year to year, the data published by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) suggest that foreign purchase approvals have been fairly low as a share of national housing turnover. Specifically, the FIRB data suggest that the value of foreign residential approvals has generally been around 5–10 per cent of the value of national housing turnover.
Using several assumptions, we estimate that the number of foreign approvals has been around half of that range. In its Submission to this Committee, FIRB included data covering the first three quarters of this financial year, which show a rise in approvals, especially for new dwellings.