FOREIGN investors have snapped up tens of billions of dollars of Australia’s prime agricultural land and rural enterprises – and no one is keeping watch.

A Daily Telegraph investigation has revealed that a swag of government-backed entrepreneurs – mainly from China, the Middle East and Singapore – are sizing up potential investments as global powers move to secure food supplies.

Some of Australia’s best known farm brands – including Golden Circle, SPC, Dairy Farmers, CSR Sugar and AWB – have already fallen into foreign hands.

More than $9 billion of prized agricultural assets have been sold to offshore interests in the past two years alone.

And there is more to come – although no one can accurately say how much is for sale. A Chinese delegation, led by a senior provincial governor, will arrive early next month hoping to acquire farms and agricultural assets.

Millions of dollars are being invested in water licences by American and British investors hoping to exploit a burgeoning $3 billion “market”.

Tasmanian real estate executive Betty Kay said she had five Chinese investors hoping to acquire dairy assets, part of the superpower’s plan to provide milk to its growing 1.3 billion population.

The splurge is good news for depressed local farmers who can no longer make a decent living. But the big sell-off has raised alarm bells in the bush and in Canberra.

MPs across the political spectrum are worried about unchecked foreign investment and are demanding greater transparency to ensure Australia’s own food supplies are not jeopardised.

Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten has flagged plans to conduct an audit of farm sales and is keen to “further strengthen transparency” of foreign ownership in agriculture. Under the proposal, each farm sale to foreign investors would be tracked and details published on a national register to ensure Australia doesn’t run out of viable food-growing land.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon – who will introduce a private member’s Bill – argues present foreign investment rules are a “joke”.
“No one is even monitoring how much of our farmland we are selling,” he said.

The Greens, some Liberal MPs and Senator Xenophon want to give the Foreign Investment Review Board the power to block foreign investment in agriculture.

Australia, with its rich and fertile lands and sophisticated farming techniques, is a target for some of the world’s biggest agricultural enterprises.
Spanish Ebro Foods is bidding $600 million to acquire SunRice while Singapore-based Wilmar International won a $1.75 billion bid for CSR’s sugar and energy business.

The global financial crisis triggered food shortages in many countries and is responsible for the big investment push by China, the Gulf States and South Korea.

Australian Zhejiang International Business Association (AZIBA) president Bill Liu said his organisation – representing Chinese entrepreneurs in the coastal province – has billions to invest in property, mining and farming.

High on the acquisition “hit list” are dairy assets although Mr Liu said AZIBA was reluctant to actually buy the dairy farms outright.

“We just want to guarantee supply of milk powder,” Mr Liu said.

United Dairy Farmers of Victoria ex-president Doug Chant said foreign interests were seeking to buy farms in western Victoria.
“There appears to be interest there and, at the least, Government should have a register of properties being sold to overseas interests,” Mr Chant said.

Greens deputy leader Christine Milne is pushing for stricter controls.

“It is now imperative that Australia protects its land and water as part of national sovereignty,” she said.

Story by By Steve Lewis and Nic Christensen – The Telegraph – www.news.com.au

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HOME buyers were spoilt for choice at the weekend but clearance rates held steady despite the bumper crop of auctions.

The number of homes scheduled to go under the hammer ramped up to more than 1000, making it the city’s biggest weekend for residential property in more than two years.

A total of 594 properties sold at auction, while 109 were sold before, three after and 325 were passed in.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria spokesman Robert Larocca said the 68 per cent clearance rate was “pretty much exactly where it’s been for the last 3 1/2 months”.

The fact the rate could stay steady when stock levels jumped “so substantially” pointed to the underlying health of the property market and the Victorian economy, Mr Larocca said.

Research by CommSec shows Victoria is surging ahead of the rest of the country in housing finance and construction, second only to the ACT.

Victoria posted record housing starts in the June quarter, up 38 per cent on the decade average, while the number of home loan approvals was 0.6 per cent above the average.

Commsec chief economist Craig James said Victoria’s strength was driven largely by strong population growth.

“In fact, in the year to June 2009, annual population growth of 2.3 per cent was the fastest since the early 1960s, although growth has eased more recently,” he said.

Mr James said home prices across Australia had eased in recent months with the supply of homes lifting and demand softening.

But Melbourne house prices were still 13.2 per cent above a year ago. Brisbane and Perth prices “are only a scant 0.8 per cent up on a year earlier”.

Expectations of further interest rate rises have been lurking in the minds of prospective home buyers for some months now.

The chances of a rate rise on Melbourne Cup day will be gauged when critical consumer price inflation data is released on Wednesday.

About 430 auctions are expected next weekend and 690 a week later.

Story by Rachel Hewitt www.hearaldsun.com.au

View the original article here

HOME buyers were spoilt for choice at the weekend but clearance rates held steady despite the bumper crop of auctions.

The number of homes scheduled to go under the hammer ramped up to more than 1000, making it the city’s biggest weekend for residential property in more than two years.

A total of 594 properties sold at auction, while 109 were sold before, three after and 325 were passed in.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria spokesman Robert Larocca said the 68 per cent clearance rate was “pretty much exactly where it’s been for the last 3 1/2 months”.

The fact the rate could stay steady when stock levels jumped “so substantially” pointed to the underlying health of the property market and the Victorian economy, Mr Larocca said.

Research by CommSec shows Victoria is surging ahead of the rest of the country in housing finance and construction, second only to the ACT.

Victoria posted record housing starts in the June quarter, up 38 per cent on the decade average, while the number of home loan approvals was 0.6 per cent above the average.

Commsec chief economist Craig James said Victoria’s strength was driven largely by strong population growth.

“In fact, in the year to June 2009, annual population growth of 2.3 per cent was the fastest since the early 1960s, although growth has eased more recently,” he said.

Mr James said home prices across Australia had eased in recent months with the supply of homes lifting and demand softening.

But Melbourne house prices were still 13.2 per cent above a year ago. Brisbane and Perth prices “are only a scant 0.8 per cent up on a year earlier”.

Expectations of further interest rate rises have been lurking in the minds of prospective home buyers for some months now.

The chances of a rate rise on Melbourne Cup day will be gauged when critical consumer price inflation data is released on Wednesday.

About 430 auctions are expected next weekend and 690 a week later.

Story by Rachel Hewitt www.hearaldsun.com.au

View the original article here

Australia must do better in the supply of housing – a supply gap that could grow to 600,000 by 2028/29, Treasurer Wayne Swan has warned.

Mr Swan told a Property Council conference in Canberra that the National Housing Supply Council estimates the country’s housing stock is currently short of 178,400 dwellings.

"It seems that the supply of housing in Australia is not as responsive as it could be, and this has been the case for some time now," Mr Swan said in a prepared speech on Monday.

He said reasons for this supply shortage were impediments created by various regulations, slow planning and zoning processes, and complex, uncertain and time-consuming systems for charging developers for infrastructure.

"In the worst-case scenario, it can take as long as 15 years to proceed from the identification of suitable land to a completed house," Mr Swan said.

"We can do better than this."

He said commonwealth and state treasuries and premiers’ departments were now fully engaged in the process of designing reforms to improve the operation of the housing market.

"I’m determined to see the Australian government play a role in reforming the housing market for the long term, embedding better practices in planning and zoning and developer charging," he said.

Mr Swan reeled off a number of initiatives undertaken by the federal government in its efforts to improve the functioning of the housing market.

These included a $6.2 billion national affordable housing agreement with the states, $5.2 million of stimulus money to build more than 19,300 in public housing stock, and a $512 million housing affordability fund.

This is on top of a national rental affordability scheme that encourages institutional investors to deliver low-cost rental housing, the first-home saver account and a more generous first-home owners grant during the global financial crisis.

The government is also committed to $27.7 billion in urban and regional road infrastructure that will help support housing.

"These are all important steps and they will all contribute to improving the functioning of the Australian housing market and, in particular, the supply of low-cost housing," he said.