Aussies chase the Australian dream by moving overseas

According to Oz expats, it seems that chasing the great Australian Dream is best done from overseas rather than in the home country.

Escalating property prices, inflation and stagnation are all reasons why Aussies who still believe in the Great Australian Dream are choosing to chase it by becoming strangers in a strange land. Everything from entrepreneurship through a dream job to exotic retirement seems to be more easily accessed overseas, and property purchase is more affordable almost anywhere than in the home country.

Figures for a period ending last March show some 82,000 retired Australian expats scattered across the world, collecting their pensions and living their preferred lifestyles far from the country of their birth. That’s six times more than the numbers of Oz expats 30 years ago and a 2.9 increase on 2007’s numbers. The majority of Australian pensioners head for New Zealand, with Greece, Italy and Spain also in the frame, and many are buying property rather than committing to rental charges. A recent survey showed 35 per cent of Oz expat property owners had bought for investment as well as for the freedom of having their own home. Of those working overseas, 14 per cent had no intention of returning to Australia after retirement.

For those who haven’t yet sold their former home in Australia, the country’s newly introduced foreign investor rules might well include Oz expats in the loss of capital gains exemptions when they finally decide to sell. One Australian financial advice company working with Aussie expats living abroad gives estimations of around 20 per cent of their hundreds of clients were planning retirement over the next several years, with Singapore, Greece, Thailand, Spain and France all favoured destinations. However, Australian expats with small businesses are aiming for the USA, the UK and the Middle East, where owning a property is necessary in order to avoid having to get a sponsor.

Buying property overseas needs careful consideration and a trustworthy local advisor who’s fully aware of what is allowed and what isn’t. Property ownership can be a route to residency in some locations although in others it may be forbidden to all but citizens of the country. For example, Thailand’s laws prevent expat property ownership with the exception of permitted condominium purchases, but many thousands of expats buy their own houses and live in them for decades.