While global investor taxes exist in other jurisdictions, Victoria's approach is uniquely damaging to industrial and commercial property investment. In New South Wales and Tasmania, equivalent surcharges are limited to residential property, while South Australia and Western Australia impose no comparable tax on global investors.
The consequences for Victoria's competitiveness are becoming increasingly apparent.
In 2023, Melbourne attracted 75 per cent more industrial investment than Brisbane, according to new data from SA1. However, despite having less than half Melbourne's industrial building and land volume, Brisbane's industrial market attracted almost double Melbourne's investment volume in 2025.
Similarly, Victoria was once on-par with NSW, even surpassing it in 2020, only to sit ~$2.3 bn behind NSW in 2025.
Property Council Victorian Executive Director Cath Evans said the data further demonstrates that Victoria's tax settings are driving investment away at a time when investment is becoming increasingly mobile.
"Investment goes where it is welcomed, and Victoria is sending the opposite message to global investors.
"Industrial property underpins supply chains, warehousing, logistics, advanced manufacturing and thousands of Victorian jobs. Global investment helps to grow these broader economic benefits which flow through to all Victorians. Yet we continue to tax investment in these sectors more heavily than almost anywhere else in Australia.
"Victoria once enjoyed a clear competitive advantage thanks to strong population growth, world-class logistics infrastructure, available industrial land and a relatively predictable investment environment.
"Those fundamentals remain strong, but increasingly investors are choosing to deploy their capital elsewhere because Victoria's tax settings have become too difficult to justify.
"When Brisbane is attracting almost double Melbourne's industrial investment despite a significantly smaller market, it should be ringing alarm bells in government.
Darren Searle, Co-CEO of LogiSPACE, a fund and development manager focused on logistics real estate across Australia's east coast, said the sector relies on offshore institutional investors to fund and deliver new projects.
"The pool of capital available to support Victorian projects has become increasingly constrained due to the significant impact of the Foreign Owners Surcharge on investment returns," he said.
"That directly affects project feasibility, making it harder to secure investment and ultimately reducing the supply of new industrial developments.
"Global investors have choices. Victoria is not only competing with other Australian states for capital, but with markets around the world. Every additional levy imposed on the sector makes the state a less attractive destination for investment."
Ms Evans said the sector is calling on the Victorian Government to abolish the Absentee Owner Surcharge or, at a minimum, bring Victoria's settings into line with New South Wales.
"The Absentee Owner Surcharge was never intended to undermine Victoria's competitiveness or discourage investment in the industrial and commercial sectors, but that is exactly what is occurring," she said.
"Victoria cannot tax its way to economic growth. If we want more warehouses, more logistics facilities, more jobs and more investment, we need a tax system that encourages investment to come here rather than giving it every reason to leave.
"Without reform, Victoria risks continuing to lose investment, jobs and economic activity to other states that are actively competing for the same capital."
