Foreign investment in Australia booms

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released its yearly reading on Australia's international investment position, showing a boom in foreign investment into the country.

In 2024, foreign investment rose $326.9 billion to hit $4.97 trillion. However, Australian investment abroad also rose $492.4 billion to hit $4.31 trillion.

Foreign investors showed a preference towards investing in debt ($1.63 trillion), followed by direct investment ($1.28 trillion) and equities ($885 billion).

On the flipside, Australian investors looking abroad showed a preference for foreign equities ($1.54 trillion), followed by direct investment ($1.2 trillion) and "other" ($572 billion).

The United States was the main contributor of investment into Australia, contributing $1.35 trillion of investment. This was followed by the European Union with $869 billion of investments and the United Kingdom with $839 billion.

Other major investors into Australia were Japan, China, Canada and the ASEAN region.

In terms of where Australian investors were putting their cash, the US topped the list with Aussie investors pumping $1.55 trillion into US investments, $106 billion of which were portfolio investment transactions, likely because of booming US stock markets in 2024.

This was followed by the UK with $698 billion and the EU with $478 billion.