Hockey cracks down on foreign property buyers

Treasurer Joe Hockey has ordered a number of foreign buyers of Australian real estate to sell their properties within a year.

Mr Hockey said the properties in NSW, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland had values ranging from $265,000 to $8.1 million and involved buyers from Singapore, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and China.

"The crackdown of the coalition government in relation to foreign investment continues," Mr Hockey told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday, adding there were more than 500 investigations underway into more than $1 billion worth of properties.