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Updated exemptions for Australia’s upcoming merger control regime will cut red tape for low-risk property transactions, allowing ordinary acquisitions to proceed faster.
The federal government has tabled a legislative instrument to update exemptions and thresholds for the merger control regime, cutting red tape on low-risk property transactions.
The Competition and Consumer (Notification of Acquisitions) Determination 2025, tabled this week, also included guidance for industry to navigate the new laws.
From 1 January 2026, businesses will be required to notify the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) about certain acquisitions before they can proceed with the transactions.
The regime aims to identify and prevent anticompetitive acquisitions, while allowing those that do not raise competition issues to proceed as quickly as possible.
However, there will be exemptions under which an acquisition doesn’t need to be notified, even if it meets the notification thresholds.
Under the recent reforms, the exemptions will include acquisitions of land ‘in the ordinary course of business’, and progressive land acquisitions where the initial acquisition occurred before 1 January 2026, such as agreements for lease.
Exemptions will also apply for developing residential premises, businesses primarily engaged in buying, selling, leasing or developing land, lease extensions and renewals, land development rights, and more.
Property Council of Australia – Capital Markets executive director, Torie Brown, said the exemptions were commonsense updates that will cut red tape to allow the property sector to continue building.
“This round of reform is the most significant change to the mergers and acquisitions regime in 50 years, and this welcomed outcome strikes the right balance,” she said.
“Forcing thousands of vanilla property deals through the new mergers and acquisitions regime would have added months of delays and slowed down the system for everyone.”
She said that with the exemptions in place, the ACCC can carry out its work of identifying transactions with genuine implications without being held back by ordinary property deals.
“We will continue to work with Treasury on any forthcoming policy issues, and with the ACCC on any process issues as the regime begins on 1 January 2026,” she concluded.
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