Australia is showing all the signs of having a grown-up, international property market.

The listed sector has been the most mature and transparent real estate market globally for years. Australia's real estate investment trust (REIT) market is the world's second largest by volume. Of $140 billion in assets held, more than $50 billion are located overseas. Many in the industry believe that will tip over the halfway mark this year.

Australia's big property developers scour the globe for opportunities, because they're thin on the ground here. Our construction contractors are entrenched in foreign markets. The expertise of Australia's architecture, engineering and property consultancy practices is sought all over the world.

We're playing in the big-kids market now, and we're even on the podium.

It's such a shame the federal government doesn't agree.

In its recent budget, the federal government announced a headline rate of 30 per cent for withholding tax on distributions from Australian managed funds to non-resident investors.

Yes, the legislation to enact this tax fixes what many in the industry say is a cascading complexity of calculations. But the rate is preposterous when benchmarked at an international level. According to the Property Council of Australia, REIT withholding taxes in Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States are all pegged at 15 per cent. Singapore's rate is 10 per cent, while Japan's rate is 7 per cent.