THE value of approvals for proposed foreign investment in Australia has dipped slightly, but the US remains the dominant source country.

The Foreign Investment Review Board annual report for 2011/12, tabled in federal parliament on Friday, showed $170.7 billion worth of proposed investment had been approved.

This was down 3.4 per cent on the previous year.

By sector, real estate accounted for $59.1 billion, while there was $51.7 billion in approvals for mineral exploration and development, and $29.5 billion for manufacturing.

The US was the largest source country for approved proposed investment, accounting for $36.6 billion, followed by UK ($20.3 billion), China ($16.2 billion), Japan ($13.9 billion) and Canada ($8.9 billion).

Thirteen proposals were rejected over the year - down from 43 the previous year - all of which related to real estate purchases.

Most of the 10,700 proposals had a value under $1 million, while 32 were valued at over $1 billion.

Agriculture, which has been the focus of controversy over foreign investment, made up about two per cent of total proposals or $3.6 billion in 2011/12, with Canada accounting for $1.4 billion of this.