Australia is the top overseas real estate market for Chinese buyers
New international research shows Australia has become the favourite location for property buyers from China. Here’s why these investors have a big advantage over Australian residents at auctions.
NSW
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Australia has been cemented as the top real estate investment location for Chinese buyers who are able to outbid local home hunters because record savings have sheltered them from rising interest rates.
Figures published on Wednesday by Asia’s largest property portal reveal Australia to be the most popular purchasing destination in the first half of this year, as it was in 2022.
Before that, Australia had been third in the Juwai IQI rankings, behind Thailand and the US. In the latest results, Australia was followed by Canada and the UK.
In the report, Juwai IQI CEO Kashif Ansari said people in China were looking overseas because they had record savings and a lack of domestic investment options.
“In this era of higher interest rates, Chinese investors with access to ready capital have an advantage over local buyers,” Mr Ansari said.
The insights emerged after The Daily Telegraph revealed buyers from China were spending nearly $8 million a day on Australian real estate – vastly more than investors from anywhere else in the world. That story also showed the total investment from China in the first nine months of 2021-22 was nearly equal to the entirety of the previous financial year.
A leading agent to people in China who want to buy in Sydney “there is a lot of demand” from China and other countries in Asia.
Black Diamondz co-director Jad Khattar said Australia’s most attractive feature was its education system. Other alluring qualities were safety, quality of life, weather and the lack of pollution.
Sydney’s restaurants and improving nightlife were another selling point, he said, singling out Justin Hemmes’ Merivale venues.
“All this stuff is helping a lot of international buyers to come,” said Mr Khattar, whose co-director and wife Monika Tu is currently in China meeting potential buyers.
Many online readers of yesterday’s story on foreign property purchases said the federal government should tighten restrictions.
“All non-citizens and residents should be banned from buying property,” reader Dominic said.
Shaun wrote: “Banning foreign ownership will at least reduce some competition for buying property and could lead to price drops.”
Amanda said: “They … are cashed up so (this) increases prices as they can outbid or pay more so this activity not only diminishes supply.”
A new survey by the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) and the UTS Centre for Business Intelligence & Data Analytics shows 73 per cent of respondents believe foreign buyers from China drive up Australian housing prices. In last year’s survey, 79 per cent agreed with that proposition.
The prevalence of the view that “Australia should restrict the amount of investment in residential real estate that is permitted from Chinese investors” remains steady at 78 per cent.
The ACRI-UTS survey found nearly seven in 10 Australians say “Chinese investors have negatively affected the rental market for residential real estate in Australia”.
NSW residents were significantly more likely to agree with that statement.
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Originally published as Australia is the top overseas real estate market for Chinese buyers
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