A place in the country: Surge in interest in Australian property from NZ

The opening of the international travel bubble to New Zealand has coincided with a surge in international search activity for Australian property from across the Tasman.

The first passengers to arrive in Sydney from New Zealand under a travel bubble arrangment which began on October 16, 2020. Picture: Adam Yip

The opening of the international travel bubble to New Zealand has coincided with a surge in international search activity for Australian property from across the Tasman.

The latest realestate.com.au data insights on overseas search habits found international interest in buying Australian property fell 6 per cent over the month, while searches to rent property dropped by 3.5 per cent.

But searches from New Zealand had increased by 35 per cent since April, a stark contrast to the respective 26 per cent and 13 per cent drops from Britain and the US.

REA Group data analyst Karen Dellow said “quarantine-free” flights between Australia and NZ could be behind the change, allowing people to view property and move more freely.

“As our border has been closed to overseas students and skilled migrants for 18 months, the increase we are seeing in searches may well be from those who have been unable to enter the country during the pandemic,” Ms Dellow said.

“The challenge from here will be that many countries are now reopening their borders while Australia’s international borders are, at this stage, set to remain closed until 2022.

“The longer borders remain closed, the greater potential there is for these overseas property seekers to choose to purchase in another country.”

Search is far lower from Asian cities. Hong Kong has held a steady lead in search from the region, down 1 per cent compared with last June. Search from Singapore increased 4 per cent in the same period, while Chinese interest fell 12 per cent.

A recent survey by the University of Technology Sydney found four in five Australians believe Chinese buyers are pushing up local property prices.

But group executive chairman of Chinese property portal Juwai IQI Georg Chmiel said this was not the case. “Over the past 12 months, inquiries have been volatile as they have bounced up and down in reaction to whatever is in the news about the pandemic,” Mr Chmiel said.

“This shows us that Chinese buyers are ready to get back into Australia, but many buyers are waiting to do so until the travel restrictions are removed. We believe transactions will remain low while travel is restrained and will probably only fully recover when the borders reopen.”

Ms Dellow did note the data collected did not address direct sales from real estate developers or property exhibitions that took place overseas.