Multi-billionaire property developer Harry Triguboff admits he was terrified during downturn

Chinese mainlanders are among the biggest buyers of his residential apartments.

Harry Triguboff in his office at Meriton. Picture: John Appleyard

When the pipeline of immigrants arriving in Australia was suddenly shut off earlier this year, multi-billionaire property developer Harry Triguboff admits he was terrified, given Chinese mainlanders are among the biggest buyers of his residential apartments.

“I was scared when the Chinese left, we would be finished, definitely. That is the truth,’’ Mr Triguboff, worth an estimated $15.5bn, told The Weekend Australian.

Over the past decade, China has surpassed Britain as Australia’s primary source of permanent migrants and, along with India, has continued to provide the highest number of migrants — 154,000 each year.

“We need foreign students and migrants, and they don’t have to be Chinese. We want everyone from India, to Korea to China, these guys are prepared to do the jobs that our people don’t want to do,” Mr Triguboff says.

The prolific property developer, whose Meriton business is building 3000 apartments on the eastern seaboard, said this month’s decision by the Reserve Bank to slash interest rates to 0.1 per cent had changed the mood among the property industry.

He said interest rate cuts “help us a lot. It is what saved us of course. The government and the Reserve Bank definitely saved our property market. By lowering interest rates, they made it possible for us to keep building.

“The banks should be accommodating and they are becoming that.”

Mr Triguboff said sales of Meriton apartments were now going “all right”, with 20-25 units placed each week, but the average sale price had slipped as the market was weaker.

“People really want smaller units as they can’t afford bigger units,” he said. “I’ll build more smaller units. The average sale today would be $900,000 and it used to be $1m. It has come down and the size of the units has come down, but not the quality.”

Mr Triguboff also called for Queensland to reopen its borders. “Queensland by isolating itself definitely causes the housing market to drop there,” he said. “And it is difficult to understand why we are still protecting Queensland when there is no virus. Time moves on and the economy of Queensland is suffering. It is one thing to win an election. It is another thing to run an economy.”

His comments came as state premiers at Friday’s national cabinet meeting committed to reopening borders by Christmas.

Three weeks ago Meriton started building 100 units in Gardeners Road, Mascot in Sydney. This week it began work on 300 units in nearby Rosebery, and the company plans to start building a serviced apartment complex in Canberra before Christmas.

“In January I will start in Liverpool, also serviced apartments, big blocks of 200-300 units,” Mr Triguboff said. “Businesses are opening up and people will not settle in places where it takes two hours to travel to work. It’s OK when they work from home.”

Occupancies in Meriton’s serviced apartments are improving with consistently strong rates, while Mr Triguboff foresees a return to city apartment purchases as staff return to working in cities.

“I am ready to build more serviced apartments so it’s getting better,’’ Mr Triguboff said.

Because of the virus, many jobs had disappeared forever and businesses were generally weaker with wages falling. “Travelling two hours to work and receiving lower wages is a big problem, which must be fixed very quickly,” he said.

“Once the jobs improve people will go back to central areas where we build and rents and unit prices will go up.’’