Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong buyers splurge on Australian homes, but overall investment trends lower
- A buyer from Shanghai pays a record US$3.5 million for a town house in Sydney residential project
- Overall Chinese investment in Australian real estate fell 11.2 per cent to A$6.3 billion in the 12 months to June 2021, data shows
Chinese buyers are splurging heavily on Australian property, making headline-grabbing acquisitions in recent weeks, but overall real estate investment from the mainland continues to decline.
Earlier this month, a 48-year-old buyer from Shanghai paid A$4.7 million (US$3.5 million) for a town house in the Wolseley Eight project, a record price for a unit in the upscale Sydney suburb of Upper North Shore.
“I believe Wolseley Eight has one of the best locations in North Shore and the quality of the construction is high,” said the buyer, who asked to be only identified by his surname Weng. “Surrounding schools have a higher rank compared to other suburbs of Sydney.”
Weng, who considers both Shanghai and Sydney home and has a wife and two children, said he was looking to buy more property in Australia.
While Chinese buyers continue to find Australian property attractive, real estate investment from the mainland fell 11.2 per cent to A$6.3 billion in the 12 months to June 2021, according to the latest data from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board. Americans have outranked mainland Chinese as the top investors Down Under.
Chinese investments in property started to decline from 2015 after Australia introduced cooling measures and tightened foreign investments and curbs by Beijing to prevent capital outflow. Deteriorating bilateral relations between Beijing and Canberra in recent years over a range of issues have also led to decline in overall investments.