No slowdown in sight for Chinese interest in Aussie property
Despite the decision by Aussie banks to clamp down on foreign buying of homes, combined with China’s efforts to limit outbound capital flow, Chinese overseas property investment is still booming.
Chinese buyers broke worldwide records with their property-shopping spree in the last quarter of 2015, and the first quarter of this year was no different.
Their top 10 picks show the countries where the Chinese are most interested in investing, and Australia continues to sit near the top of the list.
Also read: Why is Aussie property so appealing to Chinese investors?
Once again, the US dominates as the number one spot choice, followed by Australia, Canada, and New Zealand to round up the top four countries most viewed and enquired by Chinese buyers in Q1 2016, according to Chinese international property search website, juwai.com.
Interestingly, while France took the ninth spot ahead of Singapore in terms of views by Chinese buyer, Singapore pulled in more enquires, putting it at ninth most-enquired country.
Germany also made a debut in Q1 as the tenth most enquired about country.
Top 10 most-viewed cities by Chinese buyers
The natural bounty of the ‘land down under’ has made it a constant favourite with Chinese buyers, and there seems like very little anyone can do to dampen the appeal.
According to the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB), the Chinese invested A$24 billion (US$17.6 billion) in Australian property last year.
And now, with a new 10-year visitor visa for Chinese combined with another new visa for foreign students set to go into effect from 1 July 2016 onwards, Chinese buyer interest in Australia should be getting off on the right foot.
Also read: Why the rich Chinese are flocking to Australia’s Gold Coast
Already, Australia is the second favourite property investment destination for wealthy Chinese, and this trend is expected to continue, with the ever-popular cities of Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane being the top three cities.
Interestingly, Adelaide and Canberra experienced a jump in Chinese popularity in Q1 quarter, while Airlie Beach was the sole newcomer to the list.