Luxury properties are now on the “must-have” lists of an increasing number of Chinese travellers to Australia.
Ray Chan Wei, Managing Director of Henson Properties, a real estate agency in Sussex Street in Sydney’s Chinatown, believes the Chinese have been the biggest foreign buyers in the city since 2005.
“In some new property projects, up to 60 percent of the buyers were mainland Chinese and about 20 percent came from Hong Kong,” said Mr. Chan.
“Local Australian buyers represent no more than a small percentage of buyers in certain projects in the area.”
The trend was very different during the 1980s, he added, when Hong Kong visitors led the country’s foreign buyers.
“But from 2005 onwards, it appears mainlanders have become the biggest overseas buyers. There are frequent group tours that bring mainland tourists here for sight-seeing, dining, shopping — and buying properties.”
The booming Chinese economy has produced a rich class of investors who had considered Hong Kong properties but are now shifting their attention to Australia. This is apparent in Sydney’s Chinatown, where real estate agencies display Chinese-language posters.
“The Chinese buyers can be divided into four types. Around 30 percent plan to migrate to Australia and are buying the properties for their own use, while another 30 percent are shorter-term speculators. The rest are equally split between those who are buying for their children studying here and longer-term investors who buy for rental income,” said Mr. Chan.
Those who purchase properties for their children generally look out for smaller apartments priced from A$400,000 to A$700,000. End-users usually purchase larger houses with small gardens, priced between A$3 million and A$5 million. Some big spenders purchase property at the top end, paying from A$10 million to A$20 million.
“Unlike many Westerners who like to buy old flats or old houses in quiet areas and then redecorate the properties themselves, mainlanders like to buy new flats or new houses in rich neighbourhoods,” Mr. Chan added.