Daniel Ho, co-founder and group managing director of Chinese real estate portal Juwai IQI, recently claimed that for the first time, Australia is the most popular country for Chinese homebuyers as measured by enquiries made on the site since the beginning of last year.
“In January, Chinese buyer inquiries for Australian real estate surged by 24% compared to December, due to the announcement that (Chinese) borders would be reopening”, Ho said.
“At this rate, China will invest an estimated $3.2 billion in Australian residential real estate this year, which would be up from $2.4 billion in 2021-22″.
“With the inclusion of Hong Kong, China would invest $3.8 billion, which would be up from $3 billion last year”, Ho estimated.
Executive partner at Plus Agency, Fiona Yang, also claimed Chinese demand for Australian property was booming.
“We have five times more Chinese buyers than before, and they want to buy quickly”, Yang said.
“The pandemic-related uncertainty is passed. The closed borders are open, rents are hot, and these buyers are fed up with three years of lockdown. They are committed to Australia. They are ready to make quick decisions on real estate”.
NAB’s Q1 Residential Property Survey was released late last week with real estate agents reporting increased sales to foreign buyers.
In new housing markets, foreign buyers’ share of sales rose to 7.9% in Q1 (5.2% in Q4’22), whereas they rose to 3.8% (2.8% in Q4’22) in established markets:
The next chart plots new home sales to foreign buyers across jurisdictions and shows that NSW has led the rebound.
NSW’s market share jumped sharply to 16.2% (6.7% in Q4’22) – the highest level in 8 years and double the survey average (8.3%):
The rebound in established markets was more broad-based, but was highest in QLD (4.6% up from 2.6% in Q4’22), VIC (4.2% up from 3.6% in Q4’22) and NSW (3.7% up from 3.3% in Q4’22):
With Chinese lockdowns now over and record immigration into Australia, foreign buyer demand should continue to rise.
This will provide another tailwind for Australian property values, which are set to soar in 2024.
