According to a report by the Daily Mail on October 16, Chinese buyers are increasingly interested in Australian property, and wealthy overseas buyers are snapping up luxury homes worth more than $4 million in Australia's richest region.
Property group Juwai IQI has revealed that wealthy Chinese buyers with permanent residency in Australia are particularly interested in high-end properties, and they often need to travel between China and Australia for work.
(Image source: Daily Mail)
Now, wealthy Chinese businessmen are waging a bidding war for luxury homes in Sydney's North Shore area, including properties on newly built subdivisions that are of little interest to local buyers.
Group managing director Daniel Ho said the top 7 per cent of Chinese buyers who consulted with Juwai IQI were interested in Australian properties, which are typically valued at around $4.5 million.
This price point is equivalent to the median price of a detached house in Coogee or Castlecrag on the Lower North Shore in Sydney's South East.
"We call them 'frequent flyer buyers' because they seem to spend as much time on the plane as they do in China or Australia," he said.
These buyers from China have Australian residency and often travel between the two countries for business and family matters.
They are wealthy and looking to raise a family in Australia and are looking for a property priced at $4 million or more. ”
In 2024, there will be a 10% increase in buying inquiries from potentially affluent Chinese customers.
(Image source: Daily Mail)
Thomas Ma, chief executive officer and co-founder of Fang.com.au, said monthly enquiries in Sydney's North Shore area have surged by 450% since 2021, with local Chinese buyers particularly interested in properties near the school.
"The North Shore area is attractive because of the number of excellent public and private schools there, and prices are still acceptable compared to the East End," he said. ”
Peter Li, managing director of Plus Agency, which specialises in selling Australian property to Chinese buyers, said he had sold two expensive properties in Sydney's North Shore area in the past week.
He said: "Both buyers have Australian residency and often travel back and forth between the two countries for business. Australia and China are both home for them, and their children have grown up here. Both buyers have properties in Chatswood and are now upgrading. ”
(Image source: Daily Mail)
This month, Plus Agency sold a property in Sydney's North Shore borough of Lindfield to a Chinese businessman for $5.6 million – a fierce bid for a six-bedroom, four-bathroom house.
A potential buyer continued to raise his offer after the seller rejected his initial offer of $5.2 million. And this bid of 5.2 million was made after only one hour of viewing the house.
"This buyer only spent an hour looking at the property, making an on-the-spot bid of $5.2 million and signing the contract," Mr Li said. The seller refused, so he made another $5,508,880 offer, which the seller also refused. He then made a final bid of $5.55 million, which the seller accepted. But after the deal, another Chinese buyer surpassed that price with an offer of $5.6 million.
"The offer came from a Chinese couple whose husband was working in China and she was looking for a house in Australia," Li said. ”
Li noted that Chinese buyers were more interested in subdividing the homes on the plot than Australians, noting that a local real estate agent had previously struggled with selling the Lindfield property.
"The house is located behind a long flagpole plot and not everyone likes it," he said. They had not been able to sell before because the local demand for this type of property was weaker than that of international buyers. ”
In August 2021, when the RBA interest rate was at an all-time low of 0.1%, a developer bought a pristine property at Highfield Avenue in Lindfield for $5.926 million.
The plot was then split into two parts, resulting in a brand new house and an existing house, each now worth a similar value to the original undivided property.
This month, Plus Agency also sold a six-bedroom property in Chatswood for $6,808,888 – more than triple the $2.15 million it sold in May 2018.
"There are a number of competing buyers for this house – all international Chinese businessmen who have residency in Australia and live in the area when they are not overseas," Li said. Chinese buyers love the North Shore because Chatswood has the largest Chinese community in Sydney. I believe that most of them are mainlanders now. Ten years ago, Hong Kong had the largest number of people, but now there are even more people from the mainland. Lindfield's plot is larger but still close to Chatswood. ”