Australia reaps second-largest share worldwide of Chinese property investment dollars in 2016
Australia received the second-largest share worldwide of capital spent on international real estate by property investors from the People’s Republic of China in 2016, according to figures from Juwai.com.
Chinese spent AU$133.7 billion (US$101.4 billion) on international real estate in 2016, a new report from Juwai.com found.
The report predicts Chinese international property acquisition will be lower in 2017 at around AU$104.5 billion (US$80 billion) but will still rank among the top three years on record.
Sue Jong, Chief of Operations for Juwai.com said this is the first time in history that Chinese buyers acquired more than AU$130 billion of international real estate.
“The 2016 total represents a 25.4 percent increase over 2015 and an 845 percent increase over five years," she said.
"Our forecast suggests 2017 will also be one of the top three years on record.
“In Australia, we see that investment flows have decreased markedly from their peak, while remaining strong by historic standards.
"Capital controls, bank lending standards and foreign buyer taxes have combined to wind back the clock to 2015.
“Current trends suggest that Chinese property investment this year will be on par with the levels of 2015, or about AU$105 billion.
"That would make 2017 one of the top two or three years in history. While levels are lower than in 2016, they will still be extremely high by any standard.
“We believe we estimate conservatively.
"When we forecast that Chinese investors will acquire more than AU$2 trillion (US$1.5 trillion) of overseas assets in coming decade or so as they close the underinvestment gap. Up to half this new investment could go to property.
According to the report, the top five countries for Chinese investment by dollar value in 2016 are:
1. United States
2. Australia
3. Hong Kong
4. Canada
5. United Kingdom
Vanessa Rader, Head of Research at Ray White Commercial, said the statistics also show markets such as Canada, which have similar investment drivers to Australia, and the impact government imposed taxes has had.
"This gives us a great insight to what 2017 results may look like for Australia," she said.
