6 myths about Chinese property buyers, busted

The Australian Financial Review (AFR)

Chinese buyers have taken centre stage on Australia’s property scene following an exponential surge in real estate investment from offshore markets. China is by far the biggest foreign buyer of residential and commercial property, proposing $24.3 billion of spend in 2014-15 Ð more than triple the United States and six times the outlay from Singapore, the Foreign Investment Review Board annual reports shows. Esther Yong, director at Chinese portal ACProperty, says the majority of average buyers are looking at properties priced between $500,000 to $800,000. “A lot of people think they just walk up with suitcases of money, but that doesn’t usually happen,” she says. “Generally, there’s more news about people buying $5 million, $10 million and $20 million houses than just someone buying a $500,000 house … so most people think Chinese buyers are really rich.” Ms Yong says Chinese families usually plan and save for a property as a top priority, sometimes even over marriage. “[Property] is the first thing that families talk about when they sit down together,” she says. “It is something that’s embedded in the [Chinese] culture; first things first, own a property.”