Chinese foreign investment in Australia has a new hot spot, with purchasing intent increasing by over 1000% in the city in the year to June.
According to Chinese global property portal, Juwai.com’s Purchasing Intent Index for Q2, Chinese property investment on Queensland’s Gold Coast is up 161% on the first quarter of 2015 and up 1120% over the year.
As a state, Queensland was the most popular destination for foreign Chinese money, overtaking previous property hot spots, New South Wales and Victoria. According to the data, purchase intent in Brisbane is 12% higher than a year ago and Townsville is up 4% on last year.
Juwai.com’s Purchasing Intent Index measures Chinese interest across different cities and states by tracking online property hunting activity through its portal, which connects Chinese buyers with international agents.
“Queensland cities have not been the most popular with Chinese buyers over the past five years, but they are growing quickly,” Simon Henry, co-CEO of Juwai.com told
News Limited.
“Sydney and Melbourne could lose some investment to Queensland as a result.
“The Gold Coast is doing particularly well this year, especially as buyer interest temporarily reached a low point in 2014.”
According to
CoreLogic RP Data’s June Home Value Index, Brisbane recorded the third largest year-on-year growth out of the eight capital cities. With annual growth of 3.4% over the 12 months to June, Brisbane is in an up-cycle but has still not hit the peaks of the 16.2% and 10.2% growth seen in Sydney and Melbourne respectively – so it is understandable that Brisbane and its surrounding cities are sought after by keen foreign investors.
Henry also told
News Limited that the increase in interest is because Chinese buyers today are different than the Chinese buyer of two or three years ago.
“Then, they were typically first-time buyers with little experience in international real estate markets. Today, they often already own a property in Australia or another country, and they are more comfortable with the country, the language and the market,” he said.
