There are early signs that Chinese buyers` enthusiasm for Sydney property has begun to calm down, mainly for three precise reasons.
The first reason, according to realestate.com.au, is that China`s goverment has narrowed the flow of money to Australia. Meanwhile, at the request of (APRA), Australia`s prudential regulator, Australian banks tightened lending standards to mainland Chinese investors, sometimes without even lending to foreign investors.
This week, real estate agents, both at home and abroad serving Chinese buyers, said their sales fell sharply in the past six weeks after the new property tax was announced in the new state budget.
It is no longer too early to say that the charm of Australian real estate is no longer early, but according to data from the Chinese real estate portal Home and abroad, compared with the second half of last year, the number of searches for property for sale in Australia fell by 1/3 in the first half of this year. Search volumes elsewhere are on the rise.
The trend coincides with warnings from former top Fed officials. The senior official warned that if Chinese buyers were to withdraw from Australia`s residential property market, the housing market could decline, posing a risk to the Australian economy.
"China is now a huge economy and has links with countries such as Australia and Canada through the housing market, which is something to think about," she said.
In the second quarter of this year, foreigners accounted for 17 percent of all apartments and 11 percent of independent homes in the current and new housing markets, according to (NAB), a property expert at National Bank. Among them, Chinese people in foreign countries to buy the largest proportion of households.
Some experts believe the official figures underestimate the true extent of foreign investment in Australia`s real estate sector, as Chinese Australians and permanent residents become channels for Chinese relatives and friends to buy homes in Australia.
The activity of Chinese buyers buying houses in Sydney has grown rapidly over the past few years. But at the weekend, a large project in Sydney, CBD, sold only 50 percent of its property, the lowest percentage in years. Moreover, the number of new apartments approved for construction is still at an all-time high and will continue to enter the market.
I hope the cooling of interest in buying houses in China is only temporary, not the end.
