Jim Malo
Brisbane real estate is still being snapped up by foreign money following dire predictions Chinese interests would dry up once it became harder to purchase property, agents say.
Restrictions on capital outflow by the Chinese government have not made much of a dent in Remax United Vision‘s Henry Wong‘s sales.
He sells in the south-east, in areas including Carindale and Mansfield. Mr Wong said Chinese buyers could still bring money from overseas because they or a family member were business owners.
The suburb of Mansfield gets a lot of attention from Chinese buyers.
In most cases, the buyers were Australian residents or citizens while the parents where based in China.
“Most of the Chinese buyers, they already live here but the money doesn’t come from here, the money comes from overseas,” he said. “Most of the time the parents are in business. If you’re in business you can move money.
“If you run an international business you have to move money or you can’t do business.”
Remax United Vision’s Henry Wong said he was yet to see a dip in demand.
Buyers relying on Chinese capital were such a large part of Mr Wong’s business he does two versions of all his marketing material, one in English, the other Chinese. Even his website comes in two languages.
Mr Wong said because often sales would hinge on convincing the parents of his buyers they were making a good investment, it was easier to be prepared.
- Related: Chinese money slipping out of the country
- Related: Low investor activity means it’s “crunch time” for Australia
- Related: Foreign buyers dropping out of Aussie markets
“The parents have to like it. If the parents don’t like it they won’t buy it,” he said. “Even though it’s under your name the parents have the say.”
Place Sunnybank‘s Owen Chen previously predicted Chinese interest would recede, but not disappear. His area of Sunnybank and its surrounding suburbs are considered extremely popular with east Asian communities.
Using auction results as a yardstick, Mr Chen said it appeared sales had slowed but were still strong.
“We just did our quarterly year-to-date auction review. We did 61 auctions. We had 13 sell before auction, 26 sold at auction and 20 sold after auction,” he said. “We only had two withdrawn. I would say the market we’re at is quite healthy.
“Before it was a little bit crazy. Now it really just takes a little bit longer [to sell].”
Buyers were more scarce and took a bit more convincing, but homes were still selling well, he said.
“But the positive is we’re still selling property up to the owners’ expectations,” Mr Chen said. “It takes a lot of buyer work. We have lowered buyer activity.”
