Despite the new curbs enforced by some foreign governments on Chinese real estate investors, the latter remains undaunted. According to a new report from Juwai.com, a Chinese-language international property website, Chinese investment in global real estate will be approximately $104.5bn this year.
Last year, Chinese real estate investors spent a record-setting $133.7bn on global real estate. While the report predicts that Chinese international investment will be lower in 2017, it would still rank among the top three years on record.
Separate data supplied by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) indicates that Chinese buyers were approved to purchase $23.8bn of property in 2015-2016, and $18.4bn in 2014-2015.
Juwai.com’s estimate of aggregate property investment encompasses real estate purchases made by corporate investors and individual, or retail-level, investors.
“[Last year was] the first time in history that Chinese buyers acquired more than AU$130 billion of international real estate,” said Sue Jong, Juwai.com’s chief of operations. “The 2016 total represents a 25.4% increase over 2015 and an 845% increase over five years. Our forecast suggests 2017 will also be one of the top three years on record.”
Jong noted that investment flows have decreased markedly from their peak, while remaining strong by historical standards. “Capital controls, bank lending standards and foreign buyer taxes have combined to wind back the clock to 2015,” she said.
According to Juwai.com, the top five countries for Chinese investment by dollar value last year were:
- United States
- Australia
- Hong Kong
- Canada
- United Kingdom
Australia is particularly attractive to Chinese investors due to its physical proximity to China. Investors from the mainland are also attracted by Australia’s world-leading 26 years of recession-free economic growth.
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