Juwai.com online searches for Australian Property 888 Significant Investor Visa up 61% in China
Juwai.com online searches for Australian Property 888 Significant Investor Visa up 61% in China; Chinese buyers seek Aussie property because of stable Australian housing market, regulatory protection and time zone
Tweet Topic Started: 10 May 2013, 12:02 PM (2,995 Views)
The expected surge of high net worth Chinese investors spending $5 million in Australia to be eligible for the signficant investor visa (SIV) has coincided with a rise in Chinese online searches for Australian property and Macquarie launching a new series of SIV funds.
Chinese international property portal Juwai.com has recorded a 61% rise in Australian residential property searches since the start of the year with property viewings up 162% over the same period.
Around 82% of Juwai.com users are from mainland China with the remainder located in Australia, South East Asia and other countries.
"Chinese buyers seek out Aussie property because of Australia's stable housing market, regulatory protection and the fact that its time zone is very close,” says Andrew Taylor, Co-CEO of Juwai.com.
“East Coast Australia is only two hours different from Shanghai and Beijing, while Perth is in the same time zone as the Chinese cities.”
“Recent initiatives such as the significant investment visa have had an impact on cementing Australia as a preferred property investment destination,” he says.
The signficant investor visa opportunity is noted in the news section of Juwai.com.
Last weekend, the first significant investor visa was granted to a Chinese toy manufacturer and his family.
Immigration minister Brendan O’Connor said 170 significant visa applications have been lodged, totalling a potential of $850 million in investment.
A spokesperson for the Department of Immigration said further visa approvals would not be far off.
Macquarie has recently launched four managed investment funds aimed at signficant visa applicants. The funds require a minimum $1 million investment.
Complying significant visa investments are Commonwealth, State or Territory government bonds, ASIC-regulated regulated managed funds with a mandate for investing in Australia; and direct investment into Australian proprietary companies.
Direct property investments of $5 million are not qualifying investments, but managed funds can hold property assets.
Macquarie says in its fund information memorandum that they are “designed for investors who are applying for a Significant Investor Visa issued by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship”.
Three out of the four funds hold a small weighting in listed property trusts.
Taylor also highlighted the recent convertible currency deal between Australia and China, where the Australian dollar and Yuan convert directly, which he said “will nurture Chinese buyer interest in to the future.”
China’s fifth largest bank, Bank of Communications, says it plans to allow its clients to convert the Australian dollar directly into yuan.
Australia is only the third country to have such a currency agreement with China.
Juwai.com notes ABS figures which show that the number of Chinese-born people living in Australia increased by 54% between 2006 and 2011
“The number of Chinese who settled permanently in Australia soared by 16% since 2010. The number was 17,580 in 2012, up from 15,780 in 2011 and 14,720 in 2010.
“Short-term Chinese visitors are rising even faster. They have tripled in the last decade to 630,000. Chinese tourists are now the second biggest visitor group to Australia, behind New Zealanders,” says Juwai.com.
Walking around legoland on the weekend I noticed that there are a lot more Chinese in the UK than there used to be. Not sure if they were tourists or living here.
Whenever you have an argument with someone, there comes a moment where you must ask yourself, whatever your political persuasion, 'am I the Nazi?'
Altona's gone for more than $50 million; the so-called ''Bang and Olufsen'' house for a bit over $33 million - both to Chinese buyers. The owners of Sydney's unsold ''trophy homes'' are understandably excited.
Mansions that have been ''quietly'' for sale for years are being gussied up and remarketed.
The most notable boost to the market has come from offshore buyers, hoping to take advantage of the government's new Significant Investor Visa for migrants who invest $5 million in approved investments.
The stronger stockmarket is encouraging upgraders. And expats in Europe are more willing to cop a loss with the high Australian dollar to put money into Sydney property because it is considered a safer investment than anywhere overseas.
The $50 million and $33 million Point Piper sales and a $30 million deal in Rose Bay are said to be working wonders.
''Now there's only one waterfront gem left with those Harbour Bridge views,'' said Elliot Placks, of Ray White Double Bay, referring to the Edwardian harbourfront home of liquor industry heavyweight John Piven-Large two doors down from Altona. It's up for $40 million.
Walking around legoland on the weekend I noticed that there are a lot more Chinese in the UK than there used to be. Not sure if they were tourists or living here.
Probably tourists. It seems half the people I know here have been to Europe in the past couple of years, and since the pound dropped some of them have been going to the UK instead of Italy and France (to get half-price LV bags, it seems.)
5 years ago it was always Thailand, Korea, Japan and, for the lucky/rich few, the US. Egypt and Turkey have been popular destinations as well.
The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off. --Gloria Steinem AREPS™
I have started to suspect that the Chinese government is running a clever scheme along the following lines.
Build as much as you can and sell it for as much shameless capital gain as you can, to the huge cohort of hard-working, hard-saving middle class investors. Use that capital gain to build yet more infrastructure and buildings.
Meanwhile there is a sizeable proportion of the population priced out of housing altogether, because it is all owned by “greater sucker” investors, and the lower income quartile cannot out-bid these people for housing space (and indeed potential entrepreneurs cannot outbid these people for commercial space). I often point out that a capital-gain-minimising free market in urban growth like affordable US cities, would be getting these poorer people housed and getting new business startups into affordable premises.
But why would the government pursue the status quo instead? The answer is, the hard-working, hard-saving middle class is providing a source of quasi-taxation revenue for further growth. They are going to lose this money just as surely as if they had paid it in tax. There will be no bailouts or socialisation of investor losses. The economy will rapidly rebalance with a far greater amount of affordable housing and commercial space than if the government had pursued a gradual, honest free market growth model.
If I am right, I have an admiration for the genius of the people who thought it up. I am implacably opposed to the “planning gain” racket in our own economies, but if the government was taking all the planning gain and recycling it into growth that would ensure maximum affordability ultimately, and if the sucker investors were going to wear their own losses when the crunch comes, I would see some merit in it. But the obscene planning gain that marks our own urban land racket is not being recycled into infrastructure or “supply”, and the specufestor class and the banking and finance sector is counting on nil risk – i.e. any losses will be socialised.
AUSTRALIAN cities continue to be real estate hotspots for Chinese buyers.
Chinese web site Juwai.com rates Australia as the second most-searched country of its 1.8 million property listings from 53 countries,
The USA heads the list.
In Australia, the top rankings are Sydney, Melbourne, the Gold Coast and Brisbane.
Co-founded by Queenslanders Simon Henry and Andrew Taylor, the multi-million dollar business is collecting some of the world's first data on where Chinese buyers are looking to purchase property.
"No one has ever done this before,'' Mr Henry said.
"We are seeing hotspots all over the world.
"You'd typically expect LA, New York, San Francisco – the Hollywood-factor type cities to be really high on the agenda.
"And yes, they are there, but then there are other places which are completely unexpected: Portugal, Spain and Cyprus.''
While there are many motivations for Chinese buyers, Juwai.com has discovered the four top reasons for purchasing Australian property.
Investment is a motive for 51 per cent, followed by education at 25 per cent, lifestyle 19 per cent and migration at 5 per cent.
By Jonathan Chancellor Wednesday, 04 September 2013
Sydney's first known real estate purchase by a significant investor visa holder has been to an $8.5 million Vaucluse mansion buyer.
The ultra-contemporary five-bedroom Captain Pipers Road house (pictured below) was bought by Minqin Wang, whose husband runs a mining transportation company in the Shanxi province, south-west of Beijing. Last month, on approval but before this week's purchase, she told News Ltd papers she wanted to move to Australia because of the weather, her friends who live here, and Australia's strong ties to her home country. Her grandchildren study in Sydney.
"Australia is strongly linked with China - it has a stable economy and social security is stable, it's better than other countries," she said.
The Wangs are one of less than a dozen approved holders of the significant investor visa which encourages overseas applicants with $5 million or more to invest, typically through Commonwealth, state or territory government bonds, ASIC-regulated managed funds, or Australian proprietary companies. It comes with an entitlement to eventual permanent residency.
Australia's first significant investor visa was granted in May this year to a Chinese toy manufacturer, who invested $5 million in Victorian state government bonds.
To date the much vaunted SIV-effect has been more agent's hype than reality. It will certainly come, but all in good time. The Chinese especially like to take their time.
The property now sold was actually listed last October through Marion Badenoch of Richardson & Wrench Double Bay when passed in at auction at $8.2 million. And in the interim its street address was changed to a luckier number.
The family was introduced by luxury property specialist Monika Tu of the Black Diamondz agency (黑钻石莫妮卡涂) to the house designed by architect Kieran McInerney. The vendor was builder Drew Spring who replaced the former red brick apartment block which cost $3.25 million in 2007.
Property Observer recently noted the Immigration Department had received 305 applications for the visa as of last month, with 138 of those in NSW.
It is understood fewer than a dozen have been approved to date.
Some estate agents especially operating at the prestige end of the Sydney and Melbourne markets have been talking about the impact the visa will have on sales and prices for most of this year, but without backing it up with results.
It could be because the government department seems to have almost intentionally dragged the chain on approvals so as to not precipitate local concerns. The Department of Immigration says it will take between six to nine months to process applications.
But the trickle might yet become a torrent as property listings websites are attributing large spikes in searches for Australian property in part to the ‘SIV-effect’. Direct property investment does not qualify as the $5 million investment, but presumably most successful applicants will then have a prestige home on their shopping list.
It then has the capacity to change the housing dynamic of select suburbs in select capital cities across Australia.
The scheme is being heavily promoted throughout China with the Bank of China recently completing a SIV road show of Chinese cities.
The NSW government has been vocal in its support of the scheme given it requires investors put a third of the required $5 million into NSW Investor Migrant Waratah Bonds – the only state to have such a requirement.
Australian Property Forum is an economics and finance forum dedicated to discussion of Australian and global real estate markets and macroeconomics, including house prices, housing affordability, and the likelihood of a property crash. Is there an Australian housing bubble? Will house prices crash, boom or stagnate? Is the Australian property market a pyramid scheme or Ponzi scheme? Can house prices really rise forever? These are the questions we address on Australian Property Forum, the premier real estate site for property bears, bulls, investors, and speculators. Members may also discuss matters related to finance, modern monetary theory (MMT), debt deflation, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Ethereum and Ripple, property investing, landlords, tenants, debt consolidation, reverse home equity loans, the housing shortage, negative gearing, capital gains tax, land tax and macro prudential regulation.
Forum Rules:
The main forum may be used to discuss property, politics, economics and finance, precious metals, crypto currency, debt management, generational divides, climate change, sustainability, alternative energy, environmental topics, human rights or social justice issues, and other topics on a case by case basis. Topics unsuitable for the main forum may be discussed in the lounge. You agree you won't use this forum to post material that is illegal, private, defamatory, pornographic, excessively abusive or profane, threatening, or invasive of another forum member's privacy. Don't post NSFW content. Racist or ethnic slurs and homophobic comments aren't tolerated. Accusing forum members of serious crimes is not permitted. Accusations, attacks, abuse or threats, litigious or otherwise, directed against the forum or forum administrators aren't tolerated and will result in immediate suspension of your account for a number of days depending on the severity of the attack. No spamming or advertising in the main forum. Spamming includes repeating the same message over and over again within a short period of time. Don't post ALL CAPS thread titles. The Advertising and Promotion Subforum may be used to promote your Australian property related business or service. Active members of the forum who contribute regularly to main forum discussions may also include a link to their product or service in their signature block. Members are limited to one actively posting account each. A secondary account may be used solely for the purpose of maintaining a blog as long as that account no longer posts in threads. Any member who believes another member has violated these rules may report the offending post using the report button.
Australian Property Forum complies with ASIC Regulatory Guide 162 regarding Internet Discussion Sites. Australian Property Forum is not a provider of financial advice. Australian Property Forum does not in any way endorse the views and opinions of its members, nor does it vouch for for the accuracy or authenticity of their posts. It is not permitted for any Australian Property Forum member to post in the role of a licensed financial advisor or to post as the representative of a financial advisor. It is not permitted for Australian Property Forum members to ask for or offer specific buy, sell or hold recommendations on particular stocks, as a response to a request of this nature may be considered the provision of financial advice.
Views expressed on this forum are not representative of the forum owners. The forum owners are not liable or responsible for comments posted. Information posted does not constitute financial or legal advice. The forum owners accept no liability for information posted, nor for consequences of actions taken on the basis of that information. By visiting or using this forum, members and guests agree to be bound by the Zetaboards Terms of Use.
This site may contain copyright material (i.e. attributed snippets from online news reports), the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such content is posted to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues. This constitutes 'fair use' of such copyright material as provided for in section 107 of US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed for research and educational purposes only. If you wish to use this material for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Such material is credited to the true owner or licensee. We will remove from the forum any such material upon the request of the owners of the copyright of said material, as we claim no credit for such material.
Privacy Policy: Australian Property Forum uses third party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our site. These third party advertising companies may collect and use information about your visits to Australian Property Forum as well as other web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here: Google Advertising Privacy FAQ
Australian Property Forum is hosted by Zetaboards. Please refer also to the Zetaboards Privacy Policy
