Last week we learned that, according to the Foreign investment Review Board, the biggest investor by far in Australian real estate is China. Between them and Hong Kong, they invest five times more than the next country on the list!
China Borders Reopening
Now, as of January 8th 2023, the Chinese borders are reopening. They’ve been just about completely sealed off since early 2020, and in a matter of a couple of weeks will go back to being nearly wide open. Three years of COVID isolation are coming to an end, bringing to an end the zero-COVID policy that cut off 1.4-billion Chinese people from the rest of the world.
While tourism visas for inbound foreigners are still suspended, Chinese residents or other visa holders can enter China without quarantine. All they need is a negative PCR test done within 48 hours of departure. There is also no quarantine for travel between Hong Kong and Macau, so the Chinese mainland is also opening up further.
The Effects of Lockdown on the Chinese Economy
The world’s second largest economy has had a tough time of things over the last two years. Have a look at these takeaways from Global Data:
- Industrial production growth fell to a negative 2.9% in April 2022 from 5% in March 2022.
- Retail sales in April 2022 decreased 11.1% year on year.
- The unemployment rate climbed to 6.1% in April 2022 from 5.8% in March 2022, the highest level since February 2020.
- China’s stock market index plunged 17.5% between the beginning of January 2022 and early May 2022.
Yet with the reopening of their borders, there is enthusiasm in the air when it comes to the Chinese economy.
“We expect economic activities and consumption to rebound strongly from March-April onwards, helped by post-COVID reopening…” said Tao Wang, chief China economist at UBS. According to a Reuters poll, China’s economic growth looks set to rebound to 4.9% in 2023, getting the $17-trillion economy back on track.
What does this Mean for Australian Real Estate
What this means is that Chinese nationals can resume travel, study and tourism to Australia. This bodes very well for investment in our country, with property investment one of the main reasons Chinese people travel to Australia.
According to Chinese property website group Juwai IQI, Australia leads the pack when it comes to an international wish list for Chinese buyers. And now, after three years of not being able to travel, they have the opportunity to come and visit Australia and look at the real estate market firsthand.
“We expect Chinese outbound travel and accompanying property investment to increase rapidly in January from its current very low level,” said Juwai IQI chief executive Kashif Ansari. And according to Juwai’s data, Brisbane is in the top five cities for Chinese investment.
With Chinese New Year on the horizon, the next few weeks will likely bring the first wave of Chinese interest as they take advantage of post-covid restriction easing.
Marketing to Chinese Buyers
If you’re thinking of listing your property in 2023, it goes without saying that Chinese buyers should be on your marketing list. If you’re in Brisbane, get in touch with The Henry Wong Team®. We’ve successfully navigated the cultural divide between Australia and China for many years now, helping many vendors sell their homes to buyers from overseas.
Our cultural heritage allows us to understand the subtle cultural nuances that exist in both Australia and China and being bilingual we can maintain clear and transparent communications with everyone involved. All our marketing material is in both English and Chinese, including our website which has a manually translated Chinese version. On top of that, each of our listings has professional photography, floor plans and videography that have universal appeal to buyers, no matter their location or culture.
Got any questions about Chinese investment in the Australian property market in 2023? Get in touch with Henry Wong today. He’d love to answer them.
