Australia desirable to foreign investors
The fall in the Australian dollar makes our property market relatively cheap and desirable to foreign investors, according to a new report.
A new report from Propell National Valuers says foreign buyers evaluate global cities in US dollar terms, so the hefty cut in the Australian dollar's value makes our property market attractive to foreign investors across the world.
Sydney house prices have risen only 7.7 per cent in US$ terms, while Melbourne house prices have actually fallen 8.2 per cent since 2011, making it a relatively cheap market for foreign investors of all nationalities.
The report found that of all foreign investor purchases in Australia, Chinese buyers account for 21 per cent – debunking the myth that Chinese investors are to blame for increasing house prices in Sydney and Melbourne.
Although Chinese made up the largest percentage of foreign investors, buyers from the United States (10 per cent), Singapore (7 per cent) and Canada (5 per cent) combined for the same number of purchases.
Following on, 4 per cent of foreign buyers are Malaysian, 3 per cent are from the UK and 3 per cent from The Netherlands.
New Zealand buyers and Hong Kong buyers account for 2 per cent each and the remaining 43 per cent is split among many countries.