The suburbs where Chinese buyers are desperate to buy up Australian real estate

Chinese interest in Australian properties is soaring, with wealthy buyers snapping up $4million trophy homes in the country’s ritziest areas. 

Real estate group Juwai IQI has revealed wealthy Chinese buyers with Australian permanent residency are particularly interested in upmarket houses.

In particular, rich Chinese businessmen are now engaged in a bidding war for expensive homes on Sydney’s north shore, including brand new properties on subdivided blocks that local buyers are not particularly interested in.

Daniel Ho, the group’s managing director, said the top seven per cent of buyers from China making enquiries with his firm were interested in Australian properties worth around $4.5million.

‘We call them “frequent flyer buyers” because it can seem like they spend as much time on planes as they do in either China or Australia,’ he said.

‘These are buyers from China who have Australian residency and travel back-and-forth frequently for business and family obligations. 

‘They are wealthy and want to raise their families in Australia and look for homes priced at $4million and higher.’ 

Buyer enquiries from prospective Chinese customers has so far increased by 10 per cent this year.

Thomas Ma, the chief executive and co-founder of Fang.com.au, said monthly enquiries about homes on Sydney’s North Shore had surged by 450 per cent since 2021, with local Chinese buyers particularly interested in homes near schools.

‘The north shore is attractive because it has a range of great public and private school options and house prices are still achievable when compared with the eastern suburbs,’ he said.

Peter Li, the general manager of the Plus Agency that sells Australian real estate to Chinese buyers, said that during the past week, he had sold two expensive homes on Sydney’s north shore.

‘Both buyers have Australian residency and often travel back and forth for business,’ he said.

‘Australia and China are both homes for them, and their children are growing up here. 

‘Both are upgrading from homes they already own in Chatswood.’

The Plus Agency this month sold a Lindfield home on the north shore for $5.6million to a Chinese businessman – with fierce bidding for a six bedroom, four bathroom house.

The price was reached despite the home being on a ‘battle-axe block’; situated behind another house with its own driveway access to the street.

The prospective buyer kept increasing his offer after the seller had rejected his original $5.2million bid, made after a single brief viewing.

The Plus Agency this month sold a Lindfield home on Sydney’s north shore for $5.6million to a Chinese businessman – with fierce bidding for a six bedroom, four bathroom house on a battle-axe block

‘He viewed the property for one hour, made an offer for $5.2million on the spot and signed a contract,’ Mr Li said.

‘The vendor rejected it, so he made another offer at $5.5million, which the vendor also rejected. 

‘He then made a final offer at $5.55million, which the vendor accepted.’

But after it sold, another Chinese buyer trumped that with an offer of $5.6million.

‘This offer came from the wife of a Chinese couple who is looking for a home while her husband is in China for work,’ Mr Li said.

Mr Li said Chinese buyers had more interest in houses on subdivided blocks than did Australians, who put more value on spacious yards and outdoor areas when paying that kind of money.

‘This house is at the back of a long battle-axe block, which not everyone likes,’ he said.

‘They failed to sell it because local demand for this type of home is weaker than international buyer demand.’

A developer had bought an original home at Highfield Avenue in Lindfield for $5.926million in August 2021, back when Reserve Bank interest rates were at a record-low of 0.1 per cent.

The block was then subdivided in two, producing a brand new home and an existing house now each worth a similar amount to the original, unsubdivided property. 

The Plus Agency has also this month sold a six-bedroom house in Chatswood for $6.8million – or more than triple the $2.15million it sold for in May 2018.

The Plus Agency has also this month sold a six-bedroom house in Chatswood for $6.808888million – or more than triple the $2.150million it sold for in May 2018

‘This home had competing buyers – both Chinese international businesspeople with Australian residency and already living in the area, when not overseas,’ Mr Li said.

‘Chinese buyers like the north shore because Chatswood has the largest Chinese community in Sydney. 

‘I believe the majority are mainlanders now. Ten years ago, people from Hong Kong were the most numerous, but now there are more mainlanders. 

‘Lindfield has bigger lots but is still close to Chatswood.’

The buyers for both houses had deliberately offered prices featuring multiple ‘eights’ – because the number in Chinese also sounds like the words ‘get rich’. 

Foreigners can buy an established property in Australia if they are have permanent residency or are studying.

But foreigners not living in Australia are only allowed to buy something that is brand new.

Permanent residents are treated differently to foreigners and do not need Foreign Investment Review Board approval to buy a new or established property, or a block of land.