Australian real estate, particularly in Sydney, has long been considered by overseas buyers to be a ‘safe haven’ investment destination for the last few years. Chinese property investors in particular have been aggressively buying up Australian real estate and in many cases, they’re not listing them for rent.
This is having the impact of driving down housing supply, which has prompted our Federal and State Governments to introduce a number of ‘foreign investment’ levies and taxes. At the same time, lenders introduced stricter loan conditions for foreign investors. Across the Atlantic, wealthy Americans have started making inquiries about buying homes in Australia, particularly in Sydney, since Donald Trump became President.
“There has also been a rise in inquiries from Australian expats living in the US and Americans looking to migrate to Australia on significant investor visas.” says Craig Pontey of RWDB. They are asking for apartments in Chinese Dalian Wanda’s high end development at Goldfields House in Circular Quay,” Aside from apartments, “fleeing” Americans were also looking for “traditional Australian homes” in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and most were willing to spend between $3 million to $5 million.”
In a nutshell Trump is good for the property business.