Chinese overseas real estate investment volume has exceeded 5 billion U.S. dollars for 2013, breaking the historical record of 4 billion for 2012, according to the Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate agency.
Real estate markets in Europe, America, Australia and Singapore have attracted the most investment from Chinese buyers.
For example, figures provided by the Australian government showed that Chinese buyers poured 4 billion Australian dollars in 2012. It is believed that Chinese interest in Australian real estate will remain strong in the coming three to five years.
"I've never experienced any other foreign nationals that bought in that volume and they've never bought so consistently," Harry Triguboff, the Australian property tycoon and founder of the Meriton Group，said.
"They're not very concerned about the amount of return, they want to see capital gain, and I think that now with our dollar coming down. It will help us to sell even more," Triguboff added.
Company report showed that 15 percent of Meriton's sales were contributed by Chinese investors in 2012.
Why are Chinese buyers so keen on overseas market instead of the domestic market?
In the domestic market, housing prices have continued to climb over the past decade, especially in some parts, they are so high that they are simply considered unaffordable by the most.
Since 2012, policy makers have brought in cooling policies to curb speculative demand and stabilize prices, such as restrictions on multiple home purchase, higher down payments for purchases of a second home, etc. But these policies couldn't hold back the trend.
China Securities Journal said, at the end of October, new home prices in the first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen hiked over 20 percent year on year.
And that in 100 major monitored cities was about 10,685 yuan per square meter, up 1.24 percent month-on-month for the 17th consecutive month since June 2012.
Rebound domestic house price and limited investment channels may be the key reasons to push Chinese buyers to put their money in oversea real estate market.
"Is it a good idea to invest in oversea property market? " and "What are the potential risks?" investors may ask.
Many overseas real estate projects have claimed that their advantages are low cost, high yield, and even buying house to obtain permanent resident permit.
However, they seem not able to guarantee risk free for such investments. Insiders pointed out that important factors such as the political, policy, market and exchange rate risks must be considered for overseas investment.
There are already a large number of Chinese investors who have realized the practical difficulties they need to deal: high housing taxes, difficulty to rent or resale, maintenance costs, trust of unoccupied property to agencies.
Buying property oversea may be a way to broaden investment channel, but buyers have to take it as it is -- investment product, and be ready for risks and losses.
To determine when to pull the trigger, buyers should always keep eyes on what's happening in overseas real estate market. Try to be rational and cautious.
Source: Xinhua
