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GUEST OBSERVER
Queensland is a lovely place. Chinese buyers seem to be snapping up everything in sight. Why, then, does the Queensland government report that investors from Switzerland, Germany and Holland own more hectares of land than do those from China?
To be fair, the British own even more than these other Europeans. The United Kingdom’s position as Queensland’s number-one foreign land owner is understandable. So, too, is the lead they have on everyone else.
The POMs own more of Queensland than the Swiss, Germans, Dutch and Chinese – put together. That makes sense, because the British have been acquiring land since the days of the First Fleet.
It is the paltry amount of land owned by the Chinese that surprises, given how Chinese purchases have dominated the news over the last few years.
It's not for lack of trying. Since 2011, Chinese have pushed their share of Foreign Investment Review Board approvals for real estate purchases up by more than 50 percent. Last year, Chinese applicants received approvals on a record of $12.4 billion of investments.
On the other hand, Chinese investors have only been buying property in Australia during the last half decade. Earlier, they did not not have the desire, the wealth or the practical ability to purchase property in other countries.
So, while the British had been piling up Australian riches since January 1788, Chinese have only been investing in this country on any real scale since 2010. This helps explain why the Chinese have not yet accumulated the same level of assets as investors from other and much smaller nations.
There is another reason Chinese possessions in Queensland are less than one-ninth the extent of British-owned. Many Chinese buyers are either individual home-owners, or developers.
The developers aren't buying huge tracks of land. They prefer urban sites that are just the right size for an apartment building or two.
Needless-to-say, the individual homebuyers are also purchasing on a one-by-one basis. Many also go on to become Australian citizens, so the property they purchase is no longer owned by a foreign national.
In other countries, as wealth as has risen, so too has ownership of foreign real estate. Most observers expect China to play catch-up over the next decade or two.
China will continue purchasing real estate overseas at a rapid pace, although of course with fluctuations in specific locations.
By 2025, you might expect China to own more Australian property than the Dutch or the Swiss. They may even challenge the British, although I personally think that will take longer.
 
Andrew Taylor is the founder and chief executive officer of sales and marketing at <a href="https://www.juwai.com/" target="_blank">Juwai.com</a>, the number-one Chinese real estate portal for property in Australia and around the world. Find out more about him <a href="https://list.juwai.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.
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Queensland’s Red Tide: Juwai's Andrew Taylor

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Think about these five facts: 
1. China is now Australia’s biggest trading partner. 
2. Bloomberg says our links to China have quadrupled in five years. 
3. Last year, Aussies sent 36 percent of our exports to China. 
4. That’s more than any country in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
5. China invested, reports the FIRB, $12.5 billion in Australian real estate last year. 
When I read all this, the first thing that pops into my head is, “Thank goodness for China.”
If there were no China, Australia would have missed out on the boom of the last decade, which has been one of the greatest wealth-generators in our history.
It was bigger than just resources, but during the boom the mining companies alone invested four times more money in Australia than the US transferred to Europe in the entire post-war Marshall Plan. 
In the property sector, many of the new buildings that have gone up in suburbs all over the country since the year 2000 simply wouldn’t have been built without China. Developers, the RBA and the government’s recent Parliamentary inquiry all agree that off-the-plan sales to Chinese buyers have been the key to unlocking new housing supply.
After feeling good for a few moments, a question then occurs to me. It’s this: “What happens now?”
What does the recent plunge in China’s stock market means for Australian real estate?
There are two ways to answer that. 
The first is with the short-term answer. Over the past month, Chinese demand for international property has remained normal. No high peaks. No deep plunges.  
At Juwai.com, we’ve seen it in the numbers of people coming to our website to make inquiries to agents. We’ve seen it in the deals that agents report they are making. And, we’ve seen it in our call center, where our team responds by phone, social media and email to buyer questions. 
Some people expected international property buying to rocket upwards as Chinese rushed to escape their gyrating stock market. But there’s been no change. 
The second way to answer the question is by looking at the long term. 
Over the long term, the turmoil in China’s equities market have given Chinese one less reason to invest in equities and one more to invest in international real estate, which just goes from strength to strength.
Australia’s currency has plummeted, giving Chinese consumers a 15% to 20% boost in their real estate buying power. (Of course, it’s been less fun for those who bought their Australian investment five years ago and since seen it’s value in Chinese yuan drop.)
The government is, in fact, encouraging Chinese families and companies to invest in places like Australia. 
China’s low savings account interest rates mean that overseas investment can be a better bet for generating returns for the country’s huge savings reserves. 
So over the short run, Chinese buying has been stable and in future years it will only grow.
 
Andrew Taylor is the founder and chief executive officer of sales and marketing at <a href="https://www.juwai.com/" target="_blank">Juwai.com</a>, the number-one Chinese real estate portal for property in Australia and around the world. Find out more about him <a href="https://list.juwai.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. 
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What China’s stock market meltdown means for Australian real estate: Juwai's Andrew Taylor

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We now live in an international world. Policy decisions made in one country can reverberate thousands of miles away.
Something that happened in Beijing in early June is still sending out shockwaves. It could lead to more than $98.5 billion of new investment in Australia’s property sector.
This momentous event was the Chinese government’s soft announcement of a new pilot program, named QDII2, to enable people to more easily move money out of China.
Most Australians have become accustomed to thinking of China as jealously guarding its borders, to prevent its citizens from investing overseas.
But, in fact, China’s government has a very public desire to increase its citizens’ and corporations’ international investments. 
China also wants its yuan to rank right up there as a global currency, along with the US dollar, Japanese yen and British pounds sterling.
QDII2 starts with six cities, whose total population is more than 50 million. After testing the concept, the government hopes to roll it out to the whole country of 1.3 billion.
The total amount of wealth that would then been be freed, as reported in the Financial Times, to invest in international assets would be AU$8.5 trillion. Our conservative estimate is that about $98.5 billion of that will find its way into Australian real estate.
This is good news for the lucky country. Australia is just starting to reap some of the major benefits from Chinese investment. This latest change will multiply those benefits.
One benefit is, frankly, a higher level of architectural quality. It’s no surprise that a Chinese developer will build Australia’s first buildings by Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Dame Zaha Hadid.
Another benefit is the large number of new apartments coming into the market. New construction has soared since Chinese buyers entered the market.
Chinese are often willing to buy off the plan, so they give developers the pre-sales they need to start construction on projects that they otherwise couldn’t build.
The Property Council of Australia estimates that each Chinese purchase enables the construction of four additional new homes for Australians.
With increased Chinese international investment, Australia should continue to benefit. But, it is conceivable that the country lose its place as a favored destination for Chinese buyers.
There is intense international competition for Chinese investment. Conditions in other destination countries may become more attractive. 
Or, Australia could lose its appeal, either due to market conditions or bad policy decisions.
Australia’s economy needs foreign investment. QDII2 presents a huge new opportunity to attract that money. Let’s see what Australia does about it.
 
Andrew Taylor is the founder and chief executive officer of sales and marketing at <a href="https://www.juwai.com/" target="_blank">Juwai.com</a>, the number-one Chinese real estate portal for property in Australia and around the world. Find out more about him <a href="https://list.juwai.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.
 
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Why today's Chinese property investment is just the beginning: Andrew Taylor

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Guest observation
I’m not happy about it, but Australia's housing market has a potentially tough year ahead of it.
There are no guarantees in forecasting, but when half-trillon-dollar investment managers start throwing around phrases like "looming housing correction," you know there could be a problem.
In its recent report on Australia's economy, Alliance Bernstein used just that phrase. The report concluded, "There's a clear risk that falling house prices may be the next phase in the post-commodity–adjustment story."
(<a href="https://www.apple.com/">Jessie Richardson</a> covered this report. Get your own <a href="https://www.apple.com/">PDF copy</a> here.)
I'm certainly not one of those who think investment bankers are always right. Perhaps only investment bankers themselves fall for that fallacy.
There is strong evidence, however, that residential prices in the capital cities will either stall or fall in the coming 12 months. Here are four of the key points:
<ol>
<li>Australia is facing an income recession and weak GDP growth. In trend terms, GDP increased only 0.5 percent in the September quarter 2014. Australia's <a href="https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/50fbcf2e-9d4b-11e4-9b22-00144feabdc0#ixzz3PUJBQwE4">income recession</a> is mostly due to lower prices for our biggest exports, resources. Gross domestic income fell 0.3% and 0.4% in the second and third quarters of 2014, respectively. As a result, real wages are falling for the first time since 1992. 
</li>
<li>Conditions in the labour market, as the Reserve Bank points out in its <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/smp/2014/nov/html/overview">November statement</a>, remain subdued. Weak employment and weak housing markets tend to reinforce each other. This was shown most clearly in the wake of the GFC in the US. <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2013/article/the-relationship-between-the-housing-and-labor-market-crises-and-doubling-up.htm">Many studies</a> found increased “doubling up” of families sharing homes, and more young adults remained in their parents' homes instead of starting their own households. As one newspaper put it, “Love isn’t all that’s keeping family together today. The bruising housing market is too.” 
</li>
<li>Bloomberg news <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-05/australia-needs-stimulus-to-avoid-recession-morgan-stanley-says">concluded recently</a> that Australia may well have a recession this year, unless the government "acts decisively to stimulate the economy." One of the government's roles is to help balance out the business cycle. The Abbott government promised to do this with big investments in infrastructure. Unfortunately, even today that is still more an aspiration than a reality. 
</li>
<li>Investors are likely to play a smaller part in the housing market this year, as the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has begun discouraging banks from engaging in higher-risk lending. Risky interest-only loans (popular with onshore investors) accounted for 42.5% –almost half– of new housing loan approvals in the September quarter. That's such an outsized role that any significant drop in investor transactions will take real heat out of the housing market.</li>
</ol>
 All things considered, housing could indeed have a tough year in 2015. It will certainly be poor by comparison to last year's performance.
ANDREW TAYLOR is the co-CEO of Juwai.com, China’s No. 1 international property portal and recent winner of the "most influential international property site in China 2014" award from the country’s peak e-commerce body. 
Forbes calls Juwai.com “China's biggest real estate source for those looking to buy overseas.”
 
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Income recession one of four reasons 2015 might not be celebratory

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GUEST OBSERVATION
National real estate markets around the world, like Australia's, are being internationalized.
That's one of the things <a href="https://www.choosebrisbane.com.au/G20-Brisbane/Global-Cafe/Brisbane-Global-Cafe-Speakers" target="_blank">I'll be talking about from the stage</a> of the G20 curtain-raising event, the Global Cafe, this 12 November.
The G20 meeting is a coffee klatch for the leaders of the world’s biggest economies — and this year it’s in Brisbane. This particular meeting is an important one for real estate. The G20 hopes to find a way to raise economic output by 2% and add $2 trillion to the world economy. 
That kind of growth could lead directly to more than a billion dollars of new real estate transactions in Australia alone, with both international and domestic buyers included. Each billion in sales generates some $25 million in agent commissions.
This positive impact is one way of measuring how the real estate market is going global. In total, the world’s property investment market will reach US$1.33 trillion by the end of 2014.
Highrise Harry, also known as Harry Triguboff, managing director of developer Meriton, believes that international buyers are "an important factor in maintaining business confidence and giving developers the impetus and security to embark on new projects". That is what he told the Parliamentary Inquiry into foreign investment in residential real estate.
He also wrote that foreign investment is responsible for "directly increasing the supply of new housing".
Personally, I’m most familiar with the increase in Chinese investment. I don’t think Gough Whitlam or former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai would have in their wildest dreams imagined the flood of money and people now rushing back and forth between China and Australia, when they shook hands in Beijing back in 1971. 
China has since transformed itself from an undeveloped country into the world’s soon to be largest economy. It is the nation that adds the most to global growth, the second largest buyer of diamonds, top drinker of red wine, largest growth market for iPhones and Australian milk and nearly the largest consumer of oil.
China is growing so rapidly that, just over the past three years, it used 39% more cement than the USA used during the whole 20th century.
With their <a href="%20http:/data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNS.ICTR.ZS?order=wbapi_data_value_2013+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&amp;sort=desc" target="_blank">incredibly high savings rate</a> (greater than 50%), Chinese have money to invest in Australia. High net worth Chinese allocate 16% of their assets to overseas real estate. 
Last year, Chinese investors were approved for $5.9 billion of investments in Australian real estate.
For vendors, internationalization is another way of saying “more potential buyers". It’s not just the Chinese. It’s also Kiwis, Indians, the British and more.
That’s why I believe the next home you sell could go global.
Andrew Taylor is the co-CEO and co-Founder of <a href="https://www.juwai.com/" target="_blank">Juwai.com</a>, recent winner of the "most influential international property site in China 2014" award from the country’s peak e-commerce body. 
Juwai has created a global platform for real estate information servicing the world’s Chinese communities. Started in 2011, Juwai is a services-based business on a strong IT platform that works with millions of Chinese property buyers around the world engaged in global property investment.
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The real estate market is going global

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GUEST OBSERVATION
There are four relatively uncontroversial things I believe to be true about Chinese buyers.
But you'll be surprised by the fifth.
<ol>
<li>I have no doubt that Chinese buyers are a much bigger presence in the market today than just a few years ago.</li>
<li>I know for a fact that Chinese buyers have spurred much new construction in Australia - thus adding to the stock of homes on the market and creating jobs and tax revenue.</li>
<li>I trust the data from various sources that reveals Chinese buyers to this year be the largest foreign buyer group in Australia.</li>
<li>
I know that Australia can expect Chinese investment to increase in the coming five to 10 years. As China relaxes its capital controls, the flow of money to Australia and other countries, according to the Bank of England, could triple. Now for the surprising fact. Anyone who pays attention to the real experts, such as Glenn Stevens of the Reserve Bank of Australia, already knows this last truth. Drum roll, please. 
</li>
<li>The fifth thing I know: Chinese buyers are not distorting the Australian real estate market.</li>
</ol>
With all the media hyperventilation suggesting the contrary, how could I possibly know this?
It's because Chinese are foreign investors, and total foreign investment is down significantly. The total of Chinese investment into Australian real estate is nowhere near large enough to make up for last year's decrease by other nationalities.
That's right. The total amount that all non-Chinese foreign investors transferred into the bank accounts of Australian property vendors last year actually decreased.
It didn't decrease by a little. It decreased by $8.2 billion.
Those British, American and other foreign investors haven't disappeared altogether. Even so, there aren't nearly as many of them as there were just 12 months before.
Yes, Australia, as a fellow countryman, I know it can be hard to accept, but last year foreign buyers did a runner.
From $54 billion in 2012, non-Chinese foreign investment plummeted down to $46 billion.
The Chinese valiantly tried to make up the difference, but they fell several billion short. As someone once said, "A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you're talking about real money."
Perhaps that's why the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia has gone on the record with his belief that the Chinese aren't having any real impact on prices.
That doesn't mean Chinese buyers aren't important. Quite the contrary: they are more important than ever. But the Chinese, as a subgroup of all foreign buyers, are far from distorting the market.
For foreign buyers to push prices up in Australia, presumably their total demand would have to go up. And –even when you include Chinese buyers– total demand from foreign investors plummeted last year.
Whatever price rises we're seeing, then, have to be due to other factors. The prime contenders seem to be wage growth, investor demand and low interest rates, but that's the subject of another story.
Andrew Taylor is the founder and CEO of sales and marketing of <a href="https://www.juwai.com/" target="_blank">Juwai.com</a>, the number-one Chinese real estate portal for property in Australia and around the world. Find out more about him at <a href="https://list.juwai.com/" target="_blank">list.juwai.com.</a>
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The surprising truth about Chinese buyers: Five must-know facts

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Lost in the overblown debate about whether Chinese real estate buyers are good or bad for Australia is something more interesting. It's the true story of where Chinese buyers got all their money.
If you are over the age of 30, you grew up thinking of China as destitute. Encouraging me to eat my veggies at dinner time, my mother used to say to me, "Children in China are starving". 
So how is it that China today has so much money that it can afford to invest in Australian real estate?
To answer that, we have to travel back to 1978. China's leader Deng Xiaoping kicked off economic reforms on a bigger scale than anything ever seen in any other country - at least until the Soviet Block collapsed.
Deng had very different priorities than the hard core communists who had gone before. He was a pragmatist who saw economic growth as a way to improve the lives of the Chinese people. 
One of Deng's most famous lines is: "To be rich is glorious". That hardly sounds like Karl Marx. 
The incredible wealth China has today began with the reforms that Deng kicked off. He made economic growth a national crusade and urged his countrymen to become 'socialist entrepreneurs'. 
Many of the wealthy Chinese who invest in premium Australian homes got their start as entrepreneurs in this period. Remember, no matter how much money they have today, just about everyone in China over the age of 35 started off poor.
Here's a typical story. Liu Yongxing is a billionaire today, but was so poor as a young man that his parents had to send one of his brothers to live with another family. They couldn't afford to feed their own son. 
As the economy opened up, Liu scraped enough money together to begin keeping quail and selling the eggs. Then he moved into animal feed. 
Today, Liu is a billionaire who owns 63 companies in the fields of aluminium, power production, agriculture, food, chemicals, natural resources, commercial banking, insurance, and real estate.
Zhang Xin is another beneficiary of Deng's reforms. Now a billioinaire, she turned 18 in 1978, the year the Chinese leader began opening the economy. 
As a teenager, she lived with her mother in a room the size of a closet. To save for an education abroad, Zhang worked for five years in small garment and electronics factories in Hong Kong. 
Once she had saved enough, she moved to London to study English at secretarial school. An amazing career followed, and today she has more money than all but a handful of people in the world.
Successes like Zhang's and Liu's have consistently made China one of the fastest growing economies in the wold. This growth lifted hundreds of millions from extreme poverty. It also inducted tens of millions of them into the ranks of billionaires, millionaires, and the merely well off.
When you understand how much they have accomplished in such a short time, it's hard not to be impressed by the successful Chinese of today. One of the benefits of having these dynamic entrepreneurs invest and do business in Australia is that they often do more than just buy real estate. They also invest their skills and capital into the Australian economy.
Hopefully, this little history lesson has given you a better understanding of how a country that was so recently poor has so quickly gotten rich. 
With future growth rates predicted to hover around 7% or 8% per year, China's massive economy will only become bigger. And, the benefits of their investment in Australian real estate will also continue to grow. 
ANDREW TAYLOR is the Queensland-born co-CEO of <a href="https://juwai.com/" rel="nofollow">Juwai.com</a>, the number-one Chinese real estate portal for property in Australia and around the world.
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Why do Chinese buyers have so much money? 

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GUEST OBSERVATION
It’s rare when something from Parliament obtains the obsessive attention of the real estate industry.
The Parliamentary inquiry into foreign investment in residential real estate is an exception. Since so many interesting facts have come to light through the inquiry, this post is a helpful cheat sheet to the most important ones.
Foreign Investment: It’s Actually Plummeting
One of the most interesting submissions to the inquiry comes from Urban Taskforce Australia. They pointed out that foreign investment in Australia is not increasing, but decreasing. (Read <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=d3eae632-8ae7-43b3-aff3-4680dc17993a&amp;subId=252519" target="_blank">their submission here</a>.)
That’s happening despite the greater number of buyers from China, who have been the salvation of any number of stranded vendors.
Overall foreign investment in Australian plummeted by 18%, according to official statistics, between 2011 and 2013. Some governments would consider such a large and fast drop to be a crisis in the making.
This is where the Chinese come in. In the context of rapidly falling foreign investment, the Chinese are the rare bright spot. I know this isn’t how things are usually presented, but it’s what the facts show.
The US, Singapore, the UK — these once-reliable friends have dramatically cut their investments in Australian property. With other friends deserting our real estate market, the Chinese are almost alone in sticking with us. 
Rather than abandoning our property market, Chinese have actually increased their investment. They haven’t yet reached the heights of $8.2 billion that the Yanks reached in 2012. However, with a 40% increase to $5.9 billion last year, the Chinese can hardly be accused of failing to pull their weight.  
Foreign Buyers Mean More New Buildings
The submission from Meriton, Australia’s largest apartment builder, showed that foreign buyers actually create new housing in Australia. (Read <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=a30eb4e3-146a-4a68-905e-06f75b083e13&amp;subId=252539" target="_blank">the Meriton submission here</a>.)
Meriton wrote that foreign investment "provides a significant contribution to the stock of new Australian housing," increasing supply for sale and rent.
Meriton founder Harry Triguboff says that foreign investors buy 13% of his new apartments – often off the plan. That provides "vital initial impetus” that makes possible the construction of Meriton’s new complexes. 
He also points to government data that shows that foreign buyers pay an average of $1.06 million for established homes and $646,000 for new dwellings. That’s much more than the national median and puts them in another league altogether than first home buyers.
While Foreign Buyers Spend More, They Pay Less
One submission to the Parliamentary inquiry involved actual new research. Lorenzo Casavecchia and Adrian Lee of the University of Technology in Sydney looked at about 74,000 established home sales. (You can <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=3e731a61-1f26-42c5-93ae-238064206991&amp;subId=252425" target="_blank">download their paper here</a>.)
They found that the number of Chinese buyers went up over time. That matches with the data we’ve already looked at, showing more Chinese investment in recent years.
What’s shocking, given what passes for accepted wisdom about Chinese buyers, is that the pair also found that, “on average, Chinese buyers pay 2.04% or $13,800 less than other buyers.”
I won’t get into every little detail of this fascinating research paper, so suffice to say that they controlled for just about every conceivable factor that could affect the price.
The low-down is this: while foreign buyers buy more expensive homes, they seem to get them at a bargain. That makes it unlikely that they are pricing other buyers out of the market. 
It’s hard to price someone out of the market when you’re paying less than the market price.
Perhaps the most poignant submission to the Parliamentary inquiry was from a Mr Kristijan Gjikoski. He wrote, simply and directly. Here are his own words, slightly edited for length (read <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=036c65fb-30ee-4a79-925d-1456f8b0a035&amp;subId=252269" target="_blank">his whole submission here</a>):
"Please don’t change any laws in relation to foreign real estate investment, [which is] creating jobs in manufacturing, trades and services. Long term overseas investment can been seen as a automatic stabiliser as when things go bad." 
Andrew Taylor is the co-CEO of <a href="https://juwai.com/" rel="nofollow">Juwai.com</a>.
Image courtesy of JJ Harrison/Wikimedia/<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en" target="_blank">Creative Commons</a>.
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The Parliamentary inquiry into foreign investment: A quick submissions cheat sheet

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GUEST OBSERVATION
Like cheese and wine, but not – unfortunately for me – brains or biceps, the Significant Investor Visa improves with age.  Now that it has celebrated its first birthday, Australia’s visa program for immigrants willing to invest $5 million in the lucky country can be judged a roaring success.  Back in June, 2013, some observers called the <a href="/expert-insights/investing/more-hype-than-reality-significant-investor-visa-queue-jumpers-yet-to-be-significant">Significant Investor Visa “more hype than reality”</a>. Well, bloggers for Property Observer seldom make mistakes, but that was a big one.
<blockquote>
It is not by accident that 90% of the applicants for the Visa come from mainland China.
</blockquote>
It turns out that the visa wasn’t over-hyped, it was just getting started. Even Usain Bolt had to learn to walk before he could run. Here are the latest figures for the program, as provided to me by the office of the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Scott Morrison: • Rich would-be immigrants have lodged more than 600 applications for the Significant Investor Visa. • 91% of these wealthy applicants are Chinese. • 88 visas have already been granted. • The investments the current batch of applicants have proposed add up to nearly half a billion dollars in new  activity in Australia.   Some lampooned the government of the time for giving the Significant Investor Visa the official name of "Subclass 888.”  Looking back, using these numbers seems inspired. Triple eight is the luckiest combination of digits in Chinese numerology – and a potent symbol of prosperity in Chinese culture. It is not by accident that 90% of the applicants for the Visa come from mainland China. The fall of the Australian dollar has also favoured the Subclass 888 visa. Over the past year, the amount of Aussie money it takes to buy 1 Chinese Yuan has steadily increased.  The reverse is also true, and Australian dollars have gotten cheaper for anyone holding Chinese money. From the perspective of Chinese investors, that means an investment of AU$5 million has gotten steadily smaller in their own currency, so that it starts to look like a bargain. Real estate agents are seeing the impact.  Georg Chmiel, CEO of the LJ Hooker network, told me this: "Our LJ Hooker offices are increasingly fielding calls from Asian nationals looking to buy a trophy home for when they are in Australia.”  He also said that, on an international stage, “Our real estate represents value for money. We have a transparent government and stable economy.” Another real estate leader I spoke to recently agrees. Michael Davoren, Managing Director of RE/MAX Australia, told me that his network is also getting many inquiries from Chinese buyers. “There is significant representation in these inquiries for premium properties that could serve as residences for beneficiaries of the Subclass 888 investor visa,” he recently emailed me. So, the next time a vendor asks you if the Significant Investor Visa is having an impact, tell them that – notwithstanding what they may have read – the answer is “Yes.”
Andrew Taylor is the Queensland-born co-CEO of <a href="https://juwai.com/" rel="nofollow">Juwai.com</a>, the number-one Chinese real estate portal for property in Australia and around the world.
He has almost a decade and a half of experience in Australian and Chinese real estate and managing print, TV, radio and online media. He also has bachelor and graduate degrees in classical music, and plays the diyin gehu (Chinese bass).
 
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Why the Significant Investor Visa is the fine wine of visa programs

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There are so many good agents out there. There are also some bad ones. So, how do you choose the agent that is right for you?
Choosing the right agent is especially important for investors whose real estate portfolios are a major portion of their wealth. You may have held onto an investment property for years, and done everything right in that time. 
Even so, your choice of real estate agent to help you exit the investment could still make a huge difference to your degree of financial success.
Vital for investors
That's a big statement, so let’s look at an example to understand it better. Let’s say you paid $500,000 for a unit in <a href="/news">Artarmon</a>, on Sydney’s north shore, some time ago. Perhaps you reasonably expect to sell it now for about $600,000. 
A good agent might be able to ensure you reach that target price. With a bad one, you might fall short by as much as $25,000. 
Could a bad agent really cut your potential profit by 20%? Of course they could. By failing to develop leads from potential buyers, a bad agent can reduce both the size and the number of offers you receive.
If your property hasn’t gained as much value as the example, the impact of a bad agent could conceivably consume your entire profit. In the worst case, it could put you into the red.
I have always been a big believer in real estate agents, and this calculation just reinforces that belief for me. A good agent can make the world of difference.
That’s why answering the question, “Which agent do I hire?” could be the most important single choice you make in the entire lifetime of your investment property. The only question that is more important is, “Which property do I buy?"
Is the rapping agent right for you?
So which agent do you choose? Maybe you want the hip hop agent, who filmed a rap video in one of his listings. The lyrics include these rhyming lines:
"To be the host with the most you don’t have to be rich,
"Come check my opens and meet with me, b____.”
Or, if rap isn’t your thing, maybe you would prefer an agent who takes excellent property photos.   The blog terriblerealestateagentphotos.com found this listing photo, which it says gives off a "vague sense of animosity". 
Look closely and see if you can guess why. 
<a href="https://24.media.tumblr.com/3c1e5033b3e850ec095302f57a6e677b/tumblr_mvdg8n96HV1rrqskho1_500.jpg"></a>
<img src="/images/stories/2014/02/11/agent_feb_11_one.jpg" width="470" height="352" alt="agent_feb_11_one">Seriously, it is vitally important to hire the right agent for your sale. I have worked with real estate agents professionally for most of my career and, year after year, there’s one piece of advice that I keep coming back to.
It’s simple and not even very clever. It’s certainly not difficult.
None the less, it is perhaps the last bit of advice regarding hiring real estate agents that you’ll ever need.
My advice is this:
Never choose an agent who talks over you. 
In any profession, if your efforts to say something only causes the other person to talk louder or faster, you should have serious concerns. Their behavior shows a lack of respect, sensitivity and professionalism.
When someone talks over you, you can assume one or both the of the following: 
• This person doesn't care what I have to say.
• Or, this person lacks the self-awareness and control to know when to be quiet and listen, and when to speak.
Either way, you don't want an agent like that representing you in a transaction that could mean the loss or gain of tens of thousands of dollars.
Hurting you and themselves
Perhaps you are willing to give talkative agents the benefit of the doubt. After all, you might tell yourself, "They do know more about real estate than I do. Maybe what they have to say about my home is more important than what I intended to say."
Certainly, a good agent will have important things to say. But in listings presentations, the best agents do more listening than talking. It is vitally important to them that they understand their client's state of mind, and that they learn all the important details about the property that only the vendor can know.
In this sense, a real estate agent who refuses to let you speak is doing a disservice not only to you, but also to themselves.
So, whether you prefer a rap artist or a photographic genius as your real estate agent, never choose one who talks over you.
Andrew Taylor is the Queensland-born co-CEO of <a style="font-size: 14px;" rel="nofollow" href="https://juwai.com/">Juwai.com</a>, the number-one Chinese real estate portal for property in Australia and around the world. 
He has almost a decade and a half of experience in Australian and Chinese real estate and managing print, TV, radio and online media. He also has bachelor and graduate degrees in classical music, and plays the diyin gehu (Chinese bass).
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Choosing the right agent: The one thing they should never, ever do

Following the proposal by the Minns Labor Government to rezone Parramatta Road to create up to 8,000 new homes, prominent developer Ceerose has gone to the NSW Gov to increase the density of its new mixed-use residential building in Leichhardt.

<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/builders/ceerose">Ceerose</a>, founded by Edward Doueihi nearly three decades ago, has filed plans for 154 apartments above ground-floor retail at 307-315 Parramatta Road, a key corner site near Norton Street, the main high street strip in Leichhardt.

It's an upsize from the previously approved scheme of 63 apartments across a seven-storey building.

<img alt="Ceerose" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ba1ae75b-5f08-43fb-b8d5-3de6d9f6ef71" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202025-12-04%20at%2010.31.39%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=yA3hBBLPH4ev7MsAE0_hieXeqiFqBUb7" />

The project is being advanced through the State Significant Development (SSD) pathway, with concurrent rezoning sought to facilitate the proposal. The 10-storey development would rise over a four-level basement and deliver two retail tenancies, one a larger-format offering and the other a smaller “hole in the wall” space, addressing the Parramatta Road frontage. 21 of the apartments are dedicated as affordable housing.

According to the Urban Design Report by Architecture AND, the scheme includes a podium and tower configuration, with a fine-grain, two-storey parapet street wall that references the traditional shopfront rhythm along the corridor. “An elegant tower form is proposed, combined with a characterful two storey frontage... articulating it as two related buildings, providing consistency with the rhythm and grain of Parramatta Road,” the report notes.

The residential component is split across two slender towers set back from the street edge, a design move aimed at preserving solar access and reducing perceived bulk. This massing strategy also seeks to improve residential amenity by focusing scale toward the quieter northern interface, away from Parramatta Road’s noise and pollution.

<img alt="Ceerose" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="347f2f8f-5d36-4388-b40a-2e77380b9c19" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202025-12-04%20at%2010.31.02%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=xvyUE2ujT1lzivXTo.mHBJFF4SmfgLtz" />

Architecture AND has worked with Ceerose on previous Inner West projects, and cites a deep familiarity with the local character. Their design draws heavily on context, heritage, and sunlight access considerations, and engages with the Inner West Council’s “Our Fairer Future” strategic planning framework.

The site spans 2,712 sqm and is located near key intersections with Catherine Street, Hay Street, and Redmond Street. It adjoins a public carpark to the north and is within walking distance of Stanmore and Petersham stations. It is also flagged in state and local planning strategies, including the Parramatta Road Corridor Urban Transformation Strategy, as a suitable candidate for increased density.

Ceerose recently completed The Alex Collective on McEvoy Street in Alexandria, Abbie's Lane in Annandale, and the award-winning Munro House in Elizabeth Bay.

The Parramatta Road corridor is coming to life with the proposed rezoning which is serviced by a significant number of bus, light rail and train routes.

Deicorp is progressing with its $1.8 billion <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/kings-bay-village-five-dock-53-75-queens-road-five-dock-nsw-2046">Kings Bay Village</a> precinct on Parramatta Road in Five Dock, as is <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/nsw/toga-to-push-on-with-five-dock-mixed-use-masterplan">TOGA further down the street</a>. Those two projects alone will bring nearly 2,000 new homes to Parramatta Road.

Joel Robinson

First look: Ceerose plots mixed-use Leichhardt development on Parramatta Road

North Sydney's landmark 'SBS Building' on Alfred Street is set to be demolished to make way for a new mixed-use residential tower in the booming North Sydney.

Commercial property group FiveX is behind the plans for a <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/275-alfred-street-north-north-sydney-nsw-2060">39-storey tower</a>, the latest project to advance under the NSW Government’s Housing Delivery Authority pathway.

They are proposing 184 apartments above retail spaces, which will replace the existing 20-storey commercial building. FiveX was set up more than five decades ago by Joshua and Marko Berger. It is currently led by Joshua's son Lesli.&nbsp;

<img alt="First look: Fivex plans 39-storey residential tower at 275 Alfred Street, North Sydney" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2efa0980-53fa-4cca-9f9e-9c3c845d4746" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Article%20Feature%20Image%20%28Grid%29%20%281%29_0.png?VersionId=y_YyPMq3NQLfYRs84pP4os9UgWiMLp75" />

According to the Architectural Design Report by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/fjc-studio">FJC Studio</a>, the slender tower form has been deliberately designed to respect the site's transitional setting at the southern gateway to the North Sydney CBD, where high-rise towers give way to lower-scale residential precincts.

"The slender tower form and articulated podium establish a respectful relationship with nearby heritage and low rise buildings, including the Whaling Road Heritage Conservation Area,” the architecture firm noted, adding that the tower “completes a missing link in the urban fabric” while enhancing the Alfred Street streetscape.

The proposed building will include a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, with 15 percent of the gross residential floor area allocated as affordable housing. There is an agreement already in place that those apartments will be managed by Evolve Housing.

The project aligns with broader state housing objectives, including the National Housing Accord target of delivering 1.2 million new homes by 2029. The Scoping Report filed with the State Significant Development Application (SSDA) suggests the site "presents no impediments to rapid delivery,” with construction able to commence within 12 months of receiving consent.

North Sydney has been one of the most popular suburbs in Sydney for new and off the plan apartment development, but hasn't had the supply to keep up with demand, until recently.

AURA by Aqualand was, for a long time, the only off the plan apartment building on the market. That completed last year, and has sold the majority of its 386 luxury apartments. Recently ALAND launched <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-walden-173-179-walker-street-north-sydney-nsw-2060">The Walden</a> on the same street, selling over $100 million within just a few hours of its launch, while developer CASA also launched&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/the-mclaren-north-sydney-45-mclaren-street-north-sydney-nsw-2060">The McLaren</a>&nbsp;in the same precinct.

First look: Fivex plans 39-storey residential tower in booming North Sydney

Kokoda Property Group has announced the Sydney-based Versatile Construction as the builder for its landmark $1.5 billion <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/teneriffe-banks-17-27-skyring-terrace-teneriffe-qld-4005">Teneriffe Banks</a> precinct.

Construction of the 17,612 sqm site is scheduled to commence in December 2025 and is expected to be delivered in stages from 2028. Once complete, <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/teneriffe-banks-17-27-skyring-terrace-teneriffe-qld-4005">Teneriffe Banks</a> will comprise 212 residences across four architecturally distinct buildings, alongside Brisbane’s first Kimpton Hotel, extensive retail, hospitality, and wellness amenities.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=139896 project_image_fid=295098]

Kokoda Property Group Founder and Managing Director, Mark Stevens, said appointing Versatile Construction marks a significant milestone for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/teneriffe-banks-17-27-skyring-terrace-teneriffe-qld-4005">Teneriffe Banks</a>.

“Partnering with Versatile Construction gives us confidence in delivering a precinct that sets a new benchmark for luxury living, curated experiences and vibrant riverfront activation," Stevens said.

"Together, we will bring the vision for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/teneriffe-banks-17-27-skyring-terrace-teneriffe-qld-4005">Teneriffe Banks</a> to life, creating a destination that residents and visitors will enjoy for generations."

Throughout the construction phase, more than 2,000 jobs will be created, supporting hundreds of local contractors and suppliers.

[smartcode_project:default project_id=139896 project_image_fid=352274]

Marco Fahd, Chairman &amp; CEO at Versatile Group, said the company is looking forward to&nbsp;expanding their footprint in the state, taking on their inaugural project in Brisbane.

"We are proud of the unwavering commitment our team of experts have to quality and certainty in delivery and are excited to work with Kokoda to bring their vision for this unique project to life," Fahd says.

Sales reached $285 million on the launch of <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/teneriffe-banks-17-27-skyring-terrace-teneriffe-qld-4005">Teneriffe Banks</a>, with sales momentum continuing to "exceed all expectations."

Stevens says the overwhelming response from buyers validated the group’s vision for <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/teneriffe-banks-17-27-skyring-terrace-teneriffe-qld-4005">Teneriffe Banks</a>.

“The demand for a luxury product in this enclave has been extraordinary, we’ve never seen anything like it before. It reinforces everything we’re doing around quality, design, and creating genuine lifestyle precincts. Buyers are recognising the enduring value of Brisbane’s riverfront and are responding to the opportunity to live within a world-class destination that celebrates both place and lifestyle.”

[smartcode_project_cta:default project_id=139896]

Kokoda appoints builder for $1.5 billion Teneriffe Banks waterfront precinct

Castle Hill’s booming development market is set for another boost, with builder-developer Buildex proposing a new mid-rise apartment building near Castle Towers.

Buildex has submitted plans to The Hills Shire Council for a <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/197-old-northern-road-castle-hill-nsw-2154">nine-storey building comprising 57 apartments</a> on Old Northern Road. The company acquired two adjoining sites earlier this year, totalling more than 2,683 sqm.

Texco Design has prepared the scheme, which includes five one-bed plus study apartments, 37 two-bedrooms, and 15 three-bedrooms.

Castle Hill has become a hotspot for developers in recent years, undergoing significant transformation driven by the opening of the Hills Showground Precinct to development and the introduction of two metro stations servicing the suburb.

Developers including Deicorp and Kassis Homes have already completed projects, and are progressing future developments, while Meriton, Arada, and Ellipse are currently delivering new projects in the rapidly evolving area.

Staff Writer

First look: Buildex plans 57 apartments near Castle Towers

Gold Coast developer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/immerse-projects">Immerse Projects</a>&nbsp;has unveiled what it intends to deliver at its recently acquired Toowong site, its debut apartment development in Brisbane.

Immerse, founded by John Kearney who is also the founder of regarded construction company Greyburn, secured the prime Sylvan Road site <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/news/qld/first-look-immerse-projects-moves-into-brisbane-apartment-market-with-toowong-site-acquisition">earlier this year</a>, in an area which has historical significance to Kearney who&nbsp;studied at the nearby University of Queensland.

"It feels like a full circle moment," Kearney told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/" target="">Apartments.com.au</a>.&nbsp;

“I spent many nights at the Regatta Hotel just down the road, as have most people in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/brisbane-qld" target="">Brisbane</a>. It’s one of the city’s most well-known hotels, and with several cafes, restaurants, and a CityCat stop nearby, it’s become an even more attractive place to live.”

He is planning a <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/22-24-sylvan-road-toowong-qld-4066">15-storey project with 88 apartments</a> above an activated ground plane with a shop and hospitality spaces.

<img alt="Toowong podium" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="c350436b-9d64-46cc-ab6f-defc009e1b65" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/podium_0.png?VersionId=zt7A0_14M62TkZ61YHnGmEck9KM9HqDA" />

The architecture, led by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/interior-designers/bda-architecture">BDA Architecture</a>, presents a tower massing that responds to the area's evolving mid-rise context. The scheme incorporates podium and rooftop communal spaces, while the commercial elements aim to activate the Sylvan Road frontage and enhance the site's interface with the adjacent parkland.&nbsp;

Landscaping plans by Ivy May Landscape Architects include subtropical planting and deep soil zones to support stormwater management and visual integration.

Supporting documentation from Mewing Planning Consultants notes that "the proposed development will deliver a mixed-use outcome that enhances the vibrancy of the Sylvan Road corridor" and highlights its proximity to high-frequency public transport and community facilities.

<img alt="First look: Immerse Projects moves into Brisbane apartment market with Toowong site acquisition" data-entity-type="" data-entity-uuid="" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,dpr_2.0,q_auto:good/https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/22-24%20Sylvan%20%20Rd%20Toowong_Markups.jpg?VersionId=u4_IGzpYLPFfAZSsgCZynov3bm7umwJ." />

&nbsp;

There's been little new apartment development in Toowong in recent years. The most notable is Consolidated Properties two-tower Monarch Residences, which is approaching completion with nearly all of its 224 residences sold.

Kearney describes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developments/toowong-qld-4066" target="">Toowong</a>&nbsp;as a suburb with real depth.

"The suburb attracts everyone, from students to retirees, and that's what makes it interesting."

Andrew Taylor

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