Australia's Real Estate Market A Magnet For Chinese Capital

Australia attracted over one-quarter of the Chinese capital that flowed into global real estate in Q1, 2015 - with Sydney and Melbourne the primary targets, according to a new CBRE Viewpoint.

The report shows that Australia has been batting above its weight in relation to Chinese capital flows to global real estate, which surged from US$1 billion in 2010 to US$10 billion in 2014.

Australia attracted 15% of this investment last year and over one-quarter of the US$4 billion invested in Q1 2015 - extremely high weightings relative to the size of the local economy, which is under 2% of global GDP.

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CBRE's Head of Research Australia, Stephen McNabb said, "Capital flows from China to Australia are complemented by growing numbers of Chinese tourists, students, settlers and an increased bi-lateral trade relationship. Australia competes for capital with other markets globally, however the aforementioned factors appear to provide a longer-term underpinning for the capital flow now being experienced."