foreign investment in oz - pros and cons

Did all those Chinese foreign investors buying up Australia's land and houses know something we didn't? I'm starting to think that there's a lot more to it than meets the eye here, and think that the purchases were mostly made on the assumption that Australia was about to have a significant currency boom, something I, and pretty much everyone else, did not foresee.

Sure, there's other reasons for the purchases, but if you look at how strong our miners and currency have become over the last 2 years, you would have to say that those responsible for the unprecedented growth knew first hand of what the future held for Australia. Getting into property with that knowledge in hand now makes perfect sense. Does that buying frenzy we saw at auctions a few years back make more sense now? Because that's was what it was...individuals desperate to get a piece of the action before it was too late, which is now. It's nice to know our Chinese neighbours have made a very nice and tidy profit for themselves, and everyone here who's benefited from that should be very proud with themselves. Unfortunately, there's innocent victims here and they are are our current and future first home buyers who are now denied a real chance of buying a home for themselves to start a family without excessive financial stress and hardship. A round of applause for our political leaders everyone. Bravo! Encore!

My warning is this; I don't think property owners need to panic just yet with the market (unless they're in the negative equity zone) as consensus is for sideways price action allowing for wages to play catch up. Nothing wrong with that for now. But this is the danger; if we see a stall in Australia's economy along with a fall in our currency, then I would be ready and on standby to be alert for any signs that the Chinese are beginning to sell their Australian properties in numbers - once that news hits the headline then I believe that would be the signal to sell out to capitalise any profits you've made with your property.

After all, if they bought up here with inside knowledge that we weren't privy to, then it would be a brave person to not take action if/when they do the reverse and sell up in numbers.