wow, and 2/3rds of that was ploughed into commercial property the money coming in, exceeds investment in the mining industry..... no wonder the whole property market has held onto its highs
extracts only..................... The United States remains the single largest source of investment, with more than $36.6 billion worth of projects, followed by Britain and China. Photo: Jessica Shapiro
CANBERRA approved more than $170 billion of foreign investment in Australia in 2011-12, according to the annual report of the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Real estate has replaced mining as the magnet for foreign money for the first time in the recent history. The Treasurer ticked off $59.1 billion of overseas investment into the property sector, with more than two-thirds of that money going into commercial property.
A recent influx of overseas money into the Australian commercial property sector has been led by Asian investors and overseas pension funds. Interest in the residential sector decreased slightly from $20.9 billion in 2010-11 to $19.7 billion in 2011-12.
New South Wales is the favourite investment destination for overseas real estate investors, followed by Victoria and Queensland.
................................................. Foreign investors accounted for 67% of all commercial property transactions in Australia in the third quarter of 2012, compared with just 30% in the same quarter the year before.
.................... Further north, the rising demand from Asia, especially China, is even more pronounced.
Tina Edwards, sales manager at Brisbane-based Yong Real Estate , which caters to local and international Asian buyers, said investment from China had ‘‘really soared recently''.
She said the surge may have peaked at as much of 90 per cent of the transactions handled by the firm, with the Aussie dollar's recent jump above 90 US cents (about 6.2 yuan) deterring some buyers.
But Ms Edwards also said temporary lull may also reflect the shortage of suitable properties to sell after a period of sustained demand.
Real estate agents credit the overseas demand as contributing to rising home prices, which have increased nationally 8.1 per cent in the first nine months of the year, according to the RP Data-Rismark Index released today.
