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Staff Reporter
House and land developers are targeting Chinese investors looking to purchase properties in Australia, according to the director of a building company.
Director and West Australia operations manager for medium-sized builder, Integrity New Homes Glenn Leet made the observation after attending a property expo with Juwai.com in the mainland Chinese city of Xiamen in early September.
Mr. Leet said: "I had a Chinese investor walk up to me and say, 'Glenn, I want you to find me a $50 million investment in Australian property. Those negotiations are ongoing at the moment.
"At Integrity Homes, our goal is for Chinese buyers to increase the number of inquiries we field from Chinese buyers up to as much as 25% of the total within 6 months. Of course, that will translate into significant sales."
"We also expect to be able to work with Chinese investors to bring new land to the market."
"What I learned from going to China is that house and land packages are of interest to Chinese buyers, especially those who will be living in Australia. Your best buyers are those who already have their visa or residency sorted out."
Andrew Taylor, CEO of Juwai.com, the No. 1 Chinese international property portal, said Australia's Foreign Investor Review Board made it clear international investors who wanted to buy house and land packages could almost always get approval. The only condition was usually that they began construction within a couple of years."
"Our experience with Chinese buyers tells us that some prefer new property, and the chance to design a house around their own lifestyle can be very attractive,” he said.
“Some want to have a wok kitchen, which you can't find in most Aussie houses. A wok kitchen is a small room with a sink, stove and powerful exhaust fan just behind a door off the larger, Western-style kitchen."
"On Chinese social media, some commentators have taken to calling Juwai.com 'the website you're going to regret looking at,' because it makes Chinese realise that --for the price of their home in China-- they could buy one with a pool and full, luxurious amenities in Australia.
Mr Taylor said with more Chinese buying house and land packages, Australia would ebenfit by having more houses available in the marketplace, plus the construction jobs and retail sales that accompanied building and outfitting a new home.
"We suggested the Xiamen show for Integrity Homes because it attracts large scale investors, the perfect fit for his product.
"How you execute at a property expo is as important as just showing up. We helped Integrity Homes secure one of the best locations in the hall, fine tune his marketing material for the Chinese audience and have discussions with local investors."
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