Recent statistics show that in the past six months, the Chinese have splurged $6 billion AUD into the Australian property market. This represents one-quarter of the total Chinese foreign property sales for that period, with the USA and UK also topping the list of Chinese overseas investment destinations. The chart below shows the soaring trend of Chinese real estate investment into the world gateway cities.
This trend was driven by a few factors, such as the cooling down of the Chinese domestic property market, the devaluation of Chinese currency, the recovery of the US economy, and the stable ROI of Australian property just to name a few.
There are three key business groups following the trend and benefiting greatly. The first group is the Chinese agents that have been selling overseas property from the very beginning. This group has been growing steadily as the demand from the market increases and the client base is spreading from tier 1 cities to tier 2 and further nationwide. The second group going west are the Chinese developers, who face limited development potential within the China market. They are attracted by the profit of project development in overseas markets, and wherever the Chinese want to buy and live, they will follow. Now Chinese developers are frequently seen in popular Chinese immigration cities such as New York, London, Sydney, Melbourne, etc. This action prompted the domestic agents who used to sell for their Chinese projects locally to join the journey west, becoming the third business force. It’s becoming a popular business concept for Chinese domestic agents to look into the new realm of selling overseas projects.
Investorist, being the platform that connects developers and agents, is the first witness of this transformation in the Chinese market. Top Chinese agencies, such as Lianjia, Dooioo, and Sunco have expressed their urgent need to access overseas property via Investorist. Different from the first group of agents, who are usually small to medium-sized businesses, these Chinese domestic agents have been dominating the gigantic Chinese property market through their thousands of chain stores and enormous client databases.
Take Investorist’s latest member in China, Lianjia Real Estate, as an example. Established in 2001, Lianjia Co. Ltd. engages in the real estate management, finance, and asset management of properties. Today it has grown into one of the largest Chinese domestic real estate agencies with more than 3, 500 chain stores of 50, 000 sales covering 17 major Chinese cities. The record sales revenue of Lianjia is RMB400billion (AUD $89billion) per year.
In 2015, Lianjia made a strategic decision to add overseas property into its product line. Investorist’s platform provides an instant solution to their need. “ I often like to try new creative things, Investorist is one of them. It makes it easier to find the right project for my clients and saves time. I would recommend it to my partners, but not my competitors !” commented by Shan Yigang, Director of Lianjia Overseas Dept.
Now back to the group of Chinese developers and their increasing action in overseas markets, let’s just have a sneak peek of who they are and where they’ve been working in the past five years.
| Company | Transaction Time | Location | Projects | $ Value (in million AUD) | Building type |
| Wanda | January, 2015 | Sydney, Au | 1 Alfred and Fairfax House | 515.8 |
Complex building |
| Wanda | August, 2014 | Gold Coast, Au | Jewel | 971 | Hotel and Apartment |
| Wanda | August, 2014 | L.A. USA | Beverley Hill | 1200 | Complex landmark building |
| Wanda | July, 2014 | Chicago, USA | — | 900 | Hotel and apartment |
| Wanda | June, 2014 | Madrid, Spain | — | 386.9 | Complex building |
| Wanda | June, 2014 | London, UK | Wanda Hotel | 627.2 | Hotel |
| Wanda | May, 2013 | USA | AMC cinema line | 3.6 billion | Acquisition deal |
| Greenland | August, 2014 | Korea | 490acre land | — | Resorts |
| Greenland | July, 2014 | Queensland, Au | Queens Quay, Brisbane | — | Tourism complex building |
| Greenland | July, 2014 | Paris, France | Twin-tower | — | Complex building |
| Greenland | March, 2014 | Sydney, Au | Two lots of land | — | Residential and commercial building complex |
| Greenland | March, 2014 | Toronto, Canada | Two complex buildings | — | Apartment building |
| Greenland | February, 2014 | Malay | Two lots of land | est. 3.8 billion | Apartment, hotel |
| Greenland | January, 2014 | L.A. USA | Greenland Hotel | — | Hotel |
| Greenland | January, 2014 | Sydney, Au | Greenland Primus Hotel | — | Hotel |
| Greenland | January, 2014 | London, UK | Canary Quay | 2.3 billion | Apartment |
| Greenland | November, 2013 | Melbourne, Au | Two lots in Flemington | — | Apartment |
| Greenland | November, 2013 | Korea | Greenland Dream Building | 1 billion | Resorts |
| Greenland | October, 2013 | NY. USA | Atlantic Plaza | 5.5billion | Apartment |
| Greenland | August, 2013 | Thailand | Four projects | 2 billion | Residential, commercial, complex |
| Greenland | July, 2013 | California, US | Metropolitan project | 1.1billion | Apartment and hotel |
| Greenland | July, 2013 | Madrid, Spain | Two hotels | 250 | Hotel |
| Greenland | March, 2013 | Sydney, AU | Greenland centre | 480 | Apartment, commercial complex |
| Greenland | December, 2011 | Korea | Tourism resorts | 1 billion | Resorts |
| Shimao Property | November, 2014 | Sydney, AU | CBD office building | 390 | Office tower |
| Country Garden | February, 2014 | Sydney, AU | |||
| Country Garden | December, 2012 | New gulf project | — | ||
| Country Garden | 2011 | KL, Malay | — | — | Two luxury apartment projects |
| Country Garden | August, 2011 | Malay | Mayland development co. acquisition | — | 55% shareholder |
| R&F Properties | December, 2013 | Malay | Six lots | 1.7 billion | Residential |
| MacroLink Group | January, 2014 | Malay | – | – | Residential |
| Agile Property | January, 2014 | Malay | 1 lot | 80 | Residential |
| Wanke | April, 2014 | Hong Kong | 12-24 Wanchai | 140 | Residential |
| Wanke | February, 2014 | NY. USA | 610 Lexington Ave, Manhattan | — | Apartment, commercial complex |
| Wanke | April, 2013 | Singapore | – | – | Apartment |
| Wanke | February, 2013 | LA. USA | Lumina | – | Residential |
| Wanke | January, 2013 | Hong Kong | Tsuen Wan | 458 | Residential |
| Beijing Capital Development Holdings | March, 2014 | NY. USA | 10,000sqm development in Manhattan | 120 | Apartment |
| China Oceanwide | December, 2014 | San Fransisco, USA | First & Mission project | 325.6 | Office Building |
| China Oceanwide | December, 2013 | L.A. USA | – | 220 | Office Building |
| ShenLong Group | December, 2014 | Sydney, AU | Two lots | 220 | — |
| ShenLong Group | September, 2014 | Sydney, AU | North Ryde | 170 | Complex |
| ShenLong Group | 2013 | Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, AU | Three lots | – | Apartment |
| Fosun Group | January, 2015 | Sydney, AU | 73 Miller St. | — | Office Building |
| Fosun Group | 2014 | London, UK | Lloyds Chambers | — | Office Building |
| Fosun Group | August, 2014 | Tokyo, Japan | — | — | Office Building |
| Fosun Group | December, 2013 | NY. USA | Manhattan | 797 | Office Building |
It’s clear from these figures, pulled from the Investorist platform, that Chinese developers are putting more and more focus on international developments where they know their clientele will buy. This trend shows no signs of slowing down either, with platforms like Investorist in place to make it incredibly easy for developers and agents to access international property with the click of a button.
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