Australia is especially popular, the report says, with buyers from China, the Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.

Juwai IQI’s report identifies four reasons that Asians have made Australia their second-most preferred destination market. 

Monetary stimulus has pushed interest rates to historical lows and helped drive prices upward, causing buyers to fear missing out on future price gains and encouraging them to seek opportunities to capitalize on future gains.

The pandemic’s severe disruption caused many Asian buyers to reevaluate their real estate priorities. In Australia itself, the pandemic boosted Australian local-buyer demand in the regions and weakened it in the inner cities. The same factors are affecting cross-border buyers. They are also changing their preferences. Many now prefer Australia over more risky markets that do not offer the same lifestyle benefits.

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Push factors in the home markets from which Asian buyers hail also create demand for Australian real estate. These factors vary by country. In China, government restrictions on investors also drive some investment overseas. Other Asian home markets suffer from a lack of inventory or buyer confidence. A significant number of buyers postponed transactions during the pandemic and are now eager to make up for lost time.

Finally, the appeal of Australia itself is attracting many buyers. There is the opportunity for bargain-hunting in hard-hit inner-city suburbs. The strong pandemic performance and economic growth.

“In 2020, we saw a generation of market changes compressed into a single year,” said Juwai IQI Co-Founder and Group Executive Chairman Georg Chmiel. 

“Markets are struggling to keep up. And when prices rise, new buyers can be drawn in as they seek to profit from the upward trend.”

The most popular market for Asian buyers is the United States, according to the Juwai IQI report. Australia is second, followed by Thailand, Canada and Malaysia. The sixth most popular destination market is Japan, then Singapore, the UK, New Zealand and France.

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Besides being the second most-popular overall, Australia is a top-three destination for buyers from eight Asian countries and accounts for 13.7 per cent of Asian cross-border buyer activity.

Asian buyers from the Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan all increased their buyer activity in Australia in 2020, despite the pandemic. Much of this growth was due to demand displaced from the United States, Canada and the UK.

Click here to view the full report. 

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