The South Australian capital of Adelaide is not normally a priority for real estate investors, but it is beginning to find its way on to the radar of Chinese investors through an innovative company called Ironfish.
Founded by Beijing-born Joseph Chou and his Adelaide-based business partner Damon Nagel, Ironfish works with Chinese investors to find appropriate opportunities in the state capital, a city of one million people.
So far, solely through spreading the word through networks, Ironfish has handled about A$30 million (HK$218 million) worth of property for as many as 50 individual Chinese investors, most of them Putonghua speakers but some from Hong Kong and the southern provinces.
'Originally, Joseph understood that there were a lot of local Chinese people here who didn't understand things about the Australian tax system and property,' said Mr Nagel. 'So originally, back in 2002, we were doing a lot of educating of local Chinese - people who in some instances needed help because of a language barrier. And since then it has changed to helping people in China.'
Ironfish has never advertised and has sourced all its clients through referrals and 'relationship building'. The company employs Putonghua and Cantonese-speaking staff specifically for its Chinese clients.
As for Adelaide, Ironfish's business is growing just as the city's property market is starting to move, with house prices up 18 per cent last year and 10 per cent predicted this year. The resource-rich state is developing fast, and is following on the heels of Western Australia, which was the boom property market of 2006. An education hub, Adelaide is also temporary home to a growing number of overseas university students, many of them Chinese, and new student housing is also in demand.