Chinese buyers snap up properties from Singapore and Australia to Thailand

Data on outflows is scarce, but the signs suggest new demand to get capital out of China, where real estate confidence is fragile

Agents say Chinese interest is ticking up in Thailand and helping to boost prices in Singapore, while Chinese students are bagging flats Australia

Reading Time:3 minutes

Private homes in the River Valley/Orchard area of Singapore. The city state is seeing families and money flowing in. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 9:33am, 3 Apr 2023Updated: 9:34am, 3 Apr 2023

The end of China’s strict Covid-19 border controls is prompting pent-up cash to begin flowing abroad, property agents and data from Australia to Singapore suggest.

Chinese demand is helping boost Singapore property prices, Chinese students are snapping up flats in Sydney and Melbourne, and agents say Chinese interest is ticking up in Thailand.

Data on the early trickle of outflows is scarce, but the signs suggest new demand to get capital out of China, where real estate confidence is fragile and the government’s tax rules and criticism of wealth accumulation make investing abroad more attractive.

“Enquiries from regional Asia property investors have doubled since the borders opened, especially from the Chinese,” said Ian Chen, founder and chief executive of Jalin Realty, which operates in China, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.

People walk through the streets of Kuala Lumpur last month. Agents says properties in Thailand and Malaysia are “even cheaper than those in a third-tier Chinese city”. Photo: Bloomberg

“Most of the investors who are buying now are those who just need to get some money out. We are not seeing a big wave, but definitely there is interest and a lot of enquiries – especially from students who are coming back to Australia.”