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India has been tipped as the next country with investment sights firmly planted on Australia, and the country that will create the most competition against China for real estate.
While the Foreign Investment Review Board debates the legalities of foreign investment on Australian shores, Indian private business investment increased 75.8 per cent over the five years to 2013, eclipsing China’s growth of 41.7 per cent.
One Gold Coast real estate agent who spoke to Real Estate Business on the condition of anonymity said a lot of the local investment is from young professionals with children getting their foot in the door.
“We filed enquiries from lots of buyers from a Chinese or Indian background and they have the cash,” they said.
“They are purchasing from their homes overseas because their children are already, or about to, attend universities in Australia.”
Real estate mogul John McGrath said Aussies should expect the rising Indian middle class to follow China as key foreign investors in Australian real estate.
“Research released from HSBC states 18 per cent of affluent Indians are already invested in Australian real estate – double the number of affluent Chinese who have already invested,” Mr McGrath said.
“Queensland is the number one state of choice among affluent Indians considering investing in Australian property, closely followed by Victoria.”
Ray White Surfers Paradise CEO Andrew Bell said overseas buyers on the Gold Coast have been perceived as more active because the local buyers didn’t want, or didn’t have, the confidence to buy.
Mr Bell said these purchases were not a threat to first home buyers because the sales helped many through the GFC.
“What we are seeing now is a lot of Asian buyers who aren’t buying as foreign investors, they’re buying with the intention of moving here and assimilating – they want to integrate with the community,” he said.
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