How to sell Australian property to the savvy Chinese investor: Juwai's Andrew Taylor
More Chinese left for an international holiday during China's Golden Week holiday in October than ever before in history, according to official data. Many of them came to Australia, hunting for property.
Our Hong Kong call center worked around the clock taking queries from Chinese real estate buyers in locations around the world, including the Gold Coast.
Buyers viewed 66% more property on our international property portal Juwai.com as Golden Week approached. Then, once Golden Week started, traveling Chinese buyers switched to their phones and iPads – giving mobile traffic a 99% boost.
Chinese buyers have spent millions on luxury residences in new towers like the Broadbeach Oracle and the Soul and Hilton buildings in Surfers Paradise, according to recent reports.
As I write this, there is a three-bedroom, four-bath residence on the 22nd floor of The Oracle for sale at $1.8 million. Perhaps it will sell to a Chinese buyer, too.
If so, it might well go during the next peak travel periods of Christmas and Chinese New Year (in February 2013). It is no surprise that Chinese New Year is the busiest travel time of the year, but Christmas?
Yes, Christmas. Santa isn’t just for Westerners any more. Christmas has become a key travel period for high-net-worth Chinese in part because it is the ultimate symbol of the allure of Western culture.
It is during holidays like Christmas and Chinese New Year that many high-net-worth individuals combine overseas holidays with overseas property scouting. And we all hold the purse strings a little less tightly when on vacation.
There has been a significant rise in the number of enquiries about Australia that we receive from potential buyers, with many of our wealthy Chinese customers telling us they plan to take up Australia's new Significant Investor Visa.
Even the Chinese think of Australia as "the lucky country". This new visa exempts the language requirement and is more flexible with residence guidelines, which is lucky indeed.
With so many Chinese investing in Australian property, the question that vendors and agents ask me most often is, "Would my property appeal to Chinese buyers?"
There are already around 230,000 Australian listings on Juwai.com. To find out if your property should join them, you need to look at it from the eyes of an investor from China.
If your property is in a major metropolitan area like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth, it could interest a Chinese buyer. But you don't have to be in a city centre. There is high demand for working farms, as well.
Residential properties with income and projected capital growth near mines and mining areas make a good investment case and therefor attract Chinese buyers. Other types of properties that attract Chinese investors are new developments, which even non-residents can purchase.
Even what the Foreign Investment Review Board calls "second-hand dwellings" are very appealing to Chinese buyers. Second-hand housing is popular with buyers who know Australia already, including those who already have one or more properties here. Second-hand housing is also very popular with the Chinese Australians who search for local property on Juwai.com because it is in Chinese rather than English.
It may be beyond the scope of this article, but there is more demand than ever for large investment opportunities, like those above $50 million. In fact, a journalist contacted me about one such deal as I sat at my desk writing this article.
If your property fits into one of these categories, what should you be doing to reach the Chinese buyer? Here, I'll share my top tip with you. (For more tips, read this article)
If you are a vendor, make sure your agent acts on this advice: write your advertising copy and property descriptions with the flavor of destination and lifestyle marketing more than of traditional local property marketing.
Remember, the typical Chinese buyer is part foreign tourist and part savvy investor. Copy like, "Malvern delight – off main road, fully renovated, period charm," does not help sell your listing to the Chinese buyer.
Instead, the copy should focus on Australia as a safe investment, on the lifestyle the property offers, the number of total rooms, transportation links, the quality of schools, suburb highlights, the security of investment and local property value trends.
As Mike Mortlock has pointed out the right words can help sell your property faster and for a higher price.
When marketing to the Chinese buyer, be sure to choose your words carefully.
Andrew Taylor is the founder and CEO of sales and marketing of Juwai.com, the number-one Chinese real estate portal for property in Australia and around the world. Find out more about him at list.juwai.com.