Landmark Harcourt rural to market properties direct to Chinese

Rural real estate firm Landmark Harcourts will be embarking on a 10 day tour of mainland China and Hong Kong to encourage Chinese investors to buy rural Australian property.

The September tour will take chief executive Darren Cole and colleagues to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong to showcase a selection of around 40 properties in the Landmark Harcourts network.

Cole says the tour will let the firm market rural properties directly to Chinese buyers as they build in-roads into the Chinese market.

"We're really testing the market. If we had massive expectations of coming back and having all of the properties sold that would be completely unrealistic. We’re looking at trying to build relationships for the long term," Cole says.

“This is our chance to market the benefits of owning property in Australia by speaking and marketing directly to the prospective customer."

The list of properties is a wide selection of regional sites that Cole hopes will give an indication of where the interest lies for Chinese buyers.

The diverse list includes a cane farm, a lobster farm in South Australia, a gypsum mine in Central Northern Queensland and a motel from Echuca as well as a number of wineries.

There a number of properties over the $5 million mark which Cole will use to explore of the option of significant investor visa buyers.

"A broad cross section is what we’re trying to select and then we'll narrow down which are the most appropriate. We might get there and find there’s a more of  an apptiete for four bedroom double lockups in Wangaratta but that’s why we have the cross section," Cole says.

The group will hold information sessions supported by one-0n-one meetings with interested buyers, accompanied by translators.

They will attend meetings with bankers, corporate buyers, and goernment delegates and will also attend the Beijing Overseas Property and Investment Expo, expected to attract up to 40,000 visitors and possibly a property expo in Shanghai. 

The firm has had their e-magazine including property listings translated in Manadarin and distributed to one million suscribers across China.

Cole says China is an important emerging market in the rural property industry, one that he's keen to be involved in.

"We’ve transacted with many different internationals, including the Chinese. I’d hate to sway the perception that that’s our main international buyer. We have importantant American, English and Middle East buyers."

"So I’d hate to sway the market’s thinking that it’s all about China but it’s certainly an emerging economy. The middle class has an emerging need from an investment perspective. And a faster growing high net worth part of the market."

Cole says all the properties are available to Australian buyers and they are not exclusively marketing them to Chinese buyers.