Chinese offshore purchase to increase in 2016

The Chinese purchasing of offshore property will increase in 2016, according to an industry survey.

According to Investorist, an online platform for off-the-plan sales, a poll of China-based real estate agencies found 149 of 150 of them expect to see a spending spree exceed that of 2015.

Australia was nominated by 60 percent of those agents as their most preferred market for property investment, The Australian Financial Review has reported.

Those agents will sell up to 11,000 offshore properties to their Chinese clients this year.

China is now Australia's largest foreign investor, with $46.6 billion in proposed investment in 2015, according to the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Real estate investment comprised the bulk of Chinese investment, with $24 billion spent in 2015, double that of the previous year.

The Investorist survey suggests that risk mitigation is the main reason Chinese investors are looking abroad.

The devaluation of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar has reduced the buying power of Chinese investors in the US and Britain, whilst the Chinese government has been attempting to put the brakes on offshore investment in a bid to shore ip its waking currency.