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Zhao Ziwen

Cheryl Arcibal

Elise Mak

Reporter for the Business Desk covering property, banking and finance.


Dong Xue, a 40-year-old Beijing native, is looking for property outside the Chinese mainland.
But even after the country’s borders reopened, allowing wealthy Chinese nationals to return to their old haunts for property purchases, a once-favoured destination is not a part of her plans.
“Hong Kong’s future is not clear,” Dong says. She owns property in Bangkok and is eyeing Japan – where she said her daughter is going for a business degree – for her next purchase.
Recent data and trends, as well as anecdotal evidence, all point to mainland Chinese buyers going beyond Hong Kong in search of new property investments. Singapore, Dubai, Thailand, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States are just some of the other options they are pursuing currently.


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Interest rate hikes in Hong Kong are among reasons hindering mainland buyers, said Norry Lee, senior director of the projects strategy and consultancy department at JLL in Hong Kong.
“The borrowing interest rate hike has [made Hong Kong] less attractive to mainlanders,” he said. These buyers already face difficulties in bringing capital to Hong Kong because of the mainland’s capital controls, while “non-local end users settling in Hong Kong face more difficulties in buying homes because they need to prepare a much higher upfront payment than local buyers for the same property, due to higher stamp duties and the lower maximum loan-to-value allowed”.
What Hongkongers need to know about the UK mortgage process
Hong Kong’s property market – left battered by social unrest and then the coronavirus pandemic over a period of three years since 2019 – is certainly missing mainland Chinese buyers. For instance, non-local buyers in April accounted for a mere 71 transactions, or 1.5 per cent of the total, far lower than the previous average of 5.2 per cent, according to official data. Mainland buyers traditionally make up the bulk of non-local property purchases in Hong Kong – in 2019 they accounted for 8.4 per cent of the total home sales in Hong Kong, according to Midland Realty.
Prices of lived-in homes in the city have declined by about 12 per cent since a peak in July 2021, according to an index compiled by the Rating and Valuation Department. Since bottoming out in December, prices gained about 5 per cent as of March, but several analysts have forecast that this rally may be over.
Hong Kong’s loss is London’s gain. Last Saturday, dozens of mainland investors packed a showroom in Shanghai to view homes at Hurlingham Waterfront, which overlooks the River Thames in west London. Prices at the project start from £595,000 (US$734,830) per unit. The showroom is moving to Beijing this weekend, where it is expected to draw more investors preparing to send their children to study in London.


Moreover, the ultra-rich have already made their move. Four recent transactions for “super-prime London units above £15 million” involved Chinese buyers, said Marc von Grundherr, a director at London-based property agency Benham and Reeves.
Some Chinese families are also eyeing the US, with New York being particularly attractive because of Columbia University and Cornell University for investors looking to send their children to two of the world’s most prestigious universities, said Georgina Atkinson, head of US residential developments, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Europe, at Knight Frank.
“Following the reopening of [China’s] borders, we have witnessed a 100 per cent uptick in demand within the last six months from mainland Chinese buyers looking to purchase prime property in New York City,” she said. Luxury flats in The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue, for instance, are among properties receiving interest from mainland China buyers, she added.
Falling home prices, weak pound give Hongkongers a window to invest in the UK
Some investors are opting for destinations closer to home. In Singapore, the higher demand and interest from mainland buyers is evident in the latest government data.
As of May 24, Chinese buyers made up 6.8 per cent of all property transactions in Southeast Asia’s financial hub, higher than the 5.4 per cent contribution they registered a year ago, according to Urban Redevelopment Authority data cited by Alan Cheong, executive director, research and consultancy, at Savills in Singapore.
In just the luxury segment, or homes in Singapore’s core central region, Chinese buyers bought 140 units in the January-to-April period, accounting for 9.6 per cent of all transactions in the segment, higher than the 73 units or 5.5 per cent of the total property transactions in the same period in 2022.


“Chinese demand was higher because outbound travel restrictions from China were eased at the start of 2023,” Cheong said. “Although mass tourism had not taken off in a big way, ultra-high-net-worth individuals from China began to make trips to Singapore. Those that had wanted to purchase a property but wanted to see the product could come over and that sped up the buying decision process.”
The tourism powerhouse of Thailand is another hot investment destination for the Chinese.
“The Chinese continue to dominate foreign ownership of flats, accounting for about half – or 1,747 units transferred – of the total for the quarter,” said Waras Dechgitvigrom, senior manager of research and communication at Colliers Thailand. The consultancy forecast that by the end of this year, Chinese buyers would have bought about 6,500 flats in Thailand.
Chinese buyers throng Australia in ‘serious mood’ about buying homes
Elsewhere, Australia, given its relative proximity to China, has emerged as a more convenient base for remote business, analysts said. This, coupled with the easing of tensions between Canberra and Beijing, helped the land Down Under attract more interest from mainland buyers, according to data tracked by Juwai IQI and 58 Anjuke Real Estate Research Institute.
“There are about three-times more mainland Chinese buyers in Sydney today than a year ago,” said Peter Li, general manager of the Sydney and Shanghai-based real estate agency, Plus Agency. “In the most popular areas, like the suburb of Chatswood in Sydney, which is a long-time Asian centre, there are about five buyers for every one we would have had a year ago.”
Australia, the US and the UK all offer good education options as well as paths to employment and eventually citizenship. “These are the opportunities that many Chinese buyers want for their children,” said Kashif Ansari, co-founder and CEO of Malaysia-based Juwai IQI.
Plot of sand on Dubai’s luxury Jumeirah Bay Island fetches record US$34 million
Interest in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also spiked recently, with its low-tax environment and residency visas among the draws for Chinese investors, said Reinhard Chan Rodriguez, regional director for the southeast and East Asia regions at D&B Properties. There are no stamp duties in Dubai, and the city does not tax income from property.
“With an investment of as little as 2 million dirhams (US$545,000), real estate investors in the UAE can now have access to a golden visa,” he said.

Corrects pronoun to he from she in paragraph 6


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International Property

Are mainland Chinese buyers still in the mood for loving Hong Kong homes?

Luxury flats in The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue in New York are among properties receiving interest from mainland China buyers amid a ‘100 per cent uptick in demand’. Photo: Handout

Falling home prices, weak pound give Hongkongers a window to invest in the UK

A view of London’s skyline at night. Hong Kong investors are taking a keen interest in UK property amid a decline in the pound’s value and falling prices. Photo: dpa

The Orchard Wharf residential development in London Dockland, where a one-bedroom unit starts at £460,000. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong, mainland China students boost UK home demand, property agents say, as weak pound increases buying power

Among those taking advantage of a weak pound to buy UK property, Hongkonger Tanya Chan’s family bought a two-bedroom flat in One Park Drive in Canary Wharf as she began her studies in London in September. Photo: Handout

A woman walks past property advertisements at an estate agent’s in London, on November 3, 2022, the same day The Bank of England November raised its interest rates by 75 basis points to 3 per cent. Photo: EPA-EFE

Chinese buyers throng Australia in ‘serious mood’ about buying luxury homes for investment, and to occupy

A drone’s eye view of the business district of Chatswood a north shore satellite city of Sydney, visible in the distance. Photo: Shutterstock

Peter Li of Sydney and Shanghai real estate agency Plus Agency. Photo: Handout

Daniel Ho, co-founder and group managing director of property-tech firm Juwai IQI. Photo: Handout

Jamie Mi, partner and head of international at Kay & Burton. Photo: Handout

Thailand’s tricky consignment law leaves Hongkonger with US$120,000 hole in his pocket after Phuket developer goes under during Covid-19

An srtist’s Impression of Himalai Oceanfront Condominium. Photo: Handout

Surveillance footage of the development site in August 2021. Photo: Handout

A Chinese tourist rides on an elephant in a jungle park ahead of Lunar New Year in Phuket in January 2023. Photo: Reuters

An artist’s Impression of Himalai Oceanfront Condominium. Photo: Handout

Business

Property

China Business

International

Hong Kong & China

Singapore, Dubai, Thailand, Australia, the UK and the US are just some of the other options Chinese property buyers are pursuing currently
Rising borrowing rates have made Hong Kong less attractive to mainlanders, JLL executive says


Recent data and trends, as well as anecdotal evidence, all point to mainland Chinese buyers going beyond Hong Kong in search of new property investments.


Are mainland Chinese buyers still in the mood for loving Hong Kong homes?

Singapore, Dubai, Thailand, Australia, the UK and the US are just some of the other options Chinese property buyers are pursuing currently Rising borrowing rates have made Hong Kong less attractive to mainlanders, JLL executive says

Singapore, Dubai, Thailand, Australia, the UK and the US are just some of the other options Chinese property buyers are pursuing currently

Rising borrowing rates have made Hong Kong less attractive to mainlanders, JLL executive says