from comments following newsworthy article:
This is very big news indeed.
The implications for Australian property is real.
......The Chinese corruption crackdown has sparked a capital flight from China, with estimates of funds being sent abroad from China, including by corrupt officials, reaching as high as $3 Trillion.
Australia, and in particular the Australian real estate market, is considered to be highly attractive for Chinese sending money out of China, and is believed to be the largest recipient of capital, ahead of Canada and the United States over the last year.
Chinese nationals buying Australian residential real estate have become a noted feature of auctions in Sydney and Melbourne pushing prices in suburbs such as Chatswood in Sydney and Mt Waverley in Melbourne to well beyond $2 million.
Under Chinese law it is illegal for any individual to send more than $50 thousand abroad in any one year.
...............The matter is further complicated by the acknowledged lack of oversight given to real estate purchases by Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, or the lack of policing of cash transactions by Austrac, as well as Australia’s almost unique residential real estate purchase processes which require no proof of identity or right to purchase real estate.
Under Australian laws, which are not policed, foreign nationals may buy new developments, but may not buy existing residential real estate. *.........$PPppfffft!
