Huge amount foreign buyers spent on Australian property in nine months

• New figures show eye-watering foreign spend 
• Chinese are the biggest buyers of Aussie homes 
• READ MORE: Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond’s luxury mansion may become Australia’s most expensive home as it goes on sale for $200million

Foreign buyers spent an eye-watering $5.3billion on Australian residential properties in just nine months, new figures from the Federal Treasury have shown.

More than 4,700 homes across Australia were bought by foreign investors in the first three financial quarters of 2023.

Of those, 1,955 homes, valued at $2.5billion, were bought by Chinese investors, with buyers from Hong Kong paying around $300million for 400 of them.

Buyers from Vietnam bought 259 Aussie homes in that period, while Taiwanese purchasers got 272 properties.

Treasury’s register has not yet released the figures for the final three months of 2023, but the trend for high spending by foreign investors is expected to continue.

Foreign buyers spent an eye-watering $5.3billion on Australian residential properties in just nine months, new figures from the Federal Treasury have shown. John Symond’s Sydney harbourside mansion (pictured) is on sale for $200million

Isabelle Lucas (pictured), of buyer’s agency Cohen Handler, said constantly rising house prices in Sydney made it a good place for foreign buyers to investment

One of the Hong Kong buyers paid about $17million for the Lavender Bay mansion owned by Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan and his wife Lucinda in Sydney’s lower north shore.

The shock figures have been released just as Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond has put his Wingadal mansion up for sale.

The luxurious property Sydney harbour home is expected to fetch $200million and could be the next Australian property to fall into foreign hands.

Cameron Kusher of PropTrack Economic Research said those looking to get on the first rung of the property ladder would not be affected by the foreign sales, though, as most of them are going on very high end and expensive homes.

He said the properties they’re buying are ‘out of reach of first home buyers’.

A Hong Kong buyer paid about $17million for the Lavender Bay mansion (pictured) owned by Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan and his wife Lucinda in Sydney’s north shore

‘Australia is a popular destination for international investors, but these overseas buyers are not impacting the market,’ Mr Kusher told the Daily Telegraph.

Isabelle Lucas, of buyer’s agency Cohen Handler, said constantly rising house prices in Sydney made it a good place for foreign buyers to investment.

She said Sydney has a ‘very attractive lifestyle’ and that access to well regarded schools is also a factor.

‘Proximity to good private schools is definitely a trend we’re seeing in international buyers at the moment, that’s something we’ve honed in on the eastern suburbs particularly,’ she said.

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