Foreign investment increasing in Queensland
Foreign investment in the Queensland residential property market has increased for the first time in four years, according to the latest research from Colliers International.
Spending by foreign buyers has increased by around 33 per cent on the previous year, amounting to $443,532,548 during the 2011/2012 financial year.
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This number is significantly higher than the 10-year average of $411 million per annum, according to Colliers International.
Darrell Irwin, Colliers International Residential special projects director, said the catalyst for the rise in spending on Queensland residential property in the 2011/2012 financial year was its relative affordability
"Foreign buyers are seeing real value in the Queensland residential property market," he said.
"During the 2011/2012 financial year we were probably at the bottom of the property cycle, and at that stage Asian investors - and the Chinese in particular - whose markets were then still very strong, saw south east Queensland as particularly affordable."
While the Colliers International research found that foreign buyers in Queensland came from 61 different countries, for the third consecutive year China was the largest overseas buyer of residential property in the state.
Chinese buyers spent a total of $184.9 million across 315 transactions, which was a 73 per cent increase on the previous year and equated to 42 per cent of the total spending by foreign investors in the 2011/2012 financial year.
