The Politics of Foreign Investment in Australian Housing: Chinese Investors, Translocal Sales Agents and Local Resistance

Abstract

This article analyses the cultural, housing and intergovernmental politics of individual foreign investment in Australian real estate. The first section provides a brief history of Australia's housing system and shows the historical trend toward housing affordability ‘problems’ in Sydney and Melbourne. This review interrogates the claim Chinese investors compounded Australia's housing affordability problem after the global financial crisis. The second more substantive section draws on interview, real estate website and media data to demonstrate how the Australian housing system and Chinese and Australian actors enabled Chinese investment in Australian real estate. The third section demonstrates how a minority of Australian residents and some journalists are contesting Chinese foreign investment in Australian real estate. This study shows how contemporary global real estate relations complicate the politics of Asian real estate investment in Anglo-sphere countries.

Keywords::

• housing policy
• housing affordability
• Chinese investment
• foreign investment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ While the Abbott government scrapped the white paper in 2013 they still appear committed to the central premise of the white paper.

² Through the 1970–1980s all acquisitions of real estate by a single foreign interest up to a set value did not require approval. These values were set at less than a cumulative value of $250 000 on 8 June 1978, less than a cumulative value of $350 000 on 8 June 1978, and less than an aggregate value of $600 000 on 8 June 1978.

³ High Net Worth individuals are currently defined as those with asset holdings in excess of US$1 million.