Chinese housing policy, capital switching and the foreign real estate investment ‘boom and bust’ in Australia

Abstract

This policy review shows how housing policy affected the movement of Chinese foreign real estate investor capital into and out of Australia’s residential real estate market. First, this policy review maps the contours of the Chinese real estate investment ‘boom and bust’ in Australia to set the context for the policy analysis. The second and more substantive section uses capital switching theory to better understand the interplay of policy changes in China and Australia from 2010 to 2019. This analysis demonstrates how capital switched between China and Australia as a suite of intersecting policies changed. Capital is constantly pursuing the most profitable and accessible investment, and the policy dynamics reviewed here show how capital is switching transnationally between two countries.

Keywords:

• Housing policy
• capital switching
• China
• Australia
• foreign investment
• transnational
• housing

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 Real estate speculation refers to a property transaction with the objective of realising a financial return.

2 A mainland China residential registration system that is used to manage population by region.

3 The Chinese city tier ranking reflects the level of population size, income, infrastructure and consuming capacity in a city.