23 Aug Good news for high-end local property buyers

Finally local buyers have some good news in the high-end property market.

Chinese buyers, who have been driving the upper end of the Sydney property market, are no longer as active in the market and buyer interest from this sector of the market has significantly reduced.

This is due to a combination of factors:

1. The lending criteria of Australian banks have gotten more restrictive and they are not lending as freely
2. The Chinese government is making it much more difficult for its citizens to take money out of the country
3. The NSW government introduced a 4% stamp duty surcharge for foreign buyers from July 1, 2016 and an extra 0.75% land-tax surcharge, which has put off foreign buyers

A recent example of this is the collapse of the sale of Cate Blanchett’s Hunters Hill home. The Chinese buyers had difficulty getting their funds out of the country and as a result were forced to default on the purchase.

Premier Home Finders believes that these factors will all neutralise and that with time this sector of the market will strongly re-enter the market. However currently there are good buying opportunities for local buyers.

Bernadette Brennan is the Director of Premier Home Finders, a Sydney based real-estate buyer’s agency.