Melbourne’s luxury property market fuelled by expats
Melbourne’s luxury property market fuelled by expats
Spooked by Brexit and bombings, Australian expats look homewards for luxury properties
The world’s most liveable city continues to be the choice place to live for expatriates.
Dodging financial hurdles and geopolitical instability in Europe, Australians are returning home alongside cashed-up Asian buyers with an eye toward Melbourne’s most luxurious residential listings.
Greg Herman, an agent with Sotheby’s, traced many affluent home buyers to Europe and London. “There’s been the Brexit vote, European companies are starting to move their headquarters and workers are moving out of London,” he told The Australian. “Australia is in a position to capitalise on that. Europe is being seen as quite dangerous now whether it be London or Paris.”
Chinese buyers, an increasing presence in auctions throughout the country, are also leading overseas interest in the upper echelons of the Melbourne housing market.
A Sotheby’s listing in the suburb of Brighton, on the market for AUD15.5 million (USD11.7 million), is drawing plenty of interest in particular. “The Chinese buyers are very keen to look,” Sotheby’s agent David Colbran said. “It’s definitely one for the owner occupiers, not the investment buyer.”
“There are expats who are coming back from London or having worked in Asia and are looking to take advantage of the exchange rate at the moment,” Marcus Chiminello, a Marshall White agent, said.
Melbourne is one of the hottest luxury housing markets in the world at the moment, placing fifth in Knight Frank’s latest Prime Global Cities Index.
Read next: Leading Edge: Are Asian buyers being set up for a fall in Melbourne?
Source: Property Report