While Sydney was recently revealed as a top global performer in property price growth, it may be losing the interest of a valuable home-buying demographic. Bloomberg News reports on new analysis by Credit Suisse which finds that Chinese demand for properties in the New South Wales capital, and indeed throughout Australia, is waning amid the Asian nation’s economic slowdown.
Falling auction clearance rates in Sydney and Melbourne, two of the most popular destinations for purchasers from China in Australia, suggest there are fewer cashed-up foreign buyers, Credit Suisse analysts Damien Boey and Hasan Tevfik said in a Nov. 3 report. China's surprise currency devaluation in August has dimmed consumer confidence and appetite for overseas property worldwide, they said.
"Chinese demand seems to have flattened out," the Credit Suisse analysts said, referring to the Australian market. "It is the cyclically poor condition of the Chinese middle-to-upper class which is driving the slowdown in property buying abroad."
The publication notes that auction clearance rates in Sydney have dropped from their historically high 90%-range earlier this year to a more middling 60%-range of late. Property auctions are the most popular method of property sale in the capital city. [Bloomberg News]View full listing (pictured top)