The relaxation of China's stringent COVID-19 border restrictions has led to a surge in cash outflows for international property investments, according to real estate agents and property data from Australia, Singapore, and Thailand.
Chinese demand is contributing to a rise in Singapore property prices, Chinese students are purchasing apartments in Sydney and Melbourne, and agents report increased interest from China in the Thai market.
While data on the initial cash outflows is limited, the trend suggests a renewed desire to move capital out of China, where confidence in the real estate market is waning and the government's tax policies and criticism of wealth accumulation make investing overseas more appealing.
Ian Chen, founder and CEO of Jalin Realty, which operates in China, Australia, Malaysia, and Singapore, said, "Enquiries from regional Asia property investors have doubled since the borders opened, especially from the Chinese."
Chen added, "Most of the investors who are buying now are those who just need to get some money out. We are not seeing a big wave, but definitely there is interest and a lot of enquiries - especially from students who are coming back to Australia."
Affluent and middle-class Chinese have long sought to diversify their investments and maintain some assets beyond the reach of authorities by moving wealth abroad.
The current cash outflows appear smaller than those in previous episodes, such as the one in 2016 that led to tighter controls on moving money out of China. Nonetheless, the trend suggests that, in the aftermath of the pandemic, Chinese families are seeking to relocate assets and even themselves overseas.
Restrictions on moving money abroad are likely to prevent a massive outflow or a significant impact on the world's second-largest economy. However, the trend demonstrates a lack of confidence and puts pressure on the currency, which has struggled to appreciate as China eased its COVID-19 regulations.
According to real estate agents, recent foreign interest in Australia has contributed to price stabilization and pushed clearance rates in Sydney to a one-year high in February.
In Singapore, there has been an influx of families and funds. Joey Wang, a director at CS Corp, an accounting firm that offers migration advice in the city-state, has acquired approximately 300 clients, mostly Chinese, since the pandemic began. Wang said, "COVID and the lockdown gave people a lot of time to think about their future."
While the Singapore American School has reported "significant interest from Chinese families looking to enroll," agents in Thailand say that sales inquiries from China are starting to rise.
According to Jenny Yan, marketing manager at a Shenzhen company specializing in purchasing overseas properties, "A lot of people have been traveling to Thailand since reopening and they will look at the property market."
Yan explained that properties in Thailand or Malaysia are relatively affordable, with luxury houses priced around 2 million yuan ($300,000) and apartments costing a quarter of that amount. She concluded, "With this many people traveling, there will be demand for buying."
