Malaysians snapping up Australian properties

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians are the fourth largest group of buyers when it comes to snapping up residential properties in Australia.

Jalin Realty International chief executive officer Ian Chen said the figures are derived from the Foreign Investment Review Board, a non-statutory body that advises the Australian government on foreign investment policy and its administration.

"In the 2010-2011 period, Malaysia was in fourth position with a total of RM1.863 billion spent on properties in various parts of Australia. The top three countries were Britain, China and the United States," he said in an interview with the Business Times recently.

Jalin, a company set up by Chen's father in Malaysia 30 years ago, specialises in promoting Australian properties, mainly in Melbourne and Sydney, to buyers in countries like China, Jakarta, Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia.

"Most of our clients are from Singapore, followed by Malaysia. In Singapore, most of our clients are professionals while in Malaysia, they are mostly businessmen," he said.

Chen said most of the Malaysians who buy properties in Australia do so for investment purposes, while some buy them for their children who are there to further their studies.

He said the returns are very good and command a yield of between four and five per cent a year.

"The demand is expected to remain higher than the supply," he added. "We are planning to expand our expertise to India next year as it has the most number of immigrants to Australia as of now," he said.

Chen said the company is also looking at developing its own properties in Melbourne.

"We will be working with Australia's Lechte Corp for an upcoming project, which will be known as Forest Hill," he said.

The gross development value for the project is RM320 million.

He said the project will comprise 164 apartments and 17 townhouses.

"We are also looking at another project in Sydney," he added.

By Business Times