NAB has released its latest survey of property professionals, which shows that foreign buyer demand rebounded modestly over the December quarter, but remains way down on average:
Foreign buyers in Australian housing markets remain subdued and well below average. In Q4, property professionals estimated the overall share of total sales to foreign buyers at 4.6% in new property markets (4.4% in Q3 and down from a survey average 9.3%), and 2.3% in established housing markets (2.2% in Q3 and down from a survey average 5.4%).
In new housing markets, the share of foreign buyers increased to 7.1% in VIC (5.6% in Q3) and to 6.0% in QLD (5.0% in Q3) – though both states continue to trend well below survey average levels of 12.8% and 11.1% respectively. Foreign buyers were also somewhat more active in WA at 3.8% (1.5% in Q3) but dropped to 3.0% in NSW (3.9% in Q3), or less than half the survey average (8.3%).
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Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
