Malaysia among top four in the world for Chinese home buyers: report

Concerns over new Malaysian government’s opposition to Chinese-linked projects

Chinese property investment outflows to Malaysia hit new highs of MYR9.5 billion (USD2.3 billion) in 2017, according to a new report by Shanghai-based property portal Juwai.com.

Mainland Chinese consumers bought MYR8.3 billion (USD2 billion) in Malaysian homes last year, while MYR1.2 billion was funneled into commercial real estate, data from the newest Chinese Global Property Investment Report revealed.

Malaysia ranked fourth in the world for most mainland Chinese residential property investment, behind only the US which received USD30.4 billion, Hong Kong (USD16.2 billion), and Australia (USD14.1 billion), according to available data from Juwai.com.

The Southeast Asian nation also ranked among the top 10 destinations for home buying enquiries from mainland Chinese in 2017, with the US, Australia and Thailand taking the lead, in that order.

The report comes as real estate and infrastructure developments with Chinese links face rising scrutiny in Malaysia under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s administration.

“There has been some concern recently whether Malaysia’s government will continue to support foreign investment,” noted Carrie Law, CEO and director of Juwai, in a statement.

“We believe they will, of course with sufficient safeguards for the country’s economic interests.”

Globally, Chinese investment in both commercial and residential properties totalled USD119.7 billion in 2017, up 16.1 percent from USD101.4 billion in 2016, according to Juwai.com estimates. Excluding countries that debuted only in this year’s report, global Chinese property investment topped USD107.7 billion in 2017, a 6.2 percent increase from the previous year.

Juwai.com predicts outbound Chinese property investments will finish 2018 anywhere between USD123.3 billion through USD129.3 billion, or three to eight percent above 2017 levels.

Chinese investors have acquired foreign properties with an aggregate value of more than USD430 billion since 2010.

(Article source: PropertyGuru’s Property Report)