People are talking about Chinese investment in Australian property. Apparently they have invested 5 billion in the last year or so. I found a really good analysis on SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) which is a multicultural tv/radio channel. But first, my interest peaked when I was in the city on 8 March and walking past the Melbourne Town Hall I saw the huge bright yellow Melbourne Property EXPO sign covering most of the building, so went in and took some snaps. The place was packed with Chinese property speculators. I guess the Aussie property owners will be thrilled to be getting top dollar. And, of course, it wouldnt matter who owned the land, locals or foreigners, if we collected the Economic Rent. There is another important consideration for foreign investors in Australia. All Australian land is actually owned by the Crown (except Native title) so no one actually owns the land under Australian title law. Here is the Dropbox link to 12 photos: https://dropbox/sh/2z4v9h98ungfmu8/oERi4oyXh9 The following excerpt from the SBS article gives in international overview. ~ ~ ~ ~ What is luring Chinas wealthy to invest in Australia - and what does it mean for the national economy? ... The US is the top destination for China’s wealthy as Canada shuts the door on 46,000 in waiting list The United States is still the favorite destination for wealthy Chinese. In 2012, 82,000 individuals born in China were granted permanent resident status by the U.S. While 7641 grabbed a green card though the Eb-5 scheme in 2012, many were also granted entry for other reasons. In Europe, much to the chagrin of the EU, Portugal offers a similar deal for €500,000 ($763,428 AUD). In Greece just €250,000 ($381,714 AUD) in real estate investment can score a five-year residency permit. Canada will formally shut down its immigrant investor program in the 2014 budget. The scheme has seen more than 130,000 people come to Canada since it began in 1986. Most of the applicants were from China, Taiwan and South Korea. Of the 46,000 currently on the waiting list, 70 per cent were from China. The scheme, which had no language requirement, was haunted by doubts Canada was collecting enough taxon investment migrants compared to those who came in on skilled migration schemes. Chinese Investors are not the fastest growing number of migrants to Australia Brits and New Zealanders still dominate the immigration pie. 20 per cent of immigration to Australia is from the UK while New Zealanders take up 9.1 per cent. Immigrants from China represent one of the fastest growing groups but they are a mere six per cent of the total. Australian Bureau of Statistics show the proportion of Australian immigrants born in Asia crept up slowly from 24 per cent in 2001 to 33 per cent in 2011. For socialist China, this is elite capital flight on a huge scale The latest report from research firm Hurun found almost two-thirds of Chinese with more than 10 million yuan in the bank have emigrated, or are making plans to. Wealthy Chinese moved 2.8 trillion yuan worth of assets offshore in 2011 according to a report from the Chinese think tank Center for China and Globalization. This was about three percent of the country’s GDP for that year. What’s more, many government officials have foreign passports. A report from the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists revealed relatives of Chinese leaders – including the brother-in-law of Chinas current president, Xi Jinping - hold vast sums in offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands. At the same time stocks, property and royalties especially for high net worth individuals are hard to track and therefore, hard to tax. Fake receipts are manufactured and sold online to low paid public servants to capitalize on reimbursements. In 2010, for example, authorities said they caught 74,833 companies filing false invoices with the government.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 00:15:27 +0000
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