MORE wealthy Chinese are moving their money out of China to invest in Australia’s property market as a corruption crackdown in the world’s second-biggest economy gathers momentum, property consultants and lawyers said.

    “What we see at the moment is that there are more Chinese who would likely send more money out of the country so they don’t get caught up in the crackdown,” said David Green-Morgan, global capital markets research director at real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

    “The restrictions in China are becoming more onerous,” he said. “That’s triggered an increase in the amount of money that’s looking to move out of China or probably is already outside of China and is looking to be spent.”

    Australian property has long been a popular choice for Chinese money, but the flow of investment appears to have accelerated of late.

    According to Australia’s foreign investment review board, China was the No. 1 source of foreign capital investment into Australia’s real estate in 2013. It received approvals to invest nearly A$6 billion (US$5.58 billion) into the sector, up 41 percent from a year ago.

    “They are worried so they are looking for a safe place,” said a Sydney-based immigration lawyer, who is advising on setting up a new fund exclusively for Chinese investors. “They don’t want returns, not necessarily. They want a safe place,” he added.

    China is expected to see an annual growth of 20 percent in outbound real estate investment in the next decade, up from US$11.5 billion last year, property agent Savills has forecast.

    That will help push Chinese demand in Australian property by 15 percent over the next 12 months, said Andrew Taylor, co-CEO of Juwai.com, the largest real estate portal that targets Chinese buyers looking abroad.

    Such strong interest is likely to boost Australia’s apartment construction, which is set to hit record levels by 2017 and remain elevated through to 2020, brokerage CLSA said in a report this month.(SD-Agencies)