In news this week, New Zealand has implemented rules for foreign property ownership, limiting it to new developments. From the article: The majority of overseas buyers were from China and neighbouring Australia, and Australians are exempt from the ban.

“Is the ban wise or useful? We think it’s neither,” Chinese real estate portal Juwai.com spokesman Dave Platter said.

“Foreign buying … tends to be focused on new development, making clear again that foreign investment leads to the creation of new dwellings. That’s vital in a market with a housing shortage like Auckland.”

We’ve had Hobart and Brisbane, but now the new buzz property city appears to be… Adelaide. With investors struggling in Sydney or Melbourne, it looks like they are moving further west. Queensland still appears to be a good choice though.

Meanwhile, with the decrease in Chinese investment, it looks like the Australia property industry is looking to India, one of the fastest growing economies in the world:

Of all the thriving economies of south-east Asia, India and China shared the most similarities. Because of this, more agencies and developers were setting up offices on the subcontinent in an effort to tap into a market that has so far been relatively uninvolved in Australian property.

And from news outside of Australia, it looks like the Hong Kong property market is set to take a dive too. If you think our property prices were crazy:

“[Residential] property prices have pretty much tripled over the past decade and now look expensive relative to the Asian crisis, when they fell by a half from peak to trough,” said Gareth Leather, analyst at Capital Economics. “They now look massively overvalued.”

Whilst falling Chinese investment has impacted their market like ours, there are other underlying issues affecting Hong Kong that are not concerning for Australia.

Finally, on Friday, Phillip Lowe, RBA governor spoke to Parliament and indicated that they are not worried by the developments in the local market including housing prices, seeing current conditions as more of an ‘adjustment’

Have a great week everyone!