人民币贬值加速海外房产投资

More well-off Chinese are thinking about buying abroad for their children to live in during university, and then for they themselves to reside in during retirement. With a devalued Renminbi, it might cost a little bit more, but is the falling currency also pushing people to move a bit faster now.

Zhou Ting bought her first house in Melbourne about a year ago mainly for investment. She wants to buy two more Aussie homes, just to make sure she's got all the Australian universities covered, but also because she's more certain than ever that it's not wise to put all her eggs in one basket of Renminbi's.

Amanda Zhou, individual investor said:"I want to transfer part of my assets overseas more quickly, because I think the RMB will depreciate further. I’ve always expected this, so it wasn't a surprise when it actually happened recently. I want to diversify the risks of holding RMB assets, that’s one of the most important reasons why I invest overseas. No matter whether it’s cash, property, or equity, I don’t want all of those to be in RMB. Once the currency begins to slide, it's just too dangerous."

Zhou would now need to pay 38,000 yuan more for a property worth 1 million Australian dollars, than she would have had to pay a month ago, thanks to the weakening yuan. She regrets that she didn't buy earlier.

"I'm worried the fluctuation last week could be a signal that the currency is entering a downward spiral. It might not devalue much just now, but I think it will be like a boiling frog in warm water. It will happen very gently and very slowly, but between both inflation and depreciation, it will eventually happen. So if I'm going to buy more property anyway, why not do it now? Besides, housing prices in Australia are climbing," said Zhou.

It's not just Zhou who is planning to buy more properties overseas, Lanny Xu, at Ironfish, a Shanghai-headquartered consultancy for the Australian property market, says customer visits to his company have more than doubled since last week. His success rate of sealing deals has jumped from 50 percent to more than 80 percent.

Xu said:"We see an increased number of calling and increased number of requests of appointment, and increase request of consultation. People really fear it's time to think seriously. In the past they are probably thinking, what we can do? Did a bit a research and take a way to think about. But now they probably come to the stage of making final decision."

Even with the Renminbi's devaluation last week, Australian-priced assets are still selling at very enticing rates, and better rates than many think they may see in the future. According to American commercial real estate company CBRE, Melbourne and Sydney are first choices among potential immigrants from China, selling for prices similar to those in Shanghai.

CBRE also says it is likely that Chinese buyers will speed up US purchases for the same reason they are speeding up Australia purchases -- concern the RMB may fall even more later. Chinese buyers invested more than $10 billion US dollars in overseas properties last year, a 25 percent increase from a year earlier. In fact, they are already expanding investment to smaller European countries and to lower-tier cities in the US.