Zhang Biao, a 32-year-old Chinese entrepreneur, has already thought about where his eight-year old will go to university. “We thought a flat overseas would be a good investment, and our son could use it for sixth form or university in Australia or the UK,” he says.
Mr Zhang and his wife put an offer down on a A$600,000 (US$460,000) flat in Melbourne in October, only to be told that they were no longer eligible for the 60 per cent loan-to-value mortgage they had applied for. Instead they decided to pay up front for a £120,000 flat in the English city of Liverpool.
Mr Zhang is one of a growing number of Chinese property investors switching their focus from Australia to other markets as regulators — eager to moderate rapidly rising prices amid fears of a bubble — have increased pressure on banks to curb foreign lending.