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Many of the ‘Asian buyers’ who are said to be snapping up local property are actually Australian, according to one prominent auctioneer.
Tom Panos told The Adviser’s sister title, Real Estate Business, that some observers have been guilty of “sensationalising and catastrophising” the situation.
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“What is interesting is that when I actually meet the buyers after the auction, when they are signing the contract, a lot of these people who are perceived as Asian buyers from overseas are in fact Australians of Asian origin,” he said.
“They are people who have, in many instances, been born here or been living here for many years, and a lot of people build this perception that they are people from Asia with bags full of money and buying lots of property, which I think is a little bit of an extreme comment.”
Meanwhile, Nyko Property director Bill Nikolouzakis told the federal Inquiry into Foreign Investment in Residential Real Estate that it is “wildly inaccurate” to claim foreign investors are pricing first home buyers out of the market.
“Vision on our television networks of people of Asian appearance bidding at auctions and outbidding other Australians does, in our opinion, simply kindle xenophobia and is anathema to the long-term goal of Australian policymakers to further integrate our economy with Asia – the fastest growing economic region in the world,” he said.
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