According to government figures, Chinese buyers poured $4 billion into the sector last year. Australia has become one of the hottest investment destination for Chinese investors.
 

The trend is not surprising considering the rapid rate of expansion of the middle class.

 

According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 135 million Chinese have now joined the middle class. By 2020, that number will grow to a staggering 540 million.

 

Many of them are also savvy investors who look to purchase properties close to the train station, prestigious schools and the CBD.

Generally, Chinese investors also like to buy in suburbs that are well known in the Chinese community and in Sydney, this means Hurstville, Chatswood, and Ashfield.

 
Harry Triguboff, a self-made property tycoon and founder of the Meriton Group, says compared to the more speculative inflows from other countries, Chinese investors are consistent buyers.
 

"I've never experienced any other foreign nationals that bought in that volume and they've never bought so consistently," Mr Triguboff said.

"They're not very concerned about the amount of return, they want to see capital gain, and I think that now with our dollar coming down... it will help us to sell even more." 
 

Fifteen per cent of Meriton's sales in 2012 were to offshore Chinese investors.
 

Mr Triguboff says the right to title is a major drawcard for Chinese investors, while many also purchase with their children in mind.
 

"They often come here to buy for their children because many of them study here so they would love to have an apartment so they would know where the child is going to stay," Mr Triguboff said.
 

"In fact, the purchases that we get usually have somebody in the family who went to school here or university."

Sydney 'a resilient market' in a subdued period
From brand new apartments to multi-million dollar trophy homes, Chinese investors have made their presence felt.
 

Among them is Zeng Wei, the son of a top communist party office who outlaid $32 million in 2008 to secure Craig-y-mor in Point Piper.

"These trophy homes don't just become trophy homes because they're nominated," Australian Property Monitors' senior economist Andrew Wilson said.
 

"They're there, their value is there, because of what they have intrinsically in terms of their locale, and in Sydney, that means harbourside."

Dr Wilson attributes the surge of investments from China to the resilience of Sydney's market.
 

"It is a regard for a great education system, for that connection to a strong Chinese community in Sydney as well as the investment profile of property in Sydney, which has shown itself and proven itself to be quite resilient over what was a generally subdued period for housing markets globally over the last two or three years," Dr Wilson said.
 

"Sydney is really the gold standard for property in Australia - for capital city property - and perhaps it's one of the gold standards for the world."

'Perfect timing' for Chinese buyers to look offshore
Ray Chan, managing director of investment consultancy Window to China, says investment from China is only starting to gain traction.
 

As policy makers in China bring in initiatives to curb speculative demand and stabilise property prices, an increasingly number of investors are looking offshore.
 

Beijing is bringing in a 20 per cent capital gains tax in selective cities as well as requiring a larger deposit from second home buyers.
 

"Now is the perfect timing that we saw with the Chinese government policy to slow down the growth and to restrict the speculation on the property market so the developer and the investor all looking for a new market," Mr Chan said.
 

Prime Minister Julia Gillard welcomes the wave of new foreign investments. 

  

"Chinese investment continues to play an important role in supporting Australia's economic growth and property sector," Ms Gillard said in a statement.
 

"In 2011-12, the Australian government screened and approved almost 5,000 investment proposals from Chinese investors. These were worth around $16 billion, including over $4 billion in the real estate sector."

 

Mr Chan believes Chinese interest in Australian real estate will remain strong in the coming three to five years.

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