Chinese property buyers are increasingly beating off other bidders in auctions - and the trend is not showing any signs of slowing.
Data from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) shows that Chinese nationals accounted for the vast bulk of foreign investment approvals last year, News Australia reports.
The overall value of approvals for foreign investment in Australian real estate increased by 75 per cent over the course of the last financial year.
This growth took the total value to $61 billion - and Chinese investment accounted for an estimated two-thirds of the total number of applications.
Data from ANZ shows the median average Australian apartment price in Australian currency, compared with the price in Chinese yuan - and it reveals that prices have fallen for Chinese buyers in real terms, because of the lower value of the dollar compared to the yuan.
The government of New South Wales recently introduced a four per cent stamp duty surcharge, in addition to a 0.75 per cent land tax surcharge on foreign buyers.
Similarly, Queensland has introduced a three per cent stamp duty, while Victoria has increased its stamp duty to seven per cent for foreign buyers - more than double the previous figure of three per cent.
"We continue to expect that demand for housing will ease from here, driven by tighter lending standards, especially for property developers and foreign buyers," ANZ stated. "Easing demand is expected to see price growth slow from hereon."
It was noted that national house price rises are forecast to increase by "6.4 per cent and 1.7 per cent in 2016 and 2017 respectively", down on the peak of 12.8 per cent year-on-year in September 2015 and 8.1 per cent now.
