Real estate in the Byron area is heating up, with the region jumping from 28th most popular location for buying property in NSW to fourth, according to Chinese-language international real estate website Juwai.com.
A luxury real estate agency based on the Gold Coast was quoted in today’s Sydney Morning Herald saying 14 Chinese investors had flocked to inspect a 23-hectare block with absolute beach frontage between Ballina and Lennox Head recently.
‘We have seen Chinese buyers in the Gold Coast for years, but they now seem to be looking further afield to the more exclusive Byron surrounds,’ said Dominique Corbett of Corbett & Co.
‘They love the idea of creating a pristine eco retreat with a golf course in a place that is this close to amenities and direct flights to China via Coolangatta,’ she said.
But local agencies on the ground in Byron Bay dispute the claim that the region is awash with Chinese buyers, although they agree the market is the busiest it has been for years.
James Young of Byron Bay First National told Echonetdaily the agency was ‘almost out of stock’ after a big rush before Christmas.
‘We’ve had our best December in years, with contracts being exchanged right up until Christmas Eve,’ Mr Young said.
‘We’re selling dreams to people with deep pockets and it’s having an effect right across the region, including Mullum and even Ocean Shores.
‘But we don’t have Chinese people knocking on the door looking to get into real estate in Byron Bay,’ he said, adding that it might be a different story ‘right at the top end of the market and among some developers.’
Buyers’ agent Michael Murray of Byron Bay Property search agreed.
‘Maybe bigger commercial stuff is finding interest from big Chinese investors but agents will tell you we never really get any foreign buyers and especially not Chinese,’ Mr Murray said.
‘I don’t see them out surfing either,’ he added.
Mr Murray said that the Gold Coast and Brisbane get Chinese buyers ‘to an extent’, adding ‘they’re a very specific environment with off-the-plan developments that bypass the Foreign Investment Review Board regulations and allow them to park their money in a relatively safe environment.’
It’s just taking the Chinese longer to get here than everyone else.
Byron businesses are owned and run by plenty of Americans and English and Israelis and whatever else already. When you ring a business in Byron, you’re just as likely to hear an American accent on the other end of the line than anything else.
We are a multicultural society and at the end of the day, you are either buried under it or sprinkled over it, you never really own the land.
I’m “Australian” – I was born here and I have spent all but two Balinese weeks on this soil. I can’t afford to live in Byron. Real Australians, and by that I mean the Aboriginal community, can’t afford to live in Byron.
The amount of Australians who CAN afford to live in Byron grows fewer and fewer all the time. At the end of the day does it matter who can? Chinese ? American? What’s the difference?
It won’t be too long. There is only 1.3 billion of them
The photo in the article “are Chinese buyers flocking to Byron” is NOT between Ballina and Lennox Head. It is a photo of Boundary Creek properties which are on the boundary of Ballina Shire Council and Richmond Valley Council areas. This photo is of beachfront land about 20kms SOUTH of Ballina between Wardell and Broadwater.
Typical bs from Juwai. They hype area after area so they can sell advertising.
“A pristine eco resort with a golf course” Definition of oxymoron.
Yeah we’re multicultural, yeah we’re tolerant but gees mate do we really need ANOTHER shitty resort & golf corse for the idle rich albeit nouveau rich!!
I reckon it’s time we had a say in our beach front whether we can afford to live there or not! I can’t even afford to pay to park while me & the “Z” Kelpie Family swim!!!
My friend says it’s time to fight back not descriminate on race but on quality of the construction & time to sabotage those that are unethical constructions:-IE: ALL OF THEM!!