Malaysia dominates in australian property market

Photo credit: Mary Portier

Malaysian investors are making their mark upon Australian property, according to new figures. Asian buyers are on the up Down Under this year, but Malaysia is leading the way, with one company EPF (Employees' Provident Fund) injecting 500 million Australian dollars into real estate (RM 1.6 billion) in 2010.

Another Malaysian investor, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), was "the first major company from Malaysia to acquire a property in Brisbane", adds Property Guru, while other firms are targeting Western Australia and Queensland, where resource levels are high.

"Brisbane is slowly getting on the radar of offshore investors, although Sydney and Melbourne are still the main focus," Geoff McIntyre, Queensland Managing Director at Jones Lang Lasalle commented.

Indeed, 1.5 billion Australian dollars of investment came from overseas to Brisbane's market in 2008. That has now increased to 3 billion, according to JLL.