Australian expatriates who are eager to return home are spending millions of Australian dollars to buy Australian luxury homes. They may ask their family members for help or resort to virtual inspections. In the past, during the Christmas period, when wealthy professionals stationed overseas returned to visit relatives in China, those who planned to return to Australia permanently in the future would take the opportunity to inspect a series of high-end properties for sale.
But the global pandemic and subsequent border restrictions have disrupted the plans of expats-despite unabated demand, many Australians living overseas are in trouble. “The interest of Australians traveling abroad to return to China does seem to be very strong.” Video chat and virtual inspections have become the new normal, and friends or family members are invited to inspect the houses on their behalf. “In this era when there is no international travel, many expatriates ask their families to buy real estate on their behalf,” said Marshall White director Bongiorno Bongiorno. “This is not limited to any specific price range-from 1 million Australian dollars to 2000 Ten thousand dollars in real estate.”
It is estimated that 36,000 Australians overseas want to return home. With the emergence of economic and political uncertainties and the deadly new crown virus epidemic in most parts of the world, Australians abroad increasingly feel that the motherland is a more attractive destination for living and investing in real estate.
Although many expatriates will return to their hometowns of Melbourne or Sydney, others will turn their attention to Australia’s newest luxury housing hotspot-Byron Bay. Others will have a base in Sydney or Melbourne and live between the city and Byron Bay. Buyers only use video to view the property and have not been able to fly back to Australia so far.
