The drivers of overseas investment in the Australian residential property market

This research focuses on the emerging overseas investor determinants for the Australian residential property market subsequent to Global Financial Crisis 2008 (GFC 2008). Savills (2014) revealed that there were two emerging trends in the world cross border real estate transactions subsequent to GFC 2008. Investment funds from the Asia Pacific region had emerged as the largest contender with increasing private wealth's participation. Empirical studies shed limited information on these new private wealth's investment characteristics and strategies. These relatively distinct and unique investment behaviours are set to impact on Australian residential property market significantly based on an entirely new perspective of global cross border investment strategy. Quantitative models built on secondary data were tested on the residential property markets covering Metropolitan Melbourne alongside a key suburb (Clayton) to examine their relationships with various leading economic indicators in Space, Property and Capital markets. Due to the increasing relevance of Asia Pacific private wealth's investments in Australian residential property market, a non-conventional factor which is Residential Tourism (RT) is introduced in the study to assess its significance and connectivity with other traditional property market determinants. The result of this research shall provide a better understanding on the relationships between the performance of the Australian residential housing market and its market determinants in terms of both existing and emerging factors. It is believed that this understanding will assist the policy makers to effectively manage the overheated residential property market without compromising a steady flow of Foreign Real Estate Investments into the country.