Chinese buyers go cool on Australian homes

Sydney

CHINESE demand for Australian residential property has eased because of tighter capital controls imposed by Beijing and tougher restrictions on mortgage lending by local banks, a top central banker said on Monday.

Jonathan Kearns, the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) head of financial stability, said that foreign buyers accounted for around 10-15 per cent of new construction, or about 5 per cent of total housing sales and around one-quarter of newly built apartments.