Chinese capital controls send tremor through Australian property

Sydney

ON a recent Sunday morning in the sun-drenched Australian city of Brisbane, about 50 "property tourists" boarded a bus tour with a difference.

The group - all local Aussies looking to purchase their first homes - were shuttled to five new apartment projects where brochures promised that they could "capitalise on international deposit defaults" and snap up properties at sharp discounts.

The homes were mostly being sold by Chinese investors unable to make settlement on their investments as Beijing cracks down on money flowing out of China and restrictions on Australian banks lending to foreign investors bite, the company behind the tour said.

"Getting money out of China is very hard now. That's a big factor for these discounts," said Property Direct founder David Beard, who sold some two-bedroom units on the bus tour at 15-20 per cent lower than list prices. "Property sales have fallen because of that, and it has got progr…