Chinese investors show growing interest in Australian agriculture

CANBERRA - Chinese ownership of Australian farming land has climbed above three million hectares as an increasing number of Chinese investors show their interest in Australian agriculture.

A flurry of significant land sales in recent months, mostly in Western Australia (WA), has driven the amount of Australian agricultural land owned by Chinese investors to more than three million hectares, more than double the 1.46 million hectares reported by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in June.

Two of the largest properties, the 705,000-hectare Wollogorang and Wentworth station on the border of Queensland and the Northern Territory (NT) and the 639,500-hectare Balfour Downs and Wandanya station in WA, both owned by Chinese, almost accounting for the whole 1.46 million hectares reported by the register.

The soaring amount of Australian land owned by Chinese investors since June has largely been driven by Shanghai Zenith, the Australian arm of real estate developer Shanghai CRED.

Shanghai Zenith has settled on the purchases of the 200,000-hectare Mount Elizabeth cattle station and 189,000-hectare Yakka Munga station, both in WA, since June.

The developer has also attained approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to buy more than 400,000 hectares of pastoral land in WA's Goldfields region and is part of the likely-successful bid by Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest woman, to buy the nation's largest network of cattle stations, S Kidman and Co.

Shanghai Zhongfu, a rival real estate developer, purchased the 476,000-hectare Carlton Hill station in WA for $75 million.

Danny Thomas, regional director of agribusiness with real estate consultant CBRE, said the boom in Chinese investment in Australia reflected the interest from foreign investors worldwide.

"The market is as active at the moment as I've seen it in my professional career," Thomas told Fairfax Media on Monday.

The new Chinese ownership figures came as a survey of China's richest people found many were planning to pour millions of dollars into Australia's real estate market.

The Hurun Report, released on Monday, found that 800,000 Chinese people worth more than $1.5 million, planned to invest overseas, with property in Sydney and Melbourne a popular investment choice.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chief researcher for the Hurun Report, a monthly magazine best known for its "China Rich List", a ranking of the wealthiest individuals in China, said the depreciation of the yuan was partly responsible for the flow of capital from China into Australian property.

"As immigration and house-buying destinations, Australia is still very popular. Sydney and Melbourne are still very popular," he said.

"China currently has 1,340,000 high-net-worth individuals, defined as individuals with $1.5 million, so that means we are looking at a massive 800,000 individuals who want to buy property overseas over the next three years."