Sydney’s skyrocketing house prices are worrying, but Chinese buyers aren’t to blame

The Sydney Morning Herald – 29 May, 2015

By James Laurenceson

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/sydneys-skyrocketing-house-prices-are-worrying-but-chinese-buyers-arent-to-blame-20150529-ghcgjt.html

Sydneysiders have good reason to be upset by sky-rocketing house prices. The Australian Bureau of Statistics says that the cost of entering an already expensive market has jumped a further 30 per cent since the end of 2012.

Blame the Chinese. That’s what a protest planned for this Saturday outside the Chinese Consulate in Camperdown intends on doing.

There’s a trend here. It was only a couple months ago that State Opposition leader Luke Foley decided to play the China card in an attempt to derail Premier Mike Baird’s electricity privatisation plans.

A report by Credit Suisse earlier this month appeared to provide some hard evidence that Chinese buyers were rampant. They said that in 2013-14 Chinese buyers snapped up property worth 23 per cent of new housing supply in NSW.

But there’s something amiss here.

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