Keen South African Interest in Australia’s Gold Coast Investment Opportunities

Western Australia has long been the preferred haven for cashed-up South African investors, but lately their attention is increasingly attracted to commercial property opportunities in South-east Queensland.

To gauge the level of this interest and how best to cater for it, leading Gold Coast property specialists MC Commercial recently undertook a fact-finding visit to the major South African cities which included participation in an expo on Australian migration and investment opportunities.

MC Commercial’s Business Development Manager, Cheryl Callanan said that most of those she encountered there spoke of their concerns about South Africa’s political and economic stability.

‘This feedback supports the recent survey by Synovate, a global market research company, that found that 20 percent of South Africans were planning to move to another country or were seriously considering it,’ she said

’Many young, ambitious and highly skilled people are reluctant to start a career or family in South Africa,’

Ms. Callanan pointed out that South Africa is the sixth most important source of migration to Australia and in 2006-7 accounted for 4.1% of migrants to Queensland.

In addition, Australia recently increased the number of places allocated for skilled migrants by 31,000 for the 2008-09 year for a total of 133,500 places. This constitutes a thirty percent increase over the previous year. Australia is looking for a wide range of skills to fill gaps in their labour market.

Cheryl Callanan said that most intending South African migrants and investors regard Australia as a most attractive destination. It is seen as an English-speaking nation with similar lifestyle and values, but with the advantage of high social, political and economic stability.

She said that, historically, South African migrants often favored Perth because of its proximity to South Africa and what was more affordable housing.

‘However, there are concerns about Perth’s housing prices which are now on par with those of Sydney and unlikely to grow for some time. Also, many feel that Western Australia’s prosperity is over-reliant on the minerals boom and thus vulnerable to any fall-off in demand from China,’ said Ms Callanan.

‘By contrast, South.East. Queensland’s impressive growth has a much broader base. In addition to our own thriving resources exports, we also have the important tourism industry and rapidly-expanding light industry and services sectors.’

‘And with the Gold Coast now one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, you have a very attractive environment, particularly in the high-demand commercial and industrial property sector with its solid and consistent yields,’ she commented.

‘As commercial property and developments specialists with much experience in catering for off-shore purchasers, MC Commercial is also negotiating with investors in New Zealand, Singapore, Dubai and elsewhere – including, of course, the other states of Australia.’

Ms Callanan said that through its alliance with Australian Migration Lawyers (AML),MC Commercial was able to assist intending migrants not only with commercial property services butalso in such matters as visas and employment.