Jonathan Chancellor in the Highlands

In his latest Title Tattle, Jonathan Chancellor covers the comings and goings of wealthy (and white) Sydneysiders who continue to trade multi-million dollar hobby farms in the desirable weekender destination 100kms south of the city. However, one interesting observation of his caught our attention: 

“And ever on the lookout for the start of a possible trend, Title Tattle notes the first substantial lifestyle farm acquisition by Chinese buyers within the highlands. It was when the Lin family paid $7.15 million for Gleneagle (pictured above)…The Lins export wine from the Canberra region to China, as their customers love the fruity shiraz. The family were the $8.5 million buyers of the record-setting Waverton residence sale in 2010.” 

Cash rich Chinese acquiring trophy or record setting property in Australia is nothing new (think Point Piper’s Craig-y-Mor and Chatswood’s recent record setter), but we’ve yet to see astute foreign buyers from China dip into the traditional holiday home markets of the Southern Highlands and the Palm Beach/Whale Beach region (Queensland, however, that’s another story). The Radical Terrace wonders if this will in fact evolve into a trend and, if so, what effects on residential prices it will have.