Brexit to boost property's safe-haven status in Australia

According to The Australian Financial Review today, Brexit will boost Australia's residential property market as the UK decision to leave the European Union will increase perceptions of the market's safe-haven status, observers say.
Nerida Conisbee, the chief economist at property-listing company REA Group, shrugged off a question that uncertainty created by the UK's unexpected vote to leave the 28-nation EU bloc would trigger a sharp fall in Australian property prices.
If anything, it would boost demand for Australian real estate assets, Ms Conisbee said.
"If you're a pension fund in Europe, and you're looking at London or you're looking at Australia – whether Sydney or Melbourne – then all that turmoil makes Sydney or Melbourne look like a great investment," she said at a lunch hosted by the Australian Israel Chamber of Commerce.
"Overall, I'm pretty optimistic about Australian property. I'm really optimistic about Sydney, just given the supply issues, and Melbourne, to a limited extent."
Chris Mourd, LJ Hooker's head of real estate said "The reality is there isn't going to be an immediate impact to Australian property. What you're probably going to see is the investor saying, 'We want to go somewhere we can project out over the next few years and with some level of stability'."
"Most people would have woken up following the Brexit announcement and been very concerned about their superannuation," Mr Mourd said. "People will be seriously looking at bricks and mortar as a serious option."
But the benefit to Australia's property market may not be uniform. Buyers' agency Secret Agent said demand for top-end properties could stall as global high net-worth investors – who typically buy prestige bolt holes in a handful of different cities – could go into lockdown while they wait to see the effect of the Brexit vote on their UK holdings.
Brexit-related uncertainty meant more potential vendors would keep their premium homes off the market for longer while they assessed the fallout, he said.

Ref: http://www.afr.com/real-estate/residential/brexit-to-boost-propertys-safehaven-status-20160626-gps5k7

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
http://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/-eu
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