Several years ago, Stephen Yao frequently traveled between China’s Guangdong Province and Thailand to help middle-class Chinese families buy condominiums in Bangkok and Pattaya.
In 2017 and 2018 alone, he made dozens of trips and continued to do so regularly just two years ago.
His customers were among those who, during China’s economic boom, poured their money into properties in markets like Thailand, Vietnam, and Australia to expand their portfolios.
Recently, his trips have dwindled as the flow of Chinese homebuyers diminishes amid declining household wealth, driven by economic slowdown and prolonged property downturn in China.
“Most of the property agents have switched to other careers,” Yao told the South China Morning Post.
China’s property sector outlook has darkened while its economic growth is expected to slow to 4.5% this year, according to economists and analysts polled by Reuters.
Home prices in the country were projected to decline more sharply this year than previously anticipated, with growth expected to resume in 2026.
Tyran Kam, senior director of Asia-Pacific corporate ratings at Fitch Ratings, noted that the sector continues to grapple with structural issues such as high unsold inventory, employment instability, and low affordability in the housing market.
HSBC Asset Management said in its mid-February Investment Weekly that a significant portion of China’s household wealth is tied up in real estate, so the industry’s prolonged downturn raises concerns about the risk of sustained deflation.
According to Yao, the bed-and-breakfast market catering to Chinese tourists is the main income source for Chinese middle-class investors, but it has contracted due to rising operating costs.
Thailand’s tourism industry has also faced a major blow as thousands of Chinese tourists recently scrapped their trips amid growing safety concerns, as reported by Thai newspaper The Nation.
In late January, Tourism Authority of Thailand governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool said around 10,000 Chinese tourists have canceled their visits so far in the year.
Meanwhile, data from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, released last November, showed a decline in home purchases made by Chinese investors, the largest buyers of residential properties in the country.
They spent A$2.6 billion on 1,998 homes across Australia in the 2023-24 financial year ended in June, down from A$3.4 billion spent on 2,601 properties in 2022-23, according to the Herald Sun.
Additionally, AFR reported that a rising number of middle-class Chinese were offloading properties in Australia and other countriese arlier in 2024, with some forced to accept below-market prices.
Peter Li, managing director of Sydney-based real estate firm Plus Agency, which specializes in selling properties to Chinese buyers, explained that those who own homes in Australia began realizing that the maintenance costs were exceeding their ability to keep up with mortgage payments.
“For some, the only solution is to cut it loose and make sure they don’t bleed more money,” he said.
Frankie Wang, a property salesman, said Chinese buyers have also shown less interest in the Vietnamese property market despite it being viewed as having the most potential for appreciation in Southeast Asia.
Late last year, he marketed some off-plan homes in HCMC, whose prices have been rising by more than 20% annually, to upper-middle-class investors in Guangdong, but only received tepid responses.
“Middle-class Chinese families no longer have the boldness or capital to invest overseas as they once did,” he said.
