China buys assets in Australia to cater to its middle class
Chinese investors have massively upped the amounts of Australian assets they are purchasing, with investment in agriculture more than tripling in volume to $1bn over the past year. China looks to Australia to produce goods like fruit, meat, wine, dairy and minerals, to cater to its booming middle class. Despite lowered incentives for overseas buyers to protect Australia's assets, Credit Suisse believes demand from China will remain high.

Chinese investors are buying up assets in Australia from housing to ports to agriculture. One area where that trend is particular noticeable: Chinese investment in Australia's agricultural sector went from $300 million to more than $1 billion over the past year. Part of what's driving that trend is Chinese investors looking to Australia as fertile ground to produce goods that they'll sell back in China. There's heavy demand from China's booming middle class for Australian-produced fruits, meats, wine, dairy and minerals. In fact, those shoppers have grown to trust "Made in Australia" on the whole. After outbreaks in China from tainted infant formula, Australian-produced formula has been a market winner for Chinese consumers.

China's wealthy impact Australian housing

Home prices in Sydney are up 98 percent since the global financial crisis, and in Melbourne they're up 84 percent, according CoreLogic, a data, information, analytics and services provider in Australia. Concurrent with rising prices is increased Chinese activity in the market. Last year, was the biggest year for Chinese investment in Australian residential real estate, according to Juwai.com, an international property website. In New South Wales, the Australian state in which Sydney is located, foreign buyers (87 percent of whom were Chinese) acquired a quarter of new property supply, according to a recent report by Credit Suisse.

Not everyone is happy about the trend