This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 12, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Singapore were the sixth most preferred property investment countries for China investors in 2015, ahead of Japan (seventh) and Hong Kong (eighth), according to Australian investment portal Investorist.

“Over the last 12 months, activity on Investorist clearly shows Chinese agency’s interest is directed to countries exhibiting stable governments, robust economies, top-class educational institutions and favourable residency programmes,” said founding director Joo Ellis in the portal’s China 2016 International Property Outlook report.

About 60% of surveyed participants favoured Australia as their No 1 market, followed by the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal, Canada, Malaysia and Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong.

“During 2015, market instability in China offered limited options for safe investments for the growing class of high-net-worth individuals. The devaluation of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar reduced buying power in the US and UK and increased the popularity of countries like Australia and New Zealand, where their local currencies have fallen even more sharply,” the report showed.

Following Sydney, New York and Vancouver as the most popular property investment destinations for China investors was Tokyo, which is also getting popular as it is driven by the yen’s decline to 22-year lows and excitement over the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.