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Ironfish announces strategic investment in Juwai.com

Ironfish, one of Australia's largest and fastest-growing property investment groups, has announced a strategic investment in Juwai.com.

This move brings together two market leaders, actively engaged in helping Chinese and Australian consumers invest in the Australian property market.

About Ironfish

With 14 offices in Australia and China, as well as development arms in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, Ironfish is an industry leader boasting a strong reputation that has resulted in partnerships with national and global brands such as Mirvac, Stockland, Frasers Property, Colliers International, CBRE, and Knight Frank.

Joseph Chou, CEO & Founder of Ironfish, is an inspirational Australian entrepreneur and property investor who built the business after giving up a distinguished career as a Chinese diplomat and migrating to Australia in 1991.

“We’re excited by this opportunity to invest in the No. 1 Chinese international property platform. We like the people behind Juwai; we share similar values and feel that we complement each other’s business. This investment represents one of our strategies for the growth of the Ironfish business. It’s a strategic step towards our future expansion," said Chou.

“Juwai’s combination of consumer relationships and technology expertise gives it the potential to serve growing numbers of consumers globally while also continuously improving the service they provide. That is a recipe for success over the long term," he adds.

“At Ironfish, while our Chinese buyers represent only a portion of our overall customer base, we still see very strong demand of Chinese customers coming to purchase property in Australia – whether it’s to buy property for their children to live in when they come here to study, or for when they migrate, or simply as an investment. We see that demand will continue," Chou explained.

“I think with continual globalisation, China has become and will continue to become one of the key players in the international arena and the appetite for Chinese wealth to invest overseas is going to be strong for many years to come. We aim to be the number 1 service provider for Chinese investors in Australia."

According to Chou, Sydney is still the preferred destination for Chinese customers in terms of location. However, in terms of pricing, Melbourne is the top choice for Chinese buyers, followed by Brisbane. He further revealed that both Adelaide and Perth are rising in terms of enquiries from Chinese investors, as they begin to better understand these markets.

About Juwai

With over 2 million Chinese-speaking users each month and 2.5 million listings from 89 countries, Juwai is the No. 1 Chinese international real estate platform and the exclusive international property partner of WeChat owner Tencent.

Juwai.com was named the top international real estate website in China by the country’s peak e-commerce body for two years running and is a winner of the prestigious Red Herring Global Top 100 Award for excellence in start-ups. The company’s biggest teams are in Shanghai and Hong Kong, while regional teams are located in Australia, the US, Canada, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

“Juwai.com is very excited to have this investment from Ironfish because of its deep knowledge of the markets we work in, excellent reputation, and high-quality leadership team. Ironfish’s expertise in helping buyers with the offline transaction complements Juwai.com’s ability to engage and assist buyers online," said Georg Chmiel, Chairman of Juwai.com.

“The fundamental factor that gives this investment strategic value for both Juwai.com and Ironfish is that Chinese buyers are an important part of the Australian property market and will remain so for a very long time,” he adds.

Carrie Law, CEO of Juwai.com said, "Australia is the second-most popular country for Chinese buyers in 2017. It ranks after the United States and before Thailand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Even though Chinese buying is off last year’s incredible record high, just-released RBA data shows that Chinese buyers still snap up about every fifth-newly built apartment. Without Chinese investment making it easier to build more apartments, Australia’s capital cities would be facing a graver housing shortage than they are today."

According to Law, the most popular Australian cities for Chinese buyers on Juwai.com are Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, and Perth. Juwai data has also shown that Chinese property investors in Australia are fundamentally driven by education, quality of life, and asset diversification. 

“Chinese real estate investment in Australia has soared in this decade, from $4 billion five years ago to $31.9 billion last year. Chinese wealth generation drives this investment. For the first time, there are now 1.6 million U.S.-dollar millionaires in mainland China. Wealth per adult in China has more than quadrupled over the past six years," said Law. "Consumer research in China by FTCR shows that more than 60% of Chinese overseas investors intend to make new overseas real estate investments by 2020."

“Ironfish puts consumers front and foremost. One of their key differentiation points in the property market is their genuine commitment to financial education and helping consumers understand the importance of building wealth for the future. Their approach is to educate and support consumers in developing a strategy which will accelerate their accumulation of wealth over time."

“What Juwai.com does well is help Chinese by making it easy for them to succeed while investing not just in one market, but in almost any market around the world. We are helping Chinese become global residents and property investors.”