Bilingual auction trend to cater for Chinese property buyers

Australian auctions are being held in Mandarin, to accommodate Chinese bidders cashing in on the nation's red-hot property market.

Bilingual auctioneer Robert Ding is in high demand as he seamlessly switches between English and Mandarin, translating as the bids race upward.

"The reason the Chinese want to migrate here is that our climate's fantastic, we've got a great country to live in," he said.

Wealthy Chinese are now our biggest foreign real estate investors, snapping up $24bn worth of Australian housing in the last seven years.

Dave Platter from Juwai.com, a real estate website in Chinese promoting Australian property, said proximity and price were key to that market.

"Australia's a very popular destination for Chinese buyers, it's number two in the world only after the USA. It beats out the UK, it beats out Canada, it beats out Germany," he said.

"One of the reasons is that it's close by, it speaks English, it's a lovely lifestyle and wonderful people."

But Patrick Bright from EPS Property believes foreign investment is pricing many out of the market.

"The knock on effects that I see down the track (is) having more of the population renting than buying and paying off their own home. Come retirement they're going to be more dependent on the government to fund themselves through pension," he said.

Thirty years ago, 61 percent of 25 to 30-year-olds were homeowners. As recently as three years ago, that rate has dropped to 47 percent.

However, Mr Platter said foreign investment had its benefits.

"They're making Aussies rich. How many Australians are selling their homes at a peak in the market to a foreign buyer and are benefiting substantially?"