When looking to invest, real estate remains the top investment opportunity of choice as compared to other avenues, like the share market, according to the founder of the biggest home building company in Australia, Your Investment Property reports.
For Meriton founder Harry Triguboff, the plan to sell his company to Chinese interests is already off the table with the strengthening of the conditions in Australian property, while he described the Australian share market as "terrible", when he spoke to Bloomberg this week.
"The problem is I'm really not keen on selling. I never was. They came to talk," Triguboff told Bloomberg.
"You've got to open your eyes, go to restaurants, it's all full, where ever you want to get in, it's all full. So the country is doing so well, what's the point of selling?" he said.
Amidst signs of sluggish growth in China and impending interest rates increase in the US Federal reserve is a volatile global stock market.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index has decreased by 8.9% this year, with the MSCI World Index dropping 4.3% and a 2.3% retreat of the Standard & Poor 's 500 Index.
Triguboff also sees no threat from the waning demand of Chinese buyers and a drop in prices in Sydney last month, believing that the spotlight will continue to focus on real estate both on and off shore.
"One of two things will happen. The [property] prices will remain the same -- nobody is talking of them going up," he said.
"If they remain the same, the Chinese might stay here. If they go down then the Australians will come in and buy."
A good 40% of Meriton's sales this year were Chinese buyers, which attributed to the company's best sales year ever, and Triguboff believes that this trend won't change very much this incoming year.
"Selling doesn't occur to me as a problem.
"Prices may go up or may go down 5%, 10%. I'm not interested. We are selling apartments for $1 million now, which I used to sell 10 years ago for half."
