“They are not concerned about mainstream America, but they were concerned about the fringe and how it could overreact, which is exactly what happened.
“There will be a huge attrition rate, but there will be some significant transactions.”
Of particular interest is a property on Coolong Road in Vaucluse.
It is not the first time political terrorism has prompted the idea of Sydney as a safe haven. The September 11, 2001 attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre led to a 60 per cent increase in inquiries from anxious Americans, including the head of a global fashion brand who told a bemused Jacobs he would meet him soon.
“He told me on the phone he was flying out on his own plane. I didn’t take that much notice but he turned up in a brand new 737 with his accountant and his brother to look at business opportunities in Australia.”
The executive inspected Boomerang, the hacienda-style Elizabeth Bay mansion which Christie’s was marketing. It sold in 2002 to cleaning contract cleaning magnates John and Julie Schaeffer for a record $20.7 million
The $55 million property is attractive to wealthy Americans thinking of moving to the safety of Australia.
Now, global buyers with an eye on a trophy residence are interested in the Boyd Residence, a $66 million three-storey, four-bedroom penthouse atop the ANZ Building in the Sydney CBD and a $55 million mansion on Coolong Road in Vaucluse which has six bedrooms, nine bathrooms and four car spaces.
The trend has been evident since the coronavirus pandemic took hold last year.
“Australian agents have been inundated with enquiries from expats living in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, the US and the UK,” says a report from McGrath Real Estate published in November.
Expats in Britain favour Manly and Byron Bay in NSW; Noosa in Queensland; and Fremantle and Secret Harbour in Western Australia.
Singapore-based buyers prefer Toorak, Glen Waverley, Hawthorn and South Yarra in Melbourne and Mosman in Sydney.
The $66m Boyd Tower is also of interest to overseas buyers.
The typical expat budget sits below $US3 million, but many Australian expats are cashed up and willing to stretch their budgets to get larger properties on the waterfront, according to a report by agents Knight Frank.
Wealthy foreign nationals are looking for sanctuary as well.
In pre-pandemic 2019, Australia had the world’s biggest net inflow of high net worth individuals, with 12,000 arriving and settling in Melbourne, Sydney, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Perth and Brisbane, according to the analysts New World Wealth.
Apart from COVID-19, Hong Kong citizens were worried about China’s new security law, while Europeans were concerned about terrorism and mass immigration.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have maintained our ‘lucky country’ status and the allure of the Great Australian Dream of homeownership here has arguably never been greater,” the McGrath report concludes.
Duncan Schieb, an Australian-US real estate agent, observed the trend before becoming part of it.
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Schieb, who grew up in Coonamble on the NSW central-Western plains, worked as a luxury estate agent in New York and noted an increase in inquiries from people wanting to move here. He decided to move here with his family late last year and is starting an advisory firm for people wishing to relocate, where he will work alongside tax experts and immigration advisers.
“We can put together teams to take out all those pain points.”
He knows clients are serious when they start asking about health care and schools.
“I have got one client, a high net worth investor and data centre entrepreneur with two children who lives in New York and is talking terms to come across on an investment visa.
“From the outside looking in, the property market is continuing to rise, I can’t see it going down anytime soon. There are a lot of people wanting to move here.”
Buyers’ agent Steve Smith of Sydney Slice said travel restrictions meant expats and those with family connections were finding it was taking up to nine months to relocate, while foreigners were in more long term planning. “Australia has moved up the ranks of places to live.”
Jacobs detected another reason for Australia’s popularity with wealthy Americans.
“A lot of Americans think the rest of the world hates them but think there is a friendship with Australia,” Jacobs said.
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Stephen Brook is CBD columnist for The Age. He is a former features editor and media editor at The Australian, where he wrote the Media Diary column and hosted the Behind The Media podcast. He spent six years in London working for The Guardian.