Cohesion and differentiation in Australia's elite suburbs

Abstract

Toorak (Melbourne) and Mosman (Sydney) are two of the most affluent suburbs in Australia. The high costs of living and housing in these suburbs preserve their high status. Yet, in recent years, the growing presence of wealthy Chinese residents and investors has challenged longstanding Anglo‐Australian residents' perceptions of these suburbs as “European villages”. At the same time as new shared identities are being produced, feelings of resentment and anxiety are also increasingly being expressed through local urban planning conflicts related to density and heritage in residential development. Drawing on theories of “elite integration”, and interviews with 35 residents of the two suburbs the paper exposes a range of spatial, material, and discursive practices through which the Australian elite manages ethnic diversity within its suburban strongholds.

One and the Same? A Systematic Literature Review of Residential Property Investor Types

“…A more recent phenomenon is seen in property investments “especially by Asian new middle-class and super-rich investors ” (Wiesel and Levin 2018, 412). Within that category, most scholarly attention is being paid to wealthy Chinese investors overseas.…”

“…At times, this literature coincides with the literature on Chinese investors and their scale of operation addressed earlier. Wiesel and Levin (2018, 413), for instance, define super-rich and moderately rich Chinese investors in Sydney’s residential property as “owners of large and small businesses; the managerial elite of senior industry leaders; and relatively affluent but less senior workers in the finance industry.” Ho and Atkinson (2018) work with two categories: very wealthy and lower-middle income investors. While not specifying the monetary details of these two investor groups, they argue that counter to public perceptions, it is new middle-class investors instead of the super-rich shaping London’s property market (Ho and Atkinson 2018).…”