Chinese buyer buries copper plates under floor of $4.78million Sydney townhouse for ‘good fortune’
New trend: Buyers are demanding an unusual material be buried under the floor to boost ‘feng shui’
- A Chinese buyer bought a mansion in Sydney for $4.78 million
- He asked to bury copper plates under the floor of the house
- The metal conductive properties are good Feng Shui
The buyer of a multi-million dollar mansion has made a surprising request to bury copper plates under the floors.
Plus Agency managing director Peter Li sold a mansion in Linfield, in Sydney’s Upper North Shore, to a Chinese buyer for $4.786 million last year.
The house is one of eight luxury townhouses on Wolseley Road, with high-tech inclusions such as biometric door locks and EV chargers.
The buyer contacted Mr. Li and requested that copper plates be buried under the floors throughout the mansion for good Feng Shui – an ancient Chinese practice that claims to use energy to bring an individual into harmony with their surroundings.
Its owner would be considered “running on luck,” as the metal’s conductive properties are associated with the flow of energy in Feng Shui.
A Chinese buyer wanted the floor of his $4.786 million mansion in Linfield, a suburb of Sydney’s Upper North Shore, to be clad in copper sheeting as part of good feng shui (photo, artist’s impression of the Wolseley Eight mansions in Lindfield )
Peter Li, general manager of the Plus Agency, sold the mansion, claiming that agents have to adapt, especially with off-the-plan properties (pictured, dining room of the mansion)
‘Copper shines like gold and is also a very conductive metal. These copper plates go all over the floor,” Mr. Li said Vastgoed.com.
“We have stacks and stacks of copper plates in our office. When the builder is ready for more packages, we’ll take them there.”
Mr. Li explained that estate agents often accommodated a buyer’s requests, especially in off-the-plan properties.
He added that buyers have requested a range of Feng Shui inclusions, including mirrors in a home’s closets and bathrooms and light-colored or white marble countertops in the kitchen.
Agents should also be willing to change things up in already settled homes to make sure the buyer is happy — including swapping out a gas induction cooktop so the homeowner can cook traditional Chinese food.
Mr Li said there was an increase in Chinese buyers buying off-the-plan properties in Australia because it gives the homeowner ‘more protection’.
“In China, if you buy off-the-plan, you start paying your mortgage before the property is even settled – not in Australia,” Mr Li said.
“Plus, there are no trust accounts in China, so if your developer goes bankrupt, you’ve lost your money. Here you get your money back.’
Data released by the Foreign Investment Review Board shows Chinese buyers are the largest source of foreign residential real estate proposals, with $1.6 billion in the first six months of fiscal 2022 (pictured)
Chinese buyers dominate foreign investment in Australian residential property, with $1.6 billion worth of purchases in the first six months of fiscal 2022.
Figures from the Foreign Investment Review Board released on March 8 showed that Australia’s largest source of foreign residential property proposals in number and value in the December quarter came from China, with $600 million.
The data shows that the year-to-date total of $1.6 billion was already more than half of the total of the past three years.
While pandemic travel restrictions were still in place, China’s total investment was $2.7 billion in 2020 to 2021 and $2.4 billion in 2021 to 2020.