It's not 35% of the total market, it's 35% of transactions in 2016. This may be a sign domestic transactions are slowing too - though it's useful to note Knight Frank says Chinese investment is 17 times greater than it was in just 2012.

There are good reasons to think this will slow - banks have stopped lending to non-residents, the exchange rate means the value of Australian property has fallen over 5 years in renminbi terms, and China has recently drastically upped their capital flight controls.

But it is very worrying too. Many of these investors have no ties to Australia, little to no knowledge of the market, and if prices do stall (especially if the investors have bought to hold without seeking tenants) they are unlikely to be comfortable holding for long - and may well be among the first to bail. If they're wealthy enough, they may also be comfortable discounting in order to exit quickly.

USA saw a similar (though not as severe) jump in foreign investment in the final few years of their bubble too - the increase in that case was from 1-6%. This was considered one of the major contributors to both the bubble and (as foreign investors dumped property and mort-age-backed securities) the crash.