Potential investors at a residential project promotion event in central London. There is growing enthusiasm among Chinese investors to buy overseas real estate and the UK and the US are their favorite markets. [Photo/China Daily]

Chinese property developers are increasingly expanding their businesses abroad following Chinese people's desires to purchase properties overseas.

Shanghai-based property developer Greenland Group is to invest A$480 million ($498 million) in an Australian property project, becoming the latest Chinese developer to explore an overseas market.

Greenland said it has reached a deal with Canadian company Brookfield Asset Management Inc to buy two buildings in downtown Sydney. It is the largest single investment made by Chinese developers in Australia.

"As a destination for immigrants, Australia is expected to support the sustainable growth of our company with a steady demand from new immigrants," said Zhang Yuliang, Greenland chairman.

China Vanke, the country's largest real estate developer by market value, has teamed up with the US real estate firm Tishman Speyer Properties to develop a key site in San Francisco, marking the developer's first venture into the US market.

The deal came after Vanke set up a research team last year to examine development prospects in the United States.

In January, the Shenzhen-based developer joined hands with New World Development to purchase a residential site in Hong Kong for HK$3.4 billion ($439 million), its first project outside the Chinese mainland.