Sha Liu

Sha Liu

School of Social Sciences

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Sha Liu is a policy-driven researcher specialising in housing financialisation, urban regeneration, and comparative housing policy. Her research explores the intersection of international investment, housing markets, and urban development, with a strong emphasis on policy innovation. She has extensive experience managing externally funded research projects and conducting both qualitative and quantitative analyses, leading to high-impact publications in top-ranked journals. In addition to her research, Sha has a strong teaching record in urban planning, housing studies, and urban economics, with expertise in curriculum development and student mentorship at leading Australian universities.

Sha’s research interests span two key areas. First, she investigates housing financialisation, cross-border investment in housing markets, and housing policy innovation. Second, her research examines broader urban challenges, including compact city development, land rezoning, urban regeneration, and the role of universities in property-led urban development. Sha’s research aims to inform more equitable and sustainable urban futures through evidence-based policy and planning.

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2025 - ongoing ARC Grant-Funded Researcher B University of Adelaide
    2022 - 2024 Postdoctoral Research Fellow Macquarie University
    2021 - 2021 Research Assistant Western Sydney University
    2016 - 2021 Research Associate University of Sydney

  • Awards and Achievements
    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2018 Research Award HDR Journal Publication Prize 2018 The University of Sydney Australia -
    2015 Scholarship Sancta Sophia College Postgraduate Participation & Excellence Scholarship 2015 The University of Sydney Australia -
    2014 Research Award Best Paper in Science Section 2014 The University of Sydney Australia -

  • Language Competencies
    Language Competency
    Chinese (Mandarin) Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
    English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2015 - 2021 University of Sydney Australia PhD
    Lancaster University United Kingdom Master
    Sichuan University China Bachelor

  • Research Interests
    Housing policy Urban planning Urban Policy Urban and Regional Economics

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2025 Gillon, C., Easthope, H., Pinnegar, S., Ruming, K., Crommelin, L., & Liu, S. (2025). The ‘rezoned property’ as a site of ontological security: the case of collective sales. Housing Studies, 1-22.
    DOI
    2025 Liu, S., Ruming, K., Gillon, C., Pinnegar, S., Crommelin, L., & Easthope, H. (2025). “It’s Like Winning the Lottery But Without Buying a Lottery Ticket”: Housing Market Impacts of Compact City Planning, Upzoning, and Collective Sales. Urban Policy and Research, 43(1), 33-51.
    DOI Scopus1
    2025 Ruming, K. J., Liu, S., Pinnegar, S., Crommelin, L., Gillon, C., & Easthope, H. (2025). Delivering suburban densification: Diverse resident groups and strategies of support and resistance. Urban Studies, 62(5), 868-890.
    DOI Scopus3
    2024 Ruming, K., & Liu, S. (2024). Universities as asset class: Private sector investment in property for universities. Geoforum, 157, 104138.
    DOI
    2024 Easthope, H., Crommelin, L., Gillon, C., Pinnegar, S., Ruming, K., & Liu, S. (2024). Redeveloping the compact city: the challenges of strata collective sales. Journal of Property Planning and Environmental Law, 16(1), 51-67.
    DOI Scopus3
    2017 Liu, S., & Gurran, N. (2017). Chinese investment in Australian housing: push and pull factors and implications for understanding international housing demand. International Journal of Housing Policy, 17(4), 489-511.
    DOI
    - Benedict, R., Gurran, N., Gilbert, C., Hamilton, C., Rowley, S., & Liu, S. (n.d.). Private sector involvement in social and affordable housing. AHURI Final Report, (388).
    DOI

  • Book Chapters
    Year Citation
    2024 Liu, S., & Ruming, K. (2024). University incubators as sites of creativity and innovation: The case of the Macquarie University Incubator. In Routledge Companion to Creativity and the Built Environment (pp. 530-542).
    DOI
    2018 Liu, S., & Gurran, N. (2018). Chinese Investment in Australian housing: push and pull factors and implications for understanding international housing demand. In D. Rogers, & S. Y. Koh (Eds.), The Globalisation of Real Estate The Politics and Practice of Foreign Real Estate Investment. Routledge.

  • Conference Items
    Year Citation
    2022 Liu, S., & Gurran, N. (2022). Foreign investment in Australian housing: global housing demand and impacts in the local housing market. Poster session presented at the meeting of Australasian Cities National Conference (SOAC) 2021.
    2022 Gilbert, C., Liu, S., & Gurran, N. (2022). Can planning incentives deliver affordable housing in our cities and regions? Evidence from NSW. Poster session presented at the meeting of Australasian Cities National Conference (SOAC).

Postdoctoral Research Translation Scheme 2025: Foreign Investment Policies and Their Impact on Local Housing Markets: An International Comparative Analysis, funded by the Henry Halloran Urban and Regional Research Initiative (HHURRI) 

  • Presentation
    Date Topic Presented at Institution Country
    2025 - 2025 Foreign investment in the Built-To-Rent (BTR) housing sector in Australia: a changing regulatory perspective Australasian Housing Researchers Conference (AHRC) 2025 The University of Sydney Australia
    2024 - 2024 'It’s like winning the lottery but without buying a lottery ticket’: housing market impacts of planning, up-zoning, and collective sales Joint APNHR - AHRC Conference 2024 Macquarie University Australia
    2023 - 2023 Universities as investment products: exploring private sector engagement in university property The Annual Institute of Australian Geographers Conference (IAG) 2023 Macquarie University Australia
    2021 - 2021 Foreign investment in Australian housing: global housing demand and impacts in the local housing market The State of Australasian Cities National Conference (SOAC) 2021 The University of Sydney Australia
    2017 - 2017 Quantitative analysis of possible determinants of Chinese foreign investment in Australian housing market 2017 Housing Theory Symposium The University of Sydney Australia
    2016 - 2016 Analysing the impact of China’s recent domestic housing policies on the global real estate market Suzhou Urbanisation and the Production of Space Conference The University of Sydney China
    2016 - 2016 Foreign Investment in Global Housing: Understanding the impacts of China’s domestic housing policy changes on international investment demand Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG) 2016 The University of Sydney United States
    2016 - 2016 Foreign Investment in Australian Housing: effects of China’s domestic housing policy changes on international investment demand Super-rich Symposium 2016 The University of Sydney Australia
    2015 - 2015 Foreign investment in Australian housing: effects of China’s domestic housing policy changes on international investment demand The Festival of Urbanism (FoU) 2015 The University of Sydney Australia
    2015 - 2015 Chinese domestic housing policies: understanding investor responses and implications for international housing markets The Asia-Pacific Network for Housing Research Conference (APNHR) 2015 The University of Sydney Korea, Republic of
    2015 - 2015 Chinese foreign investment in Australian housing markets: understanding investor and developer motivations Australasian Housing Researchers Conference (AHRC) 2015 The University of Sydney Australia
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