Wealthy Chinese Snap Up US Property

China is now one of the fastest growing international buyers in the U.S. real estate industry, reported the Financial Times on Wednesday, with a “huge” influx of wealthy mainland Chinese said to be looking towards purchasing high-end properties across the U.S.

China is now one of the fastest growing international buyers in the U.S. real estate industry, reported the Financial Times on Wednesday, with a “huge” influx of wealthy mainland Chinese said to be looking towards purchasing high-end properties across the U.S.

According to a report by the U.S. National Association of Realtors (NAR) this week, Chinese and Hong Kong property seekers now make up the second-largest group of foreign buyers of homes in the US, behind Canadians, accounting for $9 billion of sales over the last year.

Though sales to international Chinese buyers still represent only a tiny fraction of the overall US market, which recorded $928.2 billion in sales last year, the rapid growth of wealthy Chinese individuals saw a 23.3 percent increase in their property purchases in the U.S. over the last 12 months and an 88 percent increase from just two years ago.

“International Chinese buyers are seen as a very desirable market by real estate agents at the moment…The strongest growth is coming from China and the rise of Chinese buyers has made up for declines in sales from buyers from the UK and Mexico,” said Jed Smith, managing director at the NAR.

Pamela Liebman, chief executive of The Corcoran Group, a residential real estate brokerage company, added the rapid growth was due to the high-valued purchases that Chinese were making in the States.

[quote]It’s extraordinary,” she said. “Five years ago, we never talked about Chinese buyers. We started noticing them 18 months ago but they have only become much more prevalent in the past year.”[/quote]

According to Liebman, U.S. properties that have been snapped up by mainland Chinese normally range from $1 million apartments to $20 million trophy properties.

Accordingly, “Buying groups” – group tours of mainland buyers coming to New York to view properties – have now become commonplace, said Liebman, who claim to have seen “hundreds of millions” of dollars in sales to her company last year just from Chinese buyers.

“It’s a market that we are now targeting heavily… We have been recruiting Mandarin-speaking agents and have launched affiliations with brokers in China.”

“The past quarter has been our best quarter ever in terms of sales to Chinese buyers,” Liebman noted.

A wealthy Chinese investor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told FT that most property seekers, such as himself, were either looking to find a safe place to park their money, or to seek future residency rights in the U.S.

Related: Young Chinese The Wealthiest In Asia

Related: Nearly Half of China’s Millionaires Want to Emigrate

[quote]“When you look at how cheap US real estate is now compared with China, it makes a lot of sense to buy there, especially since you have more rights when you own a property in America,” he said.[/quote]