Chinese foreign real estate holdings on the increase

BOFIT Viikkokatsaus / BOFIT Weekly Review 2015/33

Stock market jitters at home have increased the interest of wealthy Chinese in purchasing real estate abroad. Bloomberg wrote recently about a recent survey directed to Chinese households showing that many Chinese investors are considering diversification of their assets into foreign real estate markets. In addition to wealthy households, Chinese entities such as state-owned investment funds and Chinese firms have expanded their foreign real estate portfolios.

A report released in June by the US National Association of Realtors also tells of increased foreign real estate investments of Chinese investors. According to the report Chinese buyers accounted for 16 % of all residential housing sales to foreign nationals in 2Q13–1Q14. For the first time ever, Chinese overtook Canadians, who traditionally have comprised the largest group of foreign buyers of US housing. The report found that sales to Chinese buyers were up 30 % y-o-y for the four-quarter period.

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