China’s largest foreign property portal, Juwai.com, tells us that over the past 7 years from 2010 through 2017, Chinese nationals have poured some $119.7B investment dollars into countries in North America, Europe and Asia. From zero billions in 2010, Chinese investments increased to $2B in 2014, $80B in 2015, $101B in 2016 and to nearly $120B in 2017, according to the Juwai Chinese Global Property Investment Report of 2018.
Here are some specifics:
The United States garnered $39.7B through the end of 2017, more than one third of total Chinese property investments. Chinese Nationals were most interested in residential homes near America’s top schools and universities. $30.4B of the total $39.7B was invested in residential properties while the remaining $9.3B was invested in commercial projects.
Residential investment by foreign investors is the ticket into America’s residency–by-investment program. This program furthers the possibility of obtaining US residency by foreign nationals.
The median amount Chinese foreign nationals spent on a detached single-family American home was $831,000, 3.5 times higher than the median home price of $227,700 metric used in the Juwai Chinese Global Property Investment Report.
Hong Kong, Asia’s largest financial hub, garnered a Chinese Nationals Property Investment Volume of $23.1B through the end of 2017. The bulk of that investment, $16.2B, was invested in residential projects.
The United Kingdom got $22B in Chinese Nationals property investment funds through the end of 2017. The UK, like the US, attracts foreign investors by offering an opportunity to obtain residency. Chinese Nationals received approximately 30% of the UK’s Tier 1 investor visas granted in 2017 for investing at least 2M Pounds in public stocks or capital in British companies. In December 2017, the China Investment Corporation acquired one of the UK’s (and Europe’s) largest warehousing operations, Logicore.
Australia received $17.4B from Chinese Nationals by the end of 2017. This amount was substantially less than prior years due to China reducing the amount of capital outflow and tightening polices relating to property purchases in Australia.
Japan received $4.9B from Chinese investors by the end of 2017. This amount was higher than in previous years due to the fact that Tokyo will be hosting the Summer Olympic Games in 2020. Chinese investors are drawn to Japan by high rental yields. Rental yields in Japan average between 4%-5% while rental yields in China average 2.6%.
