The US property market has recently opened another venue for foreign buyers, particularly from China, to purchase properties without ease.
Bloomberg has just reported that two top real estate firms, namely Auction.com LLC and Juwai.com have established a partnership that will allow American commercial real estate listings to be purchased by Chines buyers and investors. At first the offerings will focus on commercial real estate that include apartments, retail properties, office buildings and the like but eventually, U.S. homes will be part of the mix.
The publication noted that property investments in the United States by Chinese companies have been increasing, especially in Manhattan real estate, as buyers aim for market safety and possible profit gains. Between the six year period until 2014, Chinese purchasers have spent $39 billion, a four hundred percent increase from 2008's $92 million total sales.
In a statement shared by Housing Wire, Juwai.com Chief Executive Officer Simon Henry said, "Auction.com will help us give Chinese buyers more of what they are looking for, exclusive commercial listings that are accessible to them online - in China and in their own language...Chinese buyers don't want to be disadvantaged because of their language or physical distance from the US. We help educate cross-border buyers by providing access and information on global real estate buying practices."
Furthermore, Auction.com CEO and co-founder Jeffrey Frieden was quoted saying, "Over USD48 billion in foreign capital was invested in US commercial real estate in 2014, and China was second only to Canada in the amount of CRE investment."
He added, "Our strategy has always been to leverage the global reach of the Internet to deliver the largest number of prospective buyers for our sellers. So we're excited to partner with Juwai.com, which has the largest audience of Chinese international property buyers, and will help us effectively target Chinese-speaking investors in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and even in the US."
Shanghai based Juwai.com is reportedly the leading Chinese international property portal. The firm has reported 2.6 million users in China per month. Bloomberg added that aside from Auction.com, the company has existing partnerships of a similar nature with companies such as LuxuryPortfolio.com, LuxuryHomes.com and The Real Estate Channel. Another partner based out of China is the finance website jrj.com.
