As China faces a crisis in its local real estate market, the country's wealthy investors are quickly boosting their overseas assets in an effort to increase profit and presence globally. Which basically means more investments in the U.S.
With China's spiraling economic future, many are left to wonder how this will affect economic growth in the United States. According to Spencer Levy, CBRE's head of research for the Americas, via CNBC:
"Volatility from China is the new normal, and to sooner we get used to it the better. At the same time, a certain amount of volatility isn't all a bad thing as global instability often leads to more foreign capital flows to the safe havens, notably London and the U.S."
2015 alone was a big year for Chinese investors with overseas real estate: Anbang Insurance was able to complete their acquisition of the U.S.'s Waldorf Astoria for $1.95 billion, while China Investment Corporation purchased Investa's Australia portfolio for more than $1.7 billion.
In the same year, China's Ping An Insurance also dropped approximately $460 million for London's landmark, the Tower Place, as reported by Shanghai Daily.
"My last year was a tremendously busy year," said Chris Harvey, who is facilitating a real estate investment in London with global law firm Mayer Brown.
He continued, "In December alone, I was involved in closing 750 million sterling (US$1 billion) of deals in the UK."
According to CBRE, a global real estate services and investment firm, Chinese investors have purchased a total of $8.6 billion in U.S. commercial real estate in 2015 alone. This excludes real estate development as well, where Chinese firms are also making huge investments.
Apparently, we'll be seeing more investments happen in the coming years. "This [surging investment] is only the beginning. There will be much more coming from China," said Harvey.
A report from global real estate firm Savills claims that the United States, Britain, and Australia are among the top countries that Chinese firms invest in.
