Dramatic Uptick of Chinese Investors in U.S.

GlobeSt.com published an article on Oct. 22, 2012, about a recent forum Cox, Castle & Nicholson helped to organize and the overall uptick in Chinese investment in real estate in the United States. According to the article, which quoted Cox Castle partner Gregory Karns, Chinese investors have been buying more and more residential properties in the U.S., and to a lesser extent commercial properties.

The article discussed remarks by panelists at the Asian Business League real estate program called “Is China Buying?” which Cox Castle helped put together. The program's panelists agreed that Chinese investors are finding real estate a good way to establish themselves as business people in the U.S. and to build solid futures for their families.

“There are a lot of reasons why Chinese investment will become more significant in the coming years,” Karns said. “You have certain factors like a favorable currency exchange rate for China to come to the U.S. and buy U.S. assets. I also think you are seeing both an economic slowdown and growing inflation in China. That will spur people to invest in the U.S.”

Karns said that one of the big motivators behind the trend is that many investors want to ultimately be able to send their children in universities in the U.S. “So they’re buying homes and making additional investments anticipating that their children and families would be relocated at some point into the U.S. With the political changes in China, people want to get their capital out of the country before changes at the top go through.”

Karns said that the trend is widespread in the U.S. and should continue for some time.

“There’s a large and widespread diaspora of Chinese people in the U.S. who can help these investors,” he added. “It’s still a struggle to be a foreign investor in any market, especially as sophisticated and competitive a market as the U.S.”