US developers increasingly design with the Chinese in mind
Luxury projects are being built to cater to Asian lifestyles with lucky numbers and strategic water features prominent
At Lambert Ranch, a high-end residential development in Irvine, California, homes come equipped with Western and wok kitchens with separate ventilation systems.
In The Centurion, a luxury condominium in Manhattan, 47 homes became 48 because the number was deemed luckier, and a north-facing water garden was built, in keeping with the principles of Chinese geomancy.
At The Vista, a trendy residential building on New York's Long Island, there is no fourth floor and the number eight features prominently in every price: US$588,888, for example, instead of US$589,000.
If indeed the US residential property market is finally on an uptick, buyers from Hong Kong and the mainland can take some of the credit. So it is not surprising that developers want to appeal to as much of that market as possible, be that by burying gold coins and red envelopes at construction sites before building starts or thinking about spaces from the perspective of a traditional Chinese joint family.
According to the National Association of Realtors, buyers from the mainland and Hong Kong spent US$9 billion on homes in the US in the year to March 2012. This made them the second-largest group of foreign buyers in the country after Canadians, up 89 per cent from the previous year.
There are two disparate trends starting to emerge in home purchasers in the US among Chinese buyers. Firstly, they are gravitating towards houses and condominiums that would appear to be built just for them, catering to their cultural beliefs and lifestyles. Secondly, they are splashing out on some of the priciest properties around.