Chinese parents splash out on US properties to pay for children’s college education
Buyers from mainland China as well as Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong have become the largest foreign purchasers of US property, spending some US$31.7 billion so far this year
With almost 40,000 Chinese students studying in the US, their parents are investing in US property markets in the hope that the returns would cover the cost of tuition fees, and in the process making Chinese the top buyers of American real estate.
Despite a recent clampdown on overseas property investment by the Chinese government in its fight against potentially damaging capital outflows, buyers from mainland China as well as Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong have splurged US$31.7 billion on American real estate so far this year, up from last year’s US$27.3 billion, according to the National Association of Realtors.
This makes those places the top origin of foreign buyers, the association said. They have bought 40,572 units this year, up from last year’s 29,195.
“Chinese buyers, both Chinese nationals and Chinese Americans, are aggressively entering the local property market,” said Angela Li, a broker at property agency Douglas Elliman and a co-founder of NYstudents.net, which offers a range of services including housing and which is part of Tumeibian, a New York-based online education and housing service platform.
“Open house sessions are often packed with Asian people. And they are often groups of Chinese buyers. There was one case where a group of buyers bought nine studio flats in one go,” Li said.
Many of the buyers are parents from top mainland cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, she noted.