New | Chinese investors to include hotels in shopping list
Limited assets to see hospitality sector benefit from surge in outbound capital
A rising tide lifts all boats and the strong flow of Chinese capital is expected to increasingly spill over to hotel real estate assets this year, boosting transaction volume fivefold to US$5 billion.
Chinese buyers from the airline, tourism and insurance industries as well as mainland private equity firms were looking for quality assets in many places including the United States, Australia, South Korea, Europe and Russia, said Clinton Wu, an executive vice-president of JLL Hotel and Hospitality Group's overseas investment division.
JLL expects the flow of Chinese outbound capital into the hotel sector to total US$5 billion this year, up from US$1 billion last year.
That would place Chinese investors among the top ranks globally, alongside the US and Middle Eastern states.
Just a few years ago, China did not feature in the top 10 list.
"There's a lot of capital looking for limited assets," said Richard Kirke, CBRE's managing director for Asia-Pacific capital markets.
Kirke said Chinese outbound tourism numbers were increasing significantly across the globe, but particularly in Asia where the yuan was also strengthening relative to many currencies.
