In the past five years, Chinese investors spent over $100 billion on U.S. real estate, an amount that’s expected to double by year 2020, according to an article by Alexandra Pacurar for Commercial Property Executive.
A recent study by the Asia Society and Rosen Consulting Group showed that from 2010 to 2015, China invested $93 billion in residential real estate, with a spending growth rate of 20%, according to the article.
In commercial real estate from 2010 to 2015, China invested $17.1 billion, however with a growth rate of 70%, the article continues.
Arthur Margon, a partner at RCG and one of the authors of the report, weighed in on the subject.
From the article:
This spectacular rise will not define the coming cycle, though. “We don’t think that this rate will be maintained. It’s an extraordinarily high growth rate. With the money that’s already been invested, it keeps getting harder and harder to keep growing by 70%. It’s not going to stop, but the growth rate will slow down, and that should start happening in the next year or so,” Margon observed.
So what does that mean for the future?
From the article:
Upcoming years will bring a more tempered approach to investment that will reduce the gap between Chinese residential and commercial investments. “It depends on the government policy, both in China and in the United States. It is very unlikely, but it’s possible for the U.S. to develop policies that would make it more difficult for offshore investors to buy houses in the United States,” Margon said.
On the other hand, the Chinese government is already discussing ways to slow capital outflow through more careful enforcement of laws and regulations so it takes longer to invest outside of the country.
