Columbia Business School’s blog recently published an article written by Sharon Kahn about the Ninth China Business Conference, which surveyed last year’s fourfold increase of Manhattan real estate purchases by Chinese firms—including the Waldorf Astoria and Chase Manhattan Plaza.
According to the article, “the $17 billion Chinese investment in total American real estate in the past three years is underreported…the real figure is closer to $30 billion.”
As “marquee” real estate options grow scarcer, particularly in the five boroughs, Chinese investors have been taking advantage of REITS and mortgage-backed securities and turning to development projects like 80 South Street and Hudson Yards into what the article called “the largest privately funded development project in U.S. history.”
This trend isn’t exclusive to New York—33 states reported Chinese purchases of commercial real estate. It’s also not limited to commercial properties. According to the article, “The Chinese already make up the largest group of foreign buyers of single-family homes and condominiums in the United States.”
The Ninth China Business Conference panel believes that Chinese demand is causing U.S. prices tags to soar, due in large part to China’s emerging middle class, the country’s “volatile” stock market and slow domestic growth among the wealth management industry. “The appetite for Chinese real estate purchases will continue at least through 2018,” the article concluded.