Mainland Chinese Property Shopping Spree

I can’t resist reading, learning and analysing the patterns of the Chinese investor. By Chinese I mean the PRC citizens.

- Alexander Karolik-Shlaen

Their sheer quantity and quantum of spending are nothing short of mindblowing and they change the market dynamics. Hence it’s of great value for investors to watch, understand, follow and try to predict this amazing phenomenon.

Chinese tourists are snapping up luxury goods in billions of USD. Wherever these big-spending tourists travel to, the retail is booming and hence the rental returns go higher, benefiting the landlords.

In this article I will concentrate on property per-se. Unsurprisingly, the massive spending of PRC citizens on overseas shopping extends to property as well, with many of them buying while holidaying abroad.

HOLIDAY HUNTING FOR OVERSEAS REAL ESTATE

Over a third of China’s HNWIs have already bought property abroad, and 41% of them intend to invest in overseas real estate within the next three years – 66% plan to invest in residential properties, according to Juwai site data. The top ten countries most enquired about by Chinese buyers on their site are the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Thailand, Spain, Germany, Japan, and France. In fact, six out of these ten countries were on the list of top ten holiday destinations for rich Chinese in the last couple of years.

Nothing is new about fly-and-buy behaviour that we all experience sometimes. However, nothing transforms the property markets the way the Chinese travelers do and they are already the fastest-growing tourism market on our planet.

CASHING IN ON CHINESE TOURISM