Why Are Chinese Buyers Searching for Property in the U.S.?

The United States has always been China's number one choice for migration and overseas property purchases. With better schools, a wider range of property options, and relatively open government policies, the U.S. is the logical destination when looking for a stable country to migrate to and start a new life.

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Let's look into the "whys" behind the key driving forces:

1. Education

As the Chinese population continues to grow in both number and wealth, the local university systems are approaching breaking point. Entrance exams are highly competitive and tedious. Each point on the exam may be equivalent to dropping down by 200+ ranks for university positions that sometimes only number in the hundreds. More and more, this is driving even middle-income parents to seek access to better quality education in a less pressured environment such as the U.S. Upon arrival, many find a far more affordable and attractive property market than the one they came from and decide to invest.

2. Wide range of investment choices

To Chinese investors, the United States offers a wide array of property options with multiple property types and price ranges, unlike anything back home. Compared to the long list of seven and eight figure apartments in Shanghai, investors in the U.S. can find affordable options in everything ranging from townhouses, to suburban houses, to apartments. Investors can construct a portfolio that meets their risk profile across cities from multi-million dollar bluechip properties in New York, San Francisco and greater L.A. to less expensive cities like Houston, Atlanta and Tampa. This is only possible in the absence of ownership restrictions on owning properties across cities they are bound to back home. With recent crackdown on capital flight, the cheaper properties present opportunities for Chinese investors to start a portfolio or a new home more conveniently, with a down payment of $80,000, without raising questions on their fund movements from Chinese authorities.

3. Long migration history

With a long history of Chinese migration to the U.S. that resulted in one of the largest and most established Chinese communities in a developed country, local community and policymakers are much more welcoming to Chinese migrations and property ownership. In Australia, the media are critical on Chinese property ownership. With Australia's latest move on imposing a levy on all foreigner property purchases, this has swayed investors who would have previously considered Australia towards the U.S. instead.

As long as U.S. policies remain unchanged, the United States is an attractive country to consider for migration and property investment due to its broad, affordable housing and quality education. The U.S. is also becoming more favorable, especially in the climate where Australia is raising foreign investment levies and China restricting funds outflow from the country. With the rising upper middle class in China looking for a way to live in the U.S. or to simply start investing, this has presented a larger pool of opportunities for the U.S. real estate industry as never seen before.

Join ListHub for a free webinar on Thursday, November 17th to learn more about what draws Chinese buyers to the U.S. and how to leverage this opportunity and gain international exposure for your listings. The webinar will be hosted by both Esther Yong, co-founder and director of ACproperty.com.au and Sodichan.com, and Aldana Gentinetta, ListHub's real estate marketing expert. They will share tips for working with Chinese buyers, new technologies that are changing how Chinese buyers are interacting online, and how to get your listings "behind the firewall" on the top real estate search websites in mainland China. Click here to register today.

This article originally appeared in ListHub's global newsletter.