中國人年擲220億美元在美購房 偏愛買豪宅多現金付款

Foreign purchases of US real estate jumped by 35% last year, and the Chinese led the way, according to a survey released Tuesday.

Chinese buyers have become the largest source of foreign cash in the US residential real estate market, accounting for nearly one in four dollars spent by foreigners on American housing last year, the National Association of Realtors said in its annual survey of international property sales.

China accounted for $22 billion in international sales for the 12 month period ending March 2014, or 24% of all foreign sales, up from $12.8 billion, or 19%, during the year-earlier period.

Total international property sales rebounded last year to $92.2 billion, according to the NAR’s estimates, up from $68.2 billion in 2013 and $82.5 billion in 2012. The total represented around 7% of the market for all US sales of previously owned homes during the same period.

In recent years, American real-estate markets have been viewed alternately as a safe haven and a bargain amid concerns over geopolitical instability or unsustainable asset values abroad.

US real-estate also continues to be popular thanks to the dollar’s weakness against some currencies, though the currency advantage has dimmed somewhat for Canadian buyers that had been particularly aggressive property buyers in the US in 2011 and 2012. Some agents say that American higher education is also a top draw for some trophy-property buyers.

“Foreign buyers are being enticed to US real estate because of what they recognize as attractive prices, economic stability, and an incredible opportunity for investment in their future,” said Steve Brown, the NAR’s president, who is the co-owner of a real-estate brokerage in Dayton, Ohio.

European and Latin American buyers have helped push prices of South Florida condos to record highs in recent years, while foreign buyers of all stripes have sent prices of new Manhattan developments to astronomical levels. Asian buyers, particularly Chinese, have also been a major force in select property markets in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Overseas buyers tend to hunt for trophy properties. This helps explain why the median purchase price to international clients ($268,284 last year) is significantly higher than for all sales ($199,575). That’s particularly true of Chinese buyers, where the average purchase price topped $590,000 and the median exceeded $523,000. Canadian and Mexican buyers, by contrast, appear to buy much more modest homes.

China was the largest source of transactions on a dollar basis, and it represents the fastest growing buyer segment. But Canada remained the largest share of clients. Canadians accounted for 19% of property buyers last year, down from 23% in the previous year. Chinese accounted for 16% of buyers, up from 12%. The NAR survey includes buyers from Taiwan and Hong Kong in that tally.

The NAR estimates that 35% of Chinese buyers selected homes in California. Around 40% of Canadians bought homes in Florida, while 23% of Canadians bought in Arizona.

Every year, the NAR surveys its members about international clients in order to estimate foreign property purchases in the US. It conducted this year’s survey of 3,547 members for 30 days beginning in mid-April.據美國媒體報道報道，全美房地產經紀人協會(NAR)7月8日發佈報告稱，2013年4月至2014年3月的一年時間內，中國人在美國置業總額達220億美元（約合1363億元人民幣），佔外國人在美國置業總額的24%左右，相比前一年的128億美元飆升71%。

據NAR估計，去年國家買家在美國購房總金額達922億美元（約合5714億人民幣），相比前一年的682億美元上漲35%。報告顯示，就購買人數和購房數量而言，加拿大人高居榜首，排在第二位的是中國人，其次分別爲墨西哥人與英國人。但是，加拿大、墨西哥買家喜歡購買中等水平房屋，而中國買家則更多是購買豪宅，其均價高達59萬美元（約合人民幣366萬元）。

另據美國有線電視新聞網（CNN）報道，中國人尤其喜歡現金購房，超75%的中國買家選擇現金付款。加利福尼亞州爲中國人購房首選地，約佔1/3。此外，中國人在美國買房的目的，僅有39%爲自住。一些人買房是爲了孩子到美國大學讀書，認爲在美國置業不僅可以節省宿舍的住宿費用，而且等孩子大學畢業的時候，還可能從樓價上漲中獲益。另外一些買家則選擇在經濟低迷的城市低價購房，然後將其出租並賺取租金。還有一部分買家是爲了去美國度假時居住，然後在離開美國時再將其出租。

近年來，隨着世人對地緣政治不穩定及海外資產價值不可持續的擔憂，美國房地產市場一直被視爲“安全港”，NAR主席史蒂夫•布朗表示：“國外買家之所以如此熱衷於美國房地產是因爲他們看重美國具有吸引力的房價、穩定的經濟以及巨大的投資潛力。”此外，美國的高等教育也是一大吸引國外買家的重要因素。