For sale signs
A group of Chinese investors who toured the U.S. shopping for bargain basement real estate in San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York, Boston and Los Angeles.
One man’s foreclosure is another man’s profit.
While the tour made headlines— most of which were fairly alarmist — the trip seems to have amounted to naught, according to a China Daily report.
SF Gate suggests unless Chinese investors have their cash in Hong Kong or U.S.-based accounts, they probably won’t qualify to buy U.S. property.
And there were other reasons why industry insiders were skeptical of the trip: For one thing, of the 40 people who were supposed to come, only 21 investors made it, and it’s not clear how many of those who attended actually placed offers on properties.
(The 19 investors that didn’t come reportedly had visa problems.)
Still, that’s not to say Chinese buying tours won’t eventually become commonplace, but probably not until the U.S. market delivers more predictable short-term returns.