Chinese millennials buying overseas property on app

Zheng Xiaohei, a marketer from Urumqi in western China, made his first overseas property investment without so much as a visit. Zheng, 29 years old, in March purchased a studio apartment in Thailand for about 650,000 yuan ($94,255) using his smartphone and an app called Uoolu that connects users to overseas property listings. Founded two years ago, Beijing-based Uoolu is focused on Chinese millennials looking for foreign properties, The Wall Street Journal reports. About 70% of Chinese millennials, those born between 1981 and 1998, own a home. A growing sliver of Chinese millennials are looking to buy property abroad. The lure? A millennial’s desire to hedge against yuan depreciation and find affordable homes in cities with cleaner air for their children to live in when they study abroad. Uoolu said about 80% of its monthly active users are between the ages of 20 and 39, and that 20,000 customers have bought or are in the process of purchasing overseas property.