Migrants find a home for capital in pursuit of foreign residence

Liang and his wife obtained permanent residency permits in Canada five years ago by buying a house in Toronto for $600,000, though the family is currently staying in Shanghai as Liang's store and factory are located there.

"I felt very lucky to decide so early to complete the immigration process, as Canada restricted it after too many wealthy businessmen rushed to apply," said Liang.

Martin Lawler, a San Francisco immigration lawyer, told China Daily that many of his Chinese clients are considering buying homes in the US even though they don't live in the country for the entire year because their businesses are in China.

The purchases are not only Chinese EB-5 investors' retirement plans but also are a good investment for their children, who may be seeking educational opportunities in the United States, he said.

In the meantime, European countries are catching up to the US in terms of Chinese real-estate investors.

"Investing in properties in France seemed to be a wise choice as housing prices there haven't had any dramatic fluctuations caused by the economic recession in Europe," said Luo Jingwen, a property developer from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, who plans to move there soon with his family.

After months of research on French immigration policies, Luo decided to purchase a small vineyard for about $700,000. The business is in Bordeaux, a famous wine region.

Luo added that buying the vineyard will probably bring more profits than purchasing a residential or another commercial property would.

Such countries as France, Portugal and Spain allow investors to make investments in projects, including properties valued above a certain amount, and obtain permanent residency later.

"Our research reveals that London is trying to attract global citizens, especially Chinese immigrants, to buy properties with incentives and lower taxes," added financial adviser Arton.

Germany, Belgium and other European countries also are becoming top destinations for many Chinese property buyers.

As the Chinese migration report points out, the number of overseas property owners from China exceeded 2 million for the first time in March 2012.

"The United States is still the destination of choice, but the number of individuals immigrating to Europe has increased due to the loosening of immigration policies since the recession," said Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Hurun Report.

Europe is favored by ultra-high net worth individual residential holdings and has been a major beneficiary of commercial cross-border capital.

Domestic money in North America and Asia has driven commercial investment in these regions, according to a research on private wealth from Savills, a global real estate services provider.

"Most of the growth in private wealth flowing to real estate emanates from Asia, especially China, while private Asian transactions are now over three times that of 2007," said Michelle Zhou, Manager of Residential Sales, Savills Property Services (Shanghai) Co Ltd.

Zhou added that more Chinese buyers would choose to purchase properties in European countries in the next three to five years particularly in the UK as the housing prices there were expected to increase 20 to 25 percent by 2018.

Contact the writers at yuran@chinadaily.com.cn and zhangchunyan@chinadaily.com.cn