Chinese zeal for US homes keeps cash registers ringing for realtors

The numbers are staggering. Chinese made wealthy by a 10-fold expansion in the nation's gross domestic product spent $39 billion on global real estate in the six years ended in 2014, up from $92 million in 2008, according to Real Capital Analytics Inc.

Such investment is pushing up prices in cities around the world. In Sydney, home prices jumped almost 14 percent during the past year, prompting an alarmed Australian government to propose tougher rules and fines for foreigners who "illegally" buy homes.

Patrick Chovanec, chief strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC in New York, said: "That may give rise to the same kind of property market distortions that exist in China, which is why you already hear complaints from Australia and elsewhere about Chinese investors driving up the price of housing and putting it beyond the reach of long-time residents." Chovanec taught at Beijing's Tsinghua University between 2008 and 2013.

Some Chinese investors do not need the support of international real-estate networks. Take Lynn Lin, 36, who said she first arrived in New York from China last year on a sightseeing tour.

Then she met a Chinese-speaking broker, who showed her a three-bedroom, 2,152-square-foot (200-square-meter) condominium on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Lin, who already owns three homes in Shanghai, bought it for $4 million - in cash.

"People usually come to the US shopping for luxury bags or expensive clothes, but I bought a home," said Lin, who owns a petrochemical export business in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. "Maybe I am crazy and a bit impulsive, but it was a better deal than buying a similar type of home in downtown Shanghai. And I just really like the city. It is as simple as that."

Many countries, including the US, offer preferential visa treatment in exchange for investment pledges. Last year, Chinese nationals snapped up 85 percent of the US EB-5 visas offered to foreigners who invest at least $500,000 into US development projects. It was the first time that the annual allocation was completely taken up before the end of the year.

In New York, a Chinese insurance company agreed last year to buy Manhattan's historic Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, saying it planned to add "Chinese elements" such as a Chinese restaurant. Shanghai-based Greenland Holding Group Co bought 70 percent of Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards, the residential and commercial project, and says it aims to extend the China market abroad.

In the fast-gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, China's XIN Development, a unit of Xinyuan Real Estate Co, built a seven-story development called Oosten, whose Dutch name, meaning "east", is a nod to New York's heritage. Of the 216-unit building's 75 homes that have been put on the market, a third went to Chinese buyers, according to John Liang, Xinyuan's New York-based executive vice-president.

An added perk: The developer said it will give buyers of "certain premiere residences", including a $6.4 million, five- or six-bedroom penthouse, a free trip to Amsterdam to meet the project's Dutch designer, Piet Boon.