Chinese Target Miami for Billion Dollar Investments Opportunities

International investment in U.S. real estate market is expected to reach record-breaking growth in the next two years, with the Asian market, specifically; China reported to secure $218 billion in US property investments by 2020. According to The Miami Association of Realtors, Miami is predicted to be the next major real estate investment destination for Chinese buyers.

On the worldwide scale, United States is indisputably one of the most popular destinations for International real estate investments, with Miami ranking as the most searched U.S. market for international homebuyers. Remaining in the top-10 U.S. markets for international real estate demand, Greater Miami has spent the last five years dominating the residential market as Latin American cash-buyers invested billions into the city’s high rises, luxury oceanfront buildings and new developments throughout South Florida. Now, entering the market at steady but consistent pace are International buyers spanning from South America to Europe, Asia and beyond.

Chinese buyers have historically focused primarily on investments in the West Coast, but in recent years, they’ve been increasingly interested in Florida, discovering the Miami area in particular as a world-class city for investment attributed to its global economic output, vibrant business and financial centers and advancements in infrastructure. Chinese buyers have now joined foreign buyers from countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Colombia in seeing Miami as safe and stable market to buy high end residences in prime areas. Last year, Chinese buyers spent almost $10Billion in properties throughout the US, and the National Association of Realtors Profile of International Home Buyers in Florida ranked the Miami-Miami Beach metro area as the top destination for Chinese buyers. In a news release from The Miami Association of Realtors, the association announced plans to team up with property-search portal Juwai, the largest search portal for international properties in China, utilized by Chinese communities in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, in an initiative to attract wealthy Chinese investors to the Miami market.

Outside of the residential market, the Miami government and business leaders have also been working to bring Chinese business and developers to South Florida, in an effort to build a Chinatown neighborhood. Current Chinese investment in South Florida includes an 18-story Collins Avenue, residential complex in Miami Beach is being built by the state-owned China City Construction Co. who’s also reported to complete a secondary project in Brickell, Miami; and the $1.05 billion mixed-use Brickell Citi center development in downtown Miami which was built by Hong Kong-based Swire Pacific. Along with Miami, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Dallas round out the top locations for Chinese buyers, according to a report by KPMG. As a gateway city, Miami has also garnered much more attraction from Chinese buyers as investors look to expand their global operations and diversify their portfolios with U.S. assets. According to CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm, the total overseas property investment of Asian investors reached 27 billion US dollars in the first half of this 2016. Connecting with the Asian market could prove to further boost Miami’s relations and investments opportunities with other foreign countries by adding more visibility to the city’s global network of International investors in all areas of property investments.