Half of Chinese Millionaires Plan to Move Overseas...to Seattle?
According to a recent Hurun Report and a CNBC news article follow-up, “half of Chinese millionaires are considering moving overseas, and the U.S. remains their favorite destination.” Potential buyers surveyed say education and living environments are top considerations, and rank Seattle as the second top destination city for home purchases. To be sure, Seattle has arrived as a global gateway city, as an increasing number of Chinese millionaires look for a financial safe harbor in U.S. real estate to shield them from the devaluation of the yuan.
As the CNBC report outlines, foreign investment is not likely to decrease anytime soon, as “the Trump administration’s restrictions on immigration have not touched the EB-5 program, a favorite of wealthy Chinese that allows them a path to citizenship in the U.S. in exchange for an investment in property of $500,000.”
A report from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) outlining Chinese migration from 2011 to 2015 indicates that King County welcomed nearly 53,000 new resident immigrants from China, a number only 10.8 percent less than those estimated to have been received during the same period for the state of California.
“The Chinese investment trend continues and recent surveys suggest it’s only going to grow further,” said Dean Jones, President & CEO of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty (RSIR).
RSIR has been tracking shifts in overseas buyers for years, launching the Asia Services Group in 2014, an East Meets West documentary in 2015, and a WeChat channel and the all-Mandarin Seattle Luxury Living magazine in 2016. In 2016, at least thirty of RSIR’s million-dollar home sales went to Chinese buyers, but even more notably, all of the firm’s top sales in Eastside neighborhoods were to inbound Chinese. At least five of these transactions recorded new benchmark values paid within those submarkets.
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