For the second year in a row, China led the pack for international buyers purchasing property in the U.S., far exceeding all other countries in terms of dollar volume and units purchased. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) 2016 Profile of International Home Buying Activity, found that Chinese buyers purchased 29,195 properties totalling $27.3 billion – nearly 27% of all international purchases.

According to NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, “Foreigners — especially those from China — continue to see the U.S. as a solid investment opportunity and an attractive place to visit and live. Although China’s currency modestly weakened versus the U.S. dollar in the past year, it’s much stronger than it was 5 to 10 years ago, thereby making U.S. properties still appear reasonably affordable over a longer time span.”

Top Destinations for Chinese Buyers
The NAR report shows that 40% of Chinese buyers bought U.S. property to use as their primary residence and 13% purchased property to be used by a student attending college in the U.S. Roughly one third of Chinese buyers purchased residential property in California, likely because it shares many cultural affinities with Asia. New York, Texas, and Washington were also top destinations. Approximately 64% of purchases made by Chinese buyers were in a suburban area, with 27% in a central city or urban area.

What Brings Chinese Buyers to the U.S.?
The most recent Real Estate Consensus Forecast from the Urban Land Institute predicts that Chinese will continue to invest in the U.S. residential real estate market as mainland Chinese families and investors look for ways to redirect their savings from their own domestic market. In addition to diversification, one of the major reasons Chinese buyers are looking to U.S. real estate is education. In fact, of the nearly one million international students studying in the United States in the 2014-15 school year, a third were from China, accounting for most of the growth in international students on U.S. campuses.

Interestingly, the number of Chinese K-12 students has also gone up significantly to nearly 35,000 as of November 2015 from just 8,857 five years ago. Chinese students now make up roughly half of the 60,815 foreign pupils in U.S. high schools and the 6,074 in primary schools. Because China spends a relatively small percent of its budget on education, more and more parents are looking to send their children to school in the U.S. (and other countries) at a younger age – even as young as elementary school. Many Chinese parents are looking for a more well rounded curriculum for their children than what’s offered in China where they are focused on high stakes testing.

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