Chinese Homebuying in U.S. Slows Due to Trade War

CNBC reports that the number of Chinese investors buying homes in the U.S. dropped 4% between 2017 and 2018, due in large part to ongoing trade wars.

“The worsening trade relationship between China and the US may cause Chinese investors to shift their presence into other key markets,” property consultancy Knight Frank said in a report. It suggested that investment can instead go to major cities in Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom, according to the firm’s 2019 Wealth Report.

As the trade war between Washington and Beijing has been dragging on for just over a year, “Chinese buyer enquiries for US property were down in four out of the five last quarters,” said Juwai.com CEO Carrie Law.

“In the first quarter (of 2019), Chinese buyer enquiries on U.S. property were down 27.5% from a year earlier,” she said. “Meanwhile, they were up in Canada, the UK, Australia, and Japan, all of which are often considered alternative destinations to the United States.

Read more