American Marketer

Real estate

US remains top emigration destination for affluent Chinese: Hurun

September 1, 2017

Sotheby's International Realty listing in San Francisco. Image credit: Sotheby's

 

China is poised to be a vital market for real estate now that the country is home to the fastest-growing prices in the world.

According to the Hurun "Global House Price Index for 2017," Wuxi is the fastest growing city in China, along with Zhengzhou, Changsha, Guangzhou and Shijiazhuang holding top 10 positions. While China saw the fastest rising prices, the United States saw the highest ROI on properties in the world.

“Global asset allocation is one of the biggest trends now for China’s high net worth individuals, led by real estate,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, Chairman and Chief Researcher of Hurun Report.

Sellers' market
Toronto is now the fastest growing city in the world with an increase of 26 percent year-over-year.

Despite many drawbacks that could cause issues for real estate markets, major Canadian cities are also seeing significant property value increases, according to another report from Sotheby's Realty.

In terms of million-dollar properties, the Greater Toronto Area has remained the top market for residential real estate. However, outside influences have affected all other markets in Canada (see more).

Property listed by Sotheby's Realty in Toronto. Image credit: Sotheby's

Hong Kong also saw price increases, with a jump of 20.8 percent year over year, making it the fourth fastest growing city.

Germany, Australia and Canada now follow the U.S. as the top countries for ROI in real estate.

Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, New York and Vancouver all saw ROI above 15 percent to 25 percent.

Of the 50 cities Hurun looked at for the index, 42 of them saws a price rise of more than 10 percent, indicating a seller’s market. Sixteen of the 50 cities saw ROI of more than 20 percent.

Reykjavik, Iceland is not only becoming a popular tourist destination but is showing promise in the real estate market as well. The city saw house prices in the last year rise by 23 percent.

Emigration destinations
High-net-worth individuals are continuing to choose the U.S. as the top emigration destination of choice. Los Angeles, Seattle, WA, San Francisco, New York, Vancouver, Boston, Melbourne, Australian, Toronto, New Zealand and Sydney are the top cities for immigration.

Knight Frank listing in Vancouver. Image credit: Knight Frank

However, Los Angeles remains the top destination for affluent Chinese immigrants for the last four years. Seattle continues to increase and has now surpassed San Francisco.

New York and Vancouver hold their places as fourth and fifth, respectively.

A past report form Hurun showed that high-net-worth individuals from China highly favored the United States for real estate purchases, with a positive sentiment shared across 66 percent of the demographic.

It also revealed that almost half of high-net-worth Chinese individuals put stock into overseas investments with 75 percent of total investments. Wealthy Chinese consumers are also highly interested in Australia, Canada, the U.K. and Japan to place their top investments overseas (see more).