At the 2013 Beijing Autumn Property Exhibition, over 500 domestic and international projects participated, among which more than 260 overseas real estate projects from the United States, Canada, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, and other countries accounted for more than half of the total number of exhibits.“Investment Immigration”, “Buying Property to Obtain Residence Permit” and other similar offerings are the main selling points of most overseas projects.”
On-site visitors also showed great enthusiasm for overseas property projects, with many people consulting and communicating at the booths. It is understood that the popularity of overseas real estate is partly due to domestic purchase restrictions squeezing out a significant amount of property demand, which then shifts towards unrestricted overseas property investments. Additionally, the enthusiasm of the Chinese public for “property immigration” has surged, and immigration policies linked to real estate have become an important means of immigration in recent years. This demand has led many overseas real estate projects to travel thousands of miles to Beijing for the exhibition, attracting Chinese citizens to invest in properties.
If the property exhibition reflects the high enthusiasm of Chinese citizens for overseas real estate from one perspective, numerous data have previously corroborated this reality. Reports indicate that in the United Kingdom, buyers from mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for 7.4% of the total transaction volume in the core area of London’s real estate market, and 25% in the primary property market, even surpassing local British buyers. Furthermore, according to the latest report released by the National Association of Realtors in the United States in June 2013, Chinese buyers accounted for 12% of the total transaction volume of foreign buyers, an increase of one percentage point from 2012, totaling approximately $8 billion, making them the second largest investment group after Canada.
The preference of Chinese citizens for overseas property investment is driven not only by the strong positive stimuli from the appreciation of the Renminbi and the recovery of the European and American markets but also by the “property immigration” policies introduced by many countries. As one of the earliest immigration agencies in China to promote property immigration services in European countries such as Cyprus, Portugal, and Greece, Worldway Immigration experts believe that influenced by the European debt crisis, European countries have gradually opened their previously closed immigration doors to boost their economies, and simple investment methods such as purchasing property to obtain a green card are more favored by Chinese investors. Moreover, the current timing coincides with the recovery of the European economy, making it a rare opportunity to invest in the real estate market. It is believed that more overseas real estate projects will leverage the property exhibition for promotion in the future.
