In Suburban Seattle, New Nests for China’s Rich - NYTimes.com: "As wealthy Chinese stash more of their fortunes overseas, they’re bidding up the value of everything from Bitcoins and Burgundy to Picassos and pink diamonds.
And, increasingly, China’s rich are also offshoring their families along with their cash. That’s created a real estate boom in an unlikely corner of the United States: suburban Seattle.
Wealthy Chinese have become far and away the biggest foreign buyers of real estate in Seattle in recent years, accounting for up to one-third of $1-million-plus homes sold in certain areas, brokers say. Seattle real estate agents are hiring Mandarin speakers and even opening offices in Beijing. Builders are designing much of their new construction for Chinese buyers.
Seattle real estate agents have even added a new term of art to their deal language: “the feng shui contingency.” Before closing on a house, many Chinese buyers are asking to have a feng shui master or consultant approve the house as part of a general inspection. Bad feng shui means no deal. Or, sometimes, some last-minute landscaping.
“We had a case where a tree was blocking the chi, or energy flow, of the home,” said May Wan, an agent at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Bellevue who works with many Chinese buyers. “So it had to be taken out. They planted another one nearby.”
The business of relocating China’s uprooted rich is likely to grow in the coming years. A quarter of all real estate sold to foreigners in the United States last year went to Chinese buyers. Now the largest group of foreign buyers in the United States, the Chinese spent $22 billion on American real estate in the 12 months ended in March, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s up 72 percent from the year-earlier period.
They lean toward luxury: The median purchase for Chinese buyers is $523,148 — nearly twice the national average. Three-quarters of their purchases are all cash.
That’s made Seattle one of the world’s top catch basins for the billions of dollars spilling out of China every year. While foreign money has also been pouring into New York, Los Angeles and London real estate, the impact of the Chinese rich on Seattle is far more concentrated, focused on a few small, upscale suburbs. They’re especially attracted to Medina — home to Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos — and the West Bellevue area. “The first question you often hear from Chinese clients is ‘Where does Bill Gates live?’ “ said Moya Skillman, a broker with Windermere Real Estate.
Brokers and analysts say 20 to 40 percent of $1 million-plus homes sold on the Eastside — a collective term for eastern suburbs of Seattle — were purchased by Chinese buyers.
A $1.1 million listing in West Bellevue recently attracted 24 bidders, virtually all of them Chinese, and the home quickly sold for $1.4 million. Ms. Wan said a $2.5 million lakefront property recently sold with three offers, just days after coming onto the market. The median sales price in Bellevue is up 82 percent since 2011, to $1.37 million, according to sales data."
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And, increasingly, China’s rich are also offshoring their families along with their cash. That’s created a real estate boom in an unlikely corner of the United States: suburban Seattle.
Wealthy Chinese have become far and away the biggest foreign buyers of real estate in Seattle in recent years, accounting for up to one-third of $1-million-plus homes sold in certain areas, brokers say. Seattle real estate agents are hiring Mandarin speakers and even opening offices in Beijing. Builders are designing much of their new construction for Chinese buyers.
Seattle real estate agents have even added a new term of art to their deal language: “the feng shui contingency.” Before closing on a house, many Chinese buyers are asking to have a feng shui master or consultant approve the house as part of a general inspection. Bad feng shui means no deal. Or, sometimes, some last-minute landscaping.
“We had a case where a tree was blocking the chi, or energy flow, of the home,” said May Wan, an agent at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Bellevue who works with many Chinese buyers. “So it had to be taken out. They planted another one nearby.”
The business of relocating China’s uprooted rich is likely to grow in the coming years. A quarter of all real estate sold to foreigners in the United States last year went to Chinese buyers. Now the largest group of foreign buyers in the United States, the Chinese spent $22 billion on American real estate in the 12 months ended in March, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s up 72 percent from the year-earlier period.
They lean toward luxury: The median purchase for Chinese buyers is $523,148 — nearly twice the national average. Three-quarters of their purchases are all cash.
That’s made Seattle one of the world’s top catch basins for the billions of dollars spilling out of China every year. While foreign money has also been pouring into New York, Los Angeles and London real estate, the impact of the Chinese rich on Seattle is far more concentrated, focused on a few small, upscale suburbs. They’re especially attracted to Medina — home to Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos — and the West Bellevue area. “The first question you often hear from Chinese clients is ‘Where does Bill Gates live?’ “ said Moya Skillman, a broker with Windermere Real Estate.
Brokers and analysts say 20 to 40 percent of $1 million-plus homes sold on the Eastside — a collective term for eastern suburbs of Seattle — were purchased by Chinese buyers.
A $1.1 million listing in West Bellevue recently attracted 24 bidders, virtually all of them Chinese, and the home quickly sold for $1.4 million. Ms. Wan said a $2.5 million lakefront property recently sold with three offers, just days after coming onto the market. The median sales price in Bellevue is up 82 percent since 2011, to $1.37 million, according to sales data."
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