CHINESE mainlanders doubled their outbound real estate investment last year from 2014 to nearly US$30 billion driven by their strong appetite for overseas property and a rising need for diversification amid a slowing domestic economy, a global property consultancy said yesterday.

 

Traditional global gateways continued to draw most of the Chinese overseas real estate investment in 2015, with Manhattan in New York becoming the top investment spot with US$5.78 billion, up fivefold year on year. It was followed by Sydney and Melbourne in second place, drawing US$3.8 billion of Chinese investment, a 20 percent annual rise, and London in third place with US$2 billion, unchanged from 2014, according to the consultancy's second “China Outbound Real Estate Investment Report.”

 

The need to diversify their investment saw significantly more Chinese mainland developers investing overseas last year.

 

“Chinese investors will continue to be interested in the traditional gateway markets,” said Paul Hart, executive director of the consultancy’s China operations. “However, the advent of the ‘Belt and Road’ policy will also focus domestic institutional investors on economies that have close geographic and economic ties with the Chinese mainland, with beneficiaries including Hong Kong, ASEAN countries and India.”

 

Hotel transactions have climbed significantly, propelled by a number of mega-deals in Manhattan of New York and Sydney.

 

The growth of Chinese outbound real estate investment will remain strong this year despite the slowing domestic economy, the consultancy predicted.

 

Chinese capital outflow will increase with government policy, the report said.

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