A “quantum leap” into foreign real estate by mainland Chinese investors is expected this year and three recent British Columbia sales show it may include a dive into recreational real estate.
Since January, buyers from mainland China have bought the Sechelt Golf and Country Club on the Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver [the price remains undisclosed]; a 43-acre island off the southern B.C. coast, for $2.5 million; and a riverfront equestrian centre in Langley for $5.5 million. Late last year, a Chinese travel company bought a downtown commercial lot in Nanaimo where it plans to build a $50 million hotel that will cater to Chinese tourists.
“It had been rare to see mainland China buyers purchasing recreational property in B.C,” said Mark Lester, senior vice-president of Jones Lang LaSalle Real Estate Ltd. Lester, who chaired a recent Vancouver panel discussion on Asian real estate investment in Canada. He believes the recent moves into recreational property reflect a “maturing” of China investors. “[They] have moved beyond houses on Vancouver’s West Side and Richmond.”
A study of outward bound Asian nvestors by Colliers International forecasts a greater diversity in locations and property sectors this year.
"Besides increasing global liquidity, the volume of outbound investments from Asia is being driven by both 'pull' and 'push' factors," explains Piers Brunner, CEO, Asia at Colliers International. Brunner said buyer are being pushed by new and tougher Hong Kong and China regulations on real estate investing and pulled by the potential of higher returns in foreign real estate markets
"Chinese outbound property investments beyond Asia really took off in 2009, and reached US$9 billion in 2013. We believe more Chinese developers will look overseas to support the needs of their local clientele," added Terence Tang, managing director of Capital Markets and Investment Services, Asia at Colliers International. "We think the world's 'gateway' cities will see a quantum leap in real estate purchases by Chinese buyers in 2014."
See a special report on China-based investors in Western Canada’s recreational market in the May issue of Western Investor.
