Berkshire Targets Wealthy Chinese Buyers for U.S. Homes

[proverbialwisdom]

Source: Bloomberg

by Katherine Chiglinsky
April 17, 2017, 8:13 AM PDT

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s real estate brokerage, acquired as an afterthought when billionaire Chairman Warren Buffett bought an energy business, is expanding its global reach with a push to attract wealthy Chinese citizens to purchase homes in the U.S.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices announced an agreement to advertise its U.S. homes on Juwai.com, which attracts about 2 million visitors a month. The portal hosts sites on both sides of China’s “great firewall,” meaning consumers can access the information inside the nation from more than 400 cities and also from more than 160 other countries, according to a statement Monday.

HomeServices has been expanding under Buffett by opening new locations, forming a 2012 venture to expand licensing operations and then working to capitalize on demand from non-U.S. buyers. The unit hired Realogy Holdings Corp.’s Peter Turtzo in 2015 to push into international markets and recruited Mitchell Lewis from Christie’s International Real Estate in September to build operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

“The Chinese have overtaken all nationalities besides Americans as the leading buyers of property in the U.S.,” Gino Blefari, chief executive officer of Irvine, California-based Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, said in the statement. The Juwai.com accord and other efforts overseas “make it much easier for Chinese real estate buyers to find and shop our property listings.”



Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-17/berkshire-broker-seeks-wealthy-chinese-buyers-for-u-s-houses

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Related: https://www.bloomberg.com/search?query=homeservices+juwai.com

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. Their money is as good as anybody's. And when the crash comes, it will be their loss, not mine.

I've seen a property with a Berkshire Hathaway sign out front that didn't look like anything I would associate with Berkshire Hathaway.

[maxsolomon]

2. their money has made Vancouver BC unaffordable to residents

their money is buying up property in Seattle, driving up prices in an already hot market, contributing to the city becoming unaffordable for residents.

and the properties sit empty - there's one across the street from my SIL's. never seen a person there. it's for sale now - Sotheby's.

it's like London, filled with empty housing bought with Russian money.

just a hidey-hole for trans-national capital.

[not fooled]

3. Yep

Los Angeles, San Francisco, the rest of the Bay Area, San Diego, Orange County, Portland, trophy properties throughout the U.S.--a parking lot for Chinese oligarchs' money that drives Americans out of the housing market.

[still_one]

5. It isn't Berkshire per sae, but foreign speculation and high tech jobs in the Bay Area that have

made real estate the bay area unaffordable, unless you got in years ago.

The new Apple Campus in Cupertino will cost Apple over 5 BILLION dollars, and last I heard cost over runs may bring it closer to 9 BILLION. Over where the Vallco Shopping Center is in Cupertino, not far from the Apple campus, two bedroom apartments are going for 4200/month.

The bay area is becoming unaffordable, especially for young people fresh out of school. Lot of people commuting from Stockton, Lodi, and other surrounding areas. That is a two hour commute one way.

While this may go on for some time, my view is it is going to be very difficult to sustain these price levels. Salaries are higher than other parts of the country, but except for few, it is not commensurate with the cost real estate. I definitely don't see how most people can save for retirement and afford rent/mortgage, insurance, electricity etc.

[DK504]

4. I'm very sorry to see this.

As posted when Chinese buyers, usually in bed with the government, their eminent escape to America isn't the windfall we think it is.


I'm also have to go after the tech-yuppies for ruining San Francisco, Oakland, and the entire Peninsula. Their obsession of buying and renting in all the best spots in the area cause Landlords and Property owners to lose their minds. They increased rents 5 times what they previous been. Homebuyers were completely frozen out of the market, simple because they though it would be SO kewl to live in The City, rather than living closer to work.

They refused to use green energies to get to work, they purposely moved over an hour away and then demanded The City help them get to work, free bus services and never picking up the tab even for gas.

Berkshire Hathaway's is a good way to make money, but the responsibility to the country si lacking. What happened to his great every company interest?

[stuffmatters]

6. Following TrumpKushner: really BH exploiting EB-5 Program,selling U.S.visas disguised as r.e.

The EB-5 program grants "expedited" American visas towards residency to foreigners investing $500.000 min in any "project that will create jobs". Trump/Kushner sold 25% of the NJ Trump branded Tower to wealthy Chinese at this $500,000/pop minimum. ..essentially funding their Tower by selling expedited U.S. visas and paths towards permanent residency. It's not just money laundering & money parking Trump properties offer to foreign investors, it's also $500,000 greased U.S. VISAS(!) to the wealthy.

85% of EB5 visas are "sold" to wealthy Chinese. It is not a big jump from investing in an overpriced Trump building to buying a "fixer upper" in La Jolla to meet the requirements of investing that necessary $500,000 plus cash in a "project that will create jobs." This path to U.S. citizenship has been monetized by Trump/Kusher for some time. It looks like Berkshire Hathaway has decided to go full boar on getting their slice of the same Pie with their commish coming right off the top.

[egold2604]

7. It is happening everywhere

I live near State College, PA, home of Penn State University. There are currently 4 high rise apartment building under construction near campus. There used to be a building height ordinance that was waived and now all the buildings are 10 stories or higher. Almost all of the apartments have been sold to Chinese parents of Penn State students. Most of the other condos are owned by the Chinese. After their children finish school, they keep the property and rent it to friends children when they attend PSU.

Is this a bad thing? I don't think so. Construction provides jobs as well as building maintenance. The properties can not be dug up and moved to China. There are luxury apartments for the rich Chinese students who spend a lot locally. I personally know several people who deliver food and make a small fortune each year on tips.

[ColemanMaskell]

8. Thanks for introducing a little balance into the discussion . . .

[proverbialwisdom]

9. Nothing to see here, right.

2017: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-19/ontario-said-to-unveil-plan-on-thursday-to-cool-toronto-housing

http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2017/04/20/what-ontarios-new-housing-plan-means-for-renters.html
http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2017/03/28/code-red-lessons-toronto-can-learn-from-vancouver.html

2014: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-04-02/zillow-to-give-chinese-homebuyers-access-to-u-s-listings

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-04-03/chinese-are-buying-large-chunks-land-across-america-and-zillow-now-enabling-it

The Chinese Are Buying Large Chunks Of Land Across America (And Zillow Is Now Enabling It)
Apr 3, 2014 1:52 PM

Has the United States ever experienced a time when a foreign nation has attempted to buy up so much of our land all at once? As Michael Snyder details below, it appears the Chinese are on a real estate buying spree all over America as they are now the dominat 'buyers' of investment green cards. This is occurring as private equity buyers and hedge funds exit the buy-to-rent business en masse and are, as Mike Krieger explains, are desperate to pitch American property to anyone willing to keep Housing Bubble 2.0 inflated... it seems Zillow is more than happy to enable that, "Zillow agreed to make its U.S. property listings available to Chinese consumers through a partnership with a Beijing-based website."

As The American Dream's Michael Snyder explains, the Chinese are on a real estate buying spree all over America. In fact, in some cases large chunks of land are actually being given to them. Yes, you read that correctly. China is on the way to becoming the dominant land owner in the entire country, and that is starting to alarm a lot of people. Do we really want a foreign superpower to physically own so much of our territory?

There are some that are playing down this threat by making a distinction between the Chinese government and Chinese corporations, but things work differently over in China than they do here. In China, the government is involved in everything. In fact, 43 percent of all corporate profits in China are produced by companies that the Chinese government controls. And all of the rest of the companies are very careful to follow the lead and direction of the Chinese government.

That is why what is going on in places such as Thomasville, Alabama is so alarming. Small communities such as Thomasville are so starved for jobs that they are willing to give land away for free to Chinese companies in order to entice them to build factories…

Gov. Robert Bentley said Friday that he will announce an economic development project in Thomasville, Ala., Monday morning.

That project is likely a copper tube plant to be built by Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group. A legal notice published Thursday indicates that the city of Thomasville and others intend to give land and other incentives to GD Copper USA, which state corporation records identify as a Florida-based subsidiary of Golden Dragon.

And in this particular case, we are not just talking about a small plot of land. We are talking about a 40 acre chunk of land worth 1.5 million dollars…

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In other cases, the Chinese are gaining control over vast tracts of U.S. territory by buying up our large corporations.

For example, when the Chinese purchased Smithfield Foods, they suddenly owned 460 large farms and became the top employer in dozens of communities all over the United States…

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